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zed-industries
UI more modern
Check for existing issues
- [X] Completed
Describe the feature
A project without .git file was taken as an example.
It would be possible to discuss the ui that zed wants this project to have in the future.
At the moment it seems very dark as a UI, retro.
Android Studio:
https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/assets/20476002/9741a997-b0ec-4359-aecb-8c562cecb053
Zed:
https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/assets/20476002/47c02878-c325-4ffe-846f-8f9390e6290f
Zed has some themes that are actually pretty good. But I got the point of having a little more colors and modernizing it. As far as I know, Zed is really focusing on perfomance and maybe this will be a matter of discussion when the talkative is about UI. Are you guys open for UI suggestions? (Figma like)
I agree, a more modern UI would be nice in Zed, the current UI definitely feels retro for me along with the lack of colours and liveliness.
Here's hoping that this won't be a dev focus. For me, a big part of the appeal with Zed is that it is minimal, clean and modern out of the box. Anyway, Android Studio should probably not be the first thing to take design cues from.
Themes are a good way of customizing Zed's appearance.
Zed has some themes that are actually pretty good.
It's not just about themes/colors.
The main issue that I have is the UX:
- the buttons to toggle the panels (the ones in the status bar) are too small and too far away from where my mouse usually is
- missing git / search / find all references panel (I don't want to see a tab for search / references)
- it's difficult to distinguish files from folders, it would be nice if folders had a collapse/expand button next to them like in the screenshot
If you compare JetBrains Fleet with VSCode, they have similar features but somehow the UI of VSCode is cleaner (I like the panel switcher, the way the tree behaves), maybe it could be a good inspiration :)
@widersky : Good job.
If you're on discord, you should show this.
@alumni : I agree.
@rubjo : Android Studio is a great product.
I think we have to keep in mind that everyone has different preferences. I don't have a strong opinion on the file explorer because I open it sparingly. As for the main editor, I think it's quite beautiful (especially with Rosé Pine Moon 😍 ).
A big draw for me is the minimalism. Part of this is a lack of visual clutter. Admittedly, some of this "clutter" for me represents missing features that make it hard for me to read code (indent guides and "sticky scroll"), but I still love the overall look of the interface, including the terminal.
I certainly don't see Android Studio as appealing at all; it looks childish to me. VSCode raises my stress level because it just looks cluttered, heavy, and lacking polish. Not saying I'm right, but just goes to show a lot of this is eye of the beholder.
I doubt any of this is "finished" though and UI/UX tweaks and polish will be added. At any rate, just putting my hand up as someone that really enjoys the general design approach here.
@baldwindavid : Each of us has different preferences, but many think that the current look is very retro.
Which themes can't improve, I'm not saying that zed has to look like Android Studio, but a more modern look would be better.
For example, for me the best IDE is Webstorm, but not everyone likes it.
@Angelk90 My point exactly. I respect and appreciate others' opinions on this.
@baldwindavid : for me @widersky's concept would be a great starting point. The point of this issue is to make it clear that many people feel this problem, perhaps they don't express it as clearly as we do.
For example, what do you think of that concept?
I personally agree with David when it comes to Android Studio, I definitely don't find it appealing, but it looks at least modern compared to Zed, which gives me total retrospect vibes and I don't like it. I like the UI of Xcode (horrible UX), and I love the UX of the newer JetBrains IDEs (the new UI revamp is fine), I would look at those editors when it comes to UI/UX. This is my two cents.
I'd also like to add that I interpret the motto marketing of Zed to be an editor that's lightweight and minimalistic but offers the feature set of a full fledged IDE, I'm not sure if Zed currently is in that state, but I don't think the latter will develop without the minimalism of the editor getting affected, I'm not sure how the Zed team is planning on this regard. I do think many visuals are missing but it seems like people prefer minimalism over them, which I understand but I don't think it matches with the motto of Zed? What I'm trying to land at, maybe we can still have these visuals, but abstracted away good enough to satisfy both sides?
@evrsen Yep, you're never going to perfectly appeal to a general audience. For example, my background is many years spent in the terminal (Neovim) and I also enjoy Helix quite a lot. If my background was more in IDEs perhaps my tastes would be different.
@Angelk90 - That mockup seems fine and not a big departure from the current look and feel. Regardless, I'll leave it to the designers; I trust they'll take feedback and make any changes or not as they see fit.