UI3 Feedback

I really like Figma, and i been using UI3 for couple days
here is some idea about UI i like to share,

I think these parts are taken up a little bit too much:

here is changes i made:

“Figma”(menu) button move to tab bar;
“user” “play” “share” button move to tool bar;
tool bar has 3 role, design, prototype, develop;

right panel has 3 tabs, properties, style, variable, they’re all properties;
when switch to variable, the panel will get a little bigger;
the structure of “collection list” and “variable list” is similar to “page” and “layer”.

Thanks!

Figma have fantastic updates usually. The UI3 is much less efficient in general. For example setting constraints is something that you do quite often, having it hidden in a panel makes the whole experience feel laborious.

Having floating panels the interface doesn’t fade into the background, it stands out a little too much. I’m not sure if it’s the new UI or my computer but I experienced lots of lag.

I would like to add my name to the thread about the new UI. i’ve been using it for the last 2-3 weeks now and yesterday i reverted to UI2 (thanks god that option exists).

Main reason - I just couldn’t find the “Switch frame from portrait to landscape” and i did look everywhere. i guess the designer forgot to add the icon to his design (oops 😉 )

But what i just mentioned was the straw that broke the camels back 🐪 , let me indulge you with some more of my honest opinion about the new UI:

1. Floating panels - Has been a popular topic and i will add my +1 to it. it is very distracting choice of design and my input to that will be that most of us deisgners design UI’s that look like those panels. so actually, Figma should look a little different than what is now “trendy” and “popular” so it will create a good contrast between “common” designs and the tool itself. FIgma - don’t follow the dribbble herd please.

2. Adding more clicks - A lot of the options that were “Exposed” are now hidden behind one or more extra clicks than it used to be in UI2. for example: Clipping options, The “Publish library updated/Update components from library” modal. now are more hidden and harder to find and adjust (my index finger is in worst condition thanks to you).

3. Attributes background - the greyish rounded corner you added behind every single attribute add so much uneeded clutter that it just makes everything very hard to quickly scan, find and read. please consider to revert or adjust this design.

4. File context and management - In UI2 the file name and actions used to be clear and on top. now it is quite hidden and unclear. please consider changing it back to where it was. the placement help me as a designer be clear what document im viewing at the moment and also control it better.

5. A very convenient short cut was the CMD+SHIFT+BACKSLASH, this shortcut used to hide only the layers/assets panel but keep the attributes panel visible. very useful since in Figma this view was sufficient and would allow more canvas to be visible without hurting productivity (i could still change attributes quickly) in the UI3 this action actually make bot panels, left and right to collapse. they will only show up once i hover on them and that interaction is very much confusing since there is no real difference now between CMD+DOT and the said shortcut

6. Another example for hiding useful actions: the Tidy up button placment in UI2 was exposed and that made sense, since it is a “high traffic” function, now it is very hidden and adds many more unnecessarily click to the user (me 😢 )

7. You have disabled the option to bulk “detach” components(!!!)

8. Maybe i got older, but now it seems like all the fonts are SUPER small. very unproductive.

What i do like:

1. The re-arrangement of sections in the attributes panel is great and makes lot of sense.
2. The new icon set - LOVE IT, great job

What I’m indifferent about:

1. new placement of actions panel at the bottom

As a user and Figma hard-core fan, please take all these requests before and after me, as well as mine with some gravity. thank you!

I got access to UI3 and immediately turned it off. The visual noise from the gap around the panels is extremely distracting. My canvas is usually gray which is helpful for seeing colors accurately and also easy on the eyes that stare at screens all day. Contrast between the darkmode black toolbars and canvas background is large and unpleasant. Please allow the panels to be docked.
Personally, I don’t like the very rounded corners of these floating panels either. They feel like big marshmallows stuck on my screen ‘helpfully’ pushing themselves forward to grab more attention than they should have. I want the chrome to be more quiet and supporting, background helpers.

I agree with the gaps being very distracting. Additionally, when I switch to the smaller screen, they steal precious space from my working space, which is already small. (with longer layer names, sometimes I need to expand it to, for example, hide it.)

Also, as for the position of the panel - I’m already so used to it on the top, with most of the programs having functions on the top, that I find reaching for it at the bottom bothersome. It’s not a mobile to have it closer to the thumb… so why such a decision? Was there any research backing it? User tests?

I switched to the old view

The new UI is both “nice” visually" but terrible in terms or ergonomics. Everything has been hidden and moved somewhere else. Creating components, adding variants, knowing if a frame clips content, knowing if there is autolayout applied to a frame, and more, has become a pain, both in Light and Dark mode. There is a lack of contrast between UI elements. The toolbar has become useless because there’s no useful tool for me in there anymore! Oh, yes, it’s hidden in this menu that looks like it will open a plugin or content library!

I’m using Figma everyday, I play the piano, but somehow I’m okay clicking on buttons with a mouse to achieve the things I want to do, I’m not interested in learning 666+ key combinations to be able to work.

Hi, I agree with most of the arguments above, but I still want to give the new UI a chance, to be sure which of my issues is due to unfamiliarity and whatnot.

There are however some things I haven’t seen mentioned that bother me quite a lot. I work a lot with components and now I feel bothered by all the extra clicks I have to do.
For example, if I make a component made by the same token (e.g. a squared made of different smaller squares) and I want to select just some of them to change them all to a different variant, even if they have everything set the same (aka the same variant of that token) I am now obliged to select them one by one or I cannot see the token properties. This isn’t very pleasant.
On top of me having to cherry-pick all the tokens 1 by 1, the properties are now nested in a toggle, which is another extra click. My wasted time has increased by 3 times basically.
I hope Figma will at least get back to the old interaction because I get that some more pixels for the canvas are nice to have, but my main interaction is on the panels and that is where I want the things to be quick because I often have to compare different designs, do quick changes and so on.

You’re right Jeff. That’s what disappoint me the most with the new U.I. style. It highlights what you can interact with, but at the cost of having to squint to read the values or states. It is far less readable.

Totally @Hugues_Peeters. You said it perfectly. It’s important to give context that for me personally, I have 20/20 vision and I am NOT a stickler for accessibility over functionality, but… I literally was squinting at the values as well. Definitely the number one thing that needs to be address IMO.

Agree with almost everyone here. I was excited to see a refreshed UI for Figma. Visually it looks really nice. Nice for marketing assets, such as videos and so on.

But using it, goooooosh, it’s plain horrible. More than a week in and nothing feels intuitive. Still trying to find my fill, hug etc. Why are the constraints hidden behind a little icon and why does it open left from the sidebar? The toolbar at the bottom center sucks and is annoying. The gab from the rulers to the floating sidepanels is also annoying and distracting. Basically everything sucks from a usability perspective. Gonna revert back and hope they cancel UI3 and come up with a well tested UI4 for the next config.