Wait... you want a modern UI, but you don't like giant buttons and waste of space? But but but... modern UIs are all about giant buttons and waste of space! 

Vegas is a tool. I don't care what colour my hammer and screwdrivers are. The same goes with Vegas, although I take Nick's point that a neutral color whould be better while colour matching.

I moaned when audio equipment and other electronic boxes switched from black lettering on silver to white lettering on black, to give them a "professional" look I suppose. Now I need a torch and a magnifying glass to read the front panel. That's if you don't have to use a menu for every little thing.

When windows 10 came out, I hated the flat white look of everything. I found a hack on the web that would allow you to set the colour of the active title bar. Now I see with the latest build that you can set the colour without the need for a hack. It is good when some poor advances can be reversed. I could go on about Win 10, but I won't.

My point is that I don't like change for change's sake. It has to be a definite improvement as agreed by a significant number of uses, and if not by a great majority, then some way of turning it off.

 

I don't think you two are in much disagreement, ...

Neither do I. 

With a little bit of programming you could even have default relative paths for all of these things. Say you create a new project and save the .veg. Maybe you set a "default render path" in the global settings to %vegpath%\render , then your "Render" dialog would follow that, and etc. for other paths.

Well described, jeh. That is exactly the sort of apparently simple, yet incredibly convenient improvement I'd like to see.

Vegas is a tool. I don't care what colour my hammer and screwdrivers are. The same goes with Vegas, although I take Nick's point that a neutral color whould be better while colour matching.

I moaned when audio equipment and other electronic boxes switched from black lettering on silver to white lettering on black, to give them a "professional" look I suppose. Now I need a torch and a magnifying glass to read the front panel. That's if you don't have to use a menu for every little thing.

When windows 10 came out, I hated the flat white look of everything. I found a hack on the web that would allow you to set the colour of the active title bar. Now I see with the latest build that you can set the colour without the need for a hack. It is good when some poor advances can be reversed. I could go on about Win 10, but I won't.

My point is that I don't like change for change's sake. It has to be a definite improvement as agreed by a significant number of uses, and if not by a great majority, then some way of turning it off.

The color of Ui is not a fashion ítem, vegas must be dark (em rays proof) this range of dark colors protect the eyes from bright ambients.

There's a strong argument that most of the GUI should be R,G,B 128,128,128 for maximum neutrality.

Anyone who has been involved in delivering change in a large organisation will know that some people will resist the very thought of it while others will embrace it regardless of all else. There have been numerous studies and publications on the delivery of change all of which agree that the essential need is to take people with you. This in its turn suggests that, if possible, change should be a gradual, iterative process.

For myself I like the UI as it is as it is so easy to access so many of the in-built tools of Vegas without having to waste time on searching for them. To an extent that is due to familiarity but the logic of the layout is such that the process is largely intuitive and that is a huge plus for the UI and its users (i.e. for everyone). Perhaps a little polish might be helpful but large scale change would not be welcomed by many, especially if it restricts the comprehensive scale and obvious chains of command of the UI we use now..

Good luck to Magix. You have created a most favourable impression so far, one which encorages huge optimism about the future of this fantastic NLE system we call Vegas.

Richard

There's a strong argument that most of the GUI should be R,G,B 128,128,128 for maximum neutrality.

That is still very, very bright for those who will do any color correction in vegas and too bright for all users that preview via external SDI or HDMI on a reference monitor. It doens't have to be black/black/black, but very low luminousity would work best.

And it would immediately look updated, even if they keep all the other things pretty much the same...

Please don't screw with the user interface, life is too short to waste time stumbling around looking for stuff.

I agree that many changes are needed, but the UI isn't even in the top 100.

A good UI is a power reason to get people interested... If I'm wrong why all software aren't using DOS UI today? Or even winsowish.... Think about a more unbiased UI and multiplatform it requires a redesign and aesthetic today trend. VEGAS cannot keep still looking like a 1992 software.

Don't fear the change. 

Maybe a 'polished look' yes but not limiting the capability of the original interface in anyway.
The possibility to resize and (CTRL) dock all the windows IS what makes Vegas so versatile and productive.
Compared to the limited fixed window interface of other NLE's.

Looking at the current NLE from Magix it would probably look something like this: http://magazine.magix.com/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/04/videoprox7_int_screen_1.png

VMP

The source window and the program window are inverted! WTF?

The NEW Interface is WAY to much of a change.  We who have been with Vegas Pro since the BEGINNING are used to the interface.  We know what to do and where to go.  Some changes would be good, but NOT as DRASTIC as your present format.  It's way out of kilter and will cause a lot of stress to those of us who use it in our businesses.  

This could be disasterous if you over due the changes and cause us to loose time trying to figure out what the heck we are doing.  TIME is crucial in this work.  I for one, do not want to have to RELEARN all the bells and whistle to my producing weekly commercials!  

GO SLOW in the changes. PLEASE!  

While I can relate to all the folks from the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' side of the discussion, here are my 2 units of subjective opinion.

I wouldn't want a radical change to the user interface because, as a recent new user, I like its simplicity and the very smart choices that the developers have made over the years.

But I do agree that to newcomers, the current version does look very retro. Perhaps 90% of that issue comes down to the lack of a dark interface. For video editing software, nowadays, a dark interface is just normal, a superior environment for making more reliable decisions regarding image attributes and colour properties - and much easier on the eyes in a room with subdued lighting.

So, by all means keep everything else the same if that's what everyone wants, but, for me, an option for customising the darkness of the interface would a very big plus.

Are you using the Vegas color scheme?

Yes, I'm using the default Vegas color scheme (I wasn't aware that there is another color scheme that would show the interface with a dark background and light text -- I've searched the user manual on this topic and not found a solution).

Every rework of interfaces i have seen since in the last 5 or so years, is to dumb it down...please dont.

Correction... I didn't have the Vegas color scheme activated. I think I tried activating this option previously but nothing changed... it seems that a restart is required

I much the prefer Vegas color scheme, but I'd like it to be darker if possible.

Anyway, it's a massive improvement on the default color scheme, so thanks for the heads-up.

The NEW Interface is WAY to much of a change..

You do realise that screen grab is of MAGIX Movie Edit Pro and not MAGIX Vegas Pro, right?

This is an example of a terrible design, I hope Vegas will never be so!
I did not want to offend, this is my opinion!

This is very much like the color scheme of TVPaint, a GUI with which I spend 12 to 16 hrs a day and I can testify to it's excellent utility and natural esthetics. There is a reason why most of us like to watch films and graphics in a dark room. Just look at the interface of all the multimedia viewers in the New York Times online, a publication which has constantly been winning one award after another for best layouts, and which also gives preference to near black surroundings because it's a natural to want to have our entire focus concentrated on the imagery. 

As far as the colors involved within the gadget panels go, some small bright colors have proven to be useful as much as too many colors kills the purpose. That's where the balance becomes critical and TVPaint has solved this problem by making those areas inter-changeable to individual users in the settings area.

Just look at airplane or ship's control panels and gadgets and you will see much of the same. This color scheme for areas where people spend long hours with the utmost need for concentration all tend to follow this plan which has nothing to do with fads or stylishness, but simple utility.

I consider it nonsense to have a discussion based on modernity and what's out and what's in on the Internet or what is fashionable or stylish. The MAGIX direction makes perfect sense to me for all these reasons.

A good UI is a power reason to get people interested... If I'm wrong why all software aren't using DOS UI today? Or even winsowish.... Think about a more unbiased UI and multiplatform it requires a redesign and aesthetic today trend. VEGAS cannot keep still looking like a 1992 software.

Don't fear the change. 

To look at the other side of the coin, look at how much backlash MS got from removing 1 single button.

Like others have said, it is not the color of the tool that makes any real difference. For a 'simplified interface' example, why would anyone accept a simple wood chisel (likely at more $$$) when they have been using a router with all the various contour bits? If I want simple I will go laugh at Windows Movie Maker or Windows Paint.

--------Edit

adriandirector, I don't know who you are but it kinda sounds like you are speaking for magix. If so, please explain something to me. Why did magix go to the trouble of buying the vegas name, the sony assets and patent portfolio if only to trash it and alienate the existing user base? The only other advantage would be market share and to stick the vegas name on whatever schlock magix is/was selling as a video editor. Apparently it wasn't getting the traction magix believed it should be getting and wanted, perhaps, some credibility by riding on the vegas name? If so, just shoot vegas now and stick the name on the existing magix editor because it appears that in the end that is what we will be getting anyway.

I think, DaVinci Resolve has a very good design! There are so many good solutions that can be borrowed. I know that no one likes change! But the main purpose of good design is convenience. No one will say, yes, I want it, until they will do it. Why mention about design, all of you remember only bad examples? We just need to properly set goals! The new design is inevitable! Why? 4k desktop resolution.

A good UI is a power reason to get people interested...

Please don't confuse "good" and "fashionable". Clearly many people here believe, as I do, that Vegas has a good UI - indeed one which we prefer over those in other NLEs.

There's some discussion about colour with some and I don't see any objection here to that being tweaked, - the objections focus on bigger and fewer buttons and labelling, meaning more functions take more time to access.

If I'm wrong why all software aren't using DOS UI today?

(As an off-topic aside - It's interesting that Microsoft's preferred method for running stuff in Windows 10 now is often to start typing the name of the program you want to run in the Search/Cortana box. And power users are newrly always referred to using PowerShell.)

Think about a more unbiased UI and multiplatform it requires a redesign and aesthetic today trend. VEGAS cannot keep still looking like a 1992 software.

What do you mean by an unbiased interface?

Don't fear the change. 

I don't. I fear a loss of functionality.

However, I've no idea what this fear is based on - has anyone any inside information as to changes (or not) that Magix are proposing. I don't think anyone said it's going to look like that Movie Edit Screenshot