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

Chris, here is a screenshot made from a 27 inch monitor I just received and put alongside my two 30 in. This image will tell you what I think ion the most general way I can think of. But looking at this image, you will also see all that is wrong with the new interface.

This image now has a title: How to go too far.

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Nothing will change, you say, if we don't do the work ourselves? Really?

I don't really care. My wife just told me to stop this useless thing, and I've been married for a very long period of time.

I don't car, now that I have reverted to usable 16.0.1, and I encourage everybody to do exactly the same.

> without specific complaints to address, nothing will change.

Gotta laugh at that one. Were people complaining about too much contrast in the UI before?

I'm referring to Andi's claim that she can no longer change opacity values with one click. We both seem to have confirmed that it still works the same way as before; it only looks different.

I fear that the problem here my have stemmed from Adobe hiring slick young designers, who are more in tune with iPads and smart phones, than they are with the requirements of professional-level production programs like Photoshop or InDesign?

Chris asks for specifics so lets start with READABILITY.

Readability for anyone using professional-level 30-inch monitors, went down the drain in the new UI. The Background greys are simply not sufficiently differentiated from the Type (which needs to be fully 100% BLACK ) in the lighter skins; and we simply MUST be given a way to enlarge the SIZE of the Type and the Icons to suit our individual screens and the needs of our eyesight.

Many of the icons are now meaningless and indecipherable scribbles and we need an experienced UI Designer (who has real expertise and experience in this field) to be put in charge of this project.

Another area which needs immediate attention is the visibility of both Paths and active Selections. Use of the Pen tool has become almost impossible unless you turn image-opacity down.

I really can't believe that the people who were responsible for this appalling UI have had much experience in using these applications for real-world Professional Production Output?

Good natured sarcasm appears lost here. Please do away with the gray on gray. I used to like the medium gray theme, now I find it unusable because there is much less contrast than before. If you feel led to change up some icons, have at it, but there's really no need to.

For us to get changes made, we really need specifics.

Nobody asked you to code anything - but without specific complaints to address, nothing will change.

With all due respect, i understand that it's probably frustrating dealing with a group of users who speak in generalities, but from our perspective, what we hear is "please tell us how you would improve it and if you could provide code samples that would be even better". The specifics are Adobe's job, not ours.

Chris, your latest comment is the crux of the whole problem.

Adobe are obviously not prepared to waste the time and money they have already spent on the latest upgrade - but they really should. To paraphrase Bruce Thomas, the whole thing needs tearing down and starting from where we were and then adding any improvements. This isn't going to happen though, is it?

I think we all understand your problem with us just saying we don't like it, without a whole list of specifics, but I'm afraid you are just going to have to take our word for it.

In summary, having reverted to 16.0.1, I certainly won't be touching this upgrade until I hear something positive - which makes me question why I'm paying a monthly subscription now, when I already "owned" the version prior to CC?

Edit: I've just seen Roger's latest post while I was typing this. Surely you/they must now be getting the message loud and clear?

I would genuinely love to know who were the people this was tested on.

Chris, I understand your dilemma. You're here on Saturday night, almost Christmas, trying to cope with us - and them. That's it, eh? You have to cope with us and them both?

At the same time, I despair we will be able to get our point across. I'm known as a rather articulate man, but here I am at a loss. At the same time, English is not my language, I hope you can understand my "charabia".

Several guys have put it plainly:

• The UI in 16.0.1 was maybe not perfect or ideal (what is?), but it was good, we could work with it without too much strain on the eyes.

• Then comes 16.1 in which, without any warning whatsoever, the UI went berserk. Nobody had any idea it was coming, no warning, no nothing, everybody thought here comes a minor update making things a bit better about everywhere. But bang! This. Had we known it in advance, we would have politely said that we were opposed to it and we would not have downloaded it. End of story.

But now, even if the majority of us has either gone back to a previous version or is looking feverishly for a way to do it, we're kind of caught in this maelstrom.

Quite frankly, the whole interface has many many many problems that relate almost all to legibility.. Too many. They really went hard at it.

They did the previous versions and proved they could do it, right? Nobody can tell us that they cannot, they can. Bu God it will take a whole load of humility,, this forgotten virtue.

They have to reboot the whole process. And make us happy again. And I mean again, because we were happy with the product, the very good product that Photoshop had become, the King. Give us the King again.

If they dont get it, then they have to meet with some of us, with our own equipment which is not always perfect, and have real people telling them "Look at your grey on grey, I can't stand it, I cannot".

Tonight I will put online two or three more examples with both 16.1 and 16.0.1 running simultaneously, showing mistakes and inconsistencies. But...

But the problem is global, not local.

They are reading them - but most don't have any specific issues that can be acted on.