P: New user interface lacks contrast and many usability cues, lots of other problems

FMk, something is wrong here. Are you a professional, working with professional equipment for this kind of work? Please tell us exactly which equipment you are using: computer, monitor(s), most of all the size and definition of your monitors, et cetera.

Now,  FMk, imagine someone who, when he's not in the field or photo expeditions, uses Photoshop CC 7, 8, sometimes 10 hours a day. Imagine that this bozo (me for example) is working with two calibrated, medium-brightness, 30 in monitors. Imagine that those monitors are not glossy because this is very serious and touchy work. And of course any kind of finish that kills reflexions will slightly diminish precision, that's the price to pay.

Now, at which distance do you think this bozo is from his monitors? Two feet.

With this kind of professional setup, it's sometimes hard to keep track of thinks like, say, the cursor for certain tools depending on your background colour. This is hard, strenuous work, which is one of the reasons why most of us automate many workflows.

Of course the UI is still "usable" !  When someone says "unusable", it's a figure of speech. To put things clearly, the interface went from not so good (yeah, that's what PS 2015.0 UI is, not quite in the big leagues) to bad. Not "unusable", simply downright much harder to use.

This is a working tool. A workhorse. You don't modify the UI from top to bottom just for the fun of it.

We all work with an operating system that we may like or not, depending. But we've got used to our operating system over the years. Whether it's Windows or OS X I don't care. Each one has its own logic (well, most of the time that is), and each one provides all that's needed to work with lists, fields, windows, dialogs and the like. Well, use them, by Jove!

Grey on grey. Santa Pizza! The worst invention of the last century! Must I go on? Because I'm all worked up and I could write a ten-page rant in no time.

Fair enough. Remember, some people liked the looks of the Pontiac Aztek, too.

It's still useable, it's just a little harder to differentiate. It takes that extra second to see what your'e looking for, and to tab around. All those seconds add up and cut down on efficiency and add eye strain. I use PS up to 14 hours per day and I can tell you, this new UI look is really a mess.

I'm 46,wear glasses and Photoshop is my main tool at work, so definitely more than a couple of hours a day. I'm not sure what people mean "lack of contrast" because the icon/text colour against the dark grey background would easily pass the American With Disabilities Act guidelines. I use the pen/path tools with a retina display. I wished they would work more like Illustrator. I didn't liked those tools in Photoshop before and for me they haven't changed with the new UI, I still wished they were more like Illustrator.

I can only assume that FMk never uses Paths or the Pen Tool on a HiDPI monitor?

FMk, you should probably pop over to the "I love the new Photoshop Interface" page and join all the others there...all one of them.

May I ask how old you are? Do you wear glasses? Are you a casual photoshop user or do you spend over an hour per day using it in a professional environment? Do you use your screen at full brightness or is it calibrated for correct color and luminance?

Because if you are a young, casual user with perfect vision using an uncalibrated display at full brightness, I can understand your thoughts. Otherwise, the comments here tend to be spot on.

I really like the new UI and I don't understand how a cleaner UI can make a software unusable, especially if you're a long time user. The panel layouts and functions are exactly the same. I don't need borders and drop shadows to tell me the font size is clickable and editable. It seems to me that the reactions are wordings used here are over the top.

The new interface is awful. When working on a file with many layers it is so hard to differentiate!

Make my work life bad by changing the UI, make my home life sad by ending Adobe Revel.

Great Stuff

I'd settle for 240 volts at regular intervals.