I think it's ugly, especially when there are 3rd party modules that don't follow the same standard.  

My clients haven't cared one bit.

I dont think clients will care too much but its funny how much you get used to something, I instinctively used to know the setup had a wrench on it no you have to stop and read the descriptions.

Will just take  a bit to break habit.  Its not a strong sell though that its an improvement

I agree, I think Sage's effort was misguided. I've become accustomed to the old style icons and now the homogeneous look forces me to think - I hate thinking.

It's an incomplete job just like the screen redesigns.  Some screens are new, some are old, so there is inconsistent look and feel.  With the blue folders I suspect there is supposed to be modernised but distinct icons.  This hasn't happened yet ...

You can right click on the folder, go to properties and change the icon.  All the original icons are still there in the a4wicon.dll file. 

It's a pain to go through and try to hunt for the icon but it can be done.

I think they were going for a UI redesign based on the visual process flows but they didn't get very far with it.  If you go back to what they were saying version 6.0 was leading to we should be on a fully browser based UI and all the VB screens were supposed to be history or at least mostly a behind the scene legacy feature.  

I totally agree, the old icons had meaning and the new ones just don't.

As a 3rd-party developer, I have followed the new standards. Overall, I think the new icons and buttons look better than the old ones - but agree that the blue folders are a bad idea. At least with O/E the titles (under the large icons) are all different, but with other modules like A/R and my T/A you get titles that are practically the same. Eg: "A/R Transactions" and "A/R Transacti...". And "A/R Customers" and "A/R Custom...". So even reading doesn't help much. At least we know that the icon on the right is the reports, but a new user wouldn't know that.

Perhaps they are trying to encourage the use of VPF's.  :)

Or the portal :(

Hi everyone,

I appreciate the candid feedback as always. Several issues have been raised. I will speak to each as they appeared on thread.

• In terms of UI modernization I have been pleasantly surprised by the very positive feedback in general. Our Net Promoter scores to measure customer satisfaction have improved. We already have 600 clients plus on the new version at the June. I don't mean to discount Stacey's feedback in any way. We knew that any changes to the UI would be negatively perceived by some users. In general people don't like change. It was critical we modernized the User Interface to demo to new prospects and improve the user experience for existing customers. 

• I note the comments that some of the icons don't make sense to some users. I am disappointed to hear this feedback. That said it was no longer credible to sell ERP to new clients with icons that had pencils in them in the 21st Century! Our priority was to modernize the interface and minimize disruption to our existing customers. The catch 22 we have of course is that we continue to switch icons around that will be more confusing. I will continue to ask for feedback. If we need to make a change we will.

• In terms of mixed UI screens I completely agree. I was disappointed we did not have all screens ready in time for the 2014 release. We will complete IC in Product Update 2. PU2 will be delivered shortly after Summit. We aim to complete PJC & Payroll in the next release.

• In terms of the Visual Process Flows (VPF’s) we will continue to extend this functionality. A basic template has now been completed for each of the main modules. We will continue to invest in this technology and deliver role based VPF’s to make it easier to use the product. We are going to encourage partners to lead more with VPF’s in demos instead of the Portal going forward. Our R&D investment will reflect this.

Thanks,

Donal de Paor

Senior Product Manager

Bland,

homogenous,

undifferentiated,

uninteresting

 and importantly,

indistinguishable.

I don't mind new, but am not a fan of bland.

@WWOOLMER - Sorry to hear you feel this way. Your response neatly captures the challenge we faced with the project though. Clearly you feel we did not go far enough with the UI modernization. Stacey's original comment was that we had gone too far!

Thanks,

Donal de Paor

Senior Product Manager

Now I though my comments were constructive, everyone else said what we were all thinking :)

My original comment merely asked what people thought and I mentioned I felt it was confusing.

You are so right that you had to modernise these icons, I have seen them for at least 15 years like this!.

I just questioned the choice of neutralising them.  It was neither a negative or positive just asking what others thought.  Guess the Net Promoters didnt ask BP's :)

I am certainly not opposed the change, the product was more than a little tired, I am just surprised with the choice.

Thanks

I'm 100% with wwoolmer.  My preferred adjective is xxx

@ S Orrock I think your comments are constructive. :) Apologies if I gave you a different perception. That was not my intent. If we hear a lot of other feedback that suggests we need to revisit the UI we can certainly do that.

Thanks,

Donal de Paor

Senior Product Manager

The UI screen changes are great.  Some people have different tastes, but they needed modernising and are being done gradually which is good news.

The icons are a problem.  Demonstrating with VPF to sell is OK for the sales teams, but until ALL functionality is available in VPF the end users will continue to use the standard icons.  I know they can be customised but this is not useful time spent.  Users do not like to switch look and feel so will stay with one method, and that's the icon driven menus right now.