Drag and Drop UI vs Legacy

[ap1up]

Hi All,

I almost gave up on thunkable before I began - I could not figure out why some of the tutorial videos showed the UI that I had on screen and others showed advanced options that I couldn’t find.

Then I remembered the check box on the create project screen (“New! Be the first to try our new drag and drop interface Try it out”).

So… after 10 minutes of cursing and strop throwing I’m back to ask a question.

Is there any document that gives me an idea of the differences between the two UI’s?

I may have missed it in my eagerness to dive in but I would have thought such a major change should warrent some big warning messages to new users so they don’t lose their minds like I was!!

It’s natural that a new user to something would choose the “new” option - so it would be good to explain to them what choosing it might entail. Just a basic description of the two UI’s perhaps a list of differing functionality and if the legacy UI is to be phased out the timescale expected in that.

It didn’t help that the tutorial videos available after choosing to use the “drag and drop UI” use a mix of the two UI’s.

Thanks for your help.

[jaybod]

Did you ever find any documentation on the differences between old and new UI as I am suffering the same frustrations?

I have been using a thunkable for a very short time and wanted to stick to the new UI as it is easier to develop applications quicker… or so i thought

I have started two new projects using the new UI I have hit a roadblock caused by a lack of feature parity between the two UI’s. This gets compounded by the fact that you cannot switch your app to the old UI means its a dead end… atleast until the feature becomes available

I did find an issues list here Issues · thunkable/thunkable-issues · GitHub but that doesn’t help when trying to plan an app.

Like yourself, I would like a list of all the things that are in the documentation of the old UI that are not in the available drag and drop UI… Things like multiline text input, Navigators, make copy function etc also a planned release date against those features would be awesome.

I realise that this is a beta function so I have decided to give up on the beta drag and drop UI because it lacks some basics and is too confusing to a new Thunkable user… Very sad as the old is Clunky at best.

I would like to know when it is going to be usable but there is no timeline for feature parity so that could be years away.

Does anybody in the community have any information that gives clearer guidance on the Drag and Drop UI’s capability rather than waiding through bug lists?

Thanks

[muneer]

@jaybod

Things like multiline text input, Navigators, make copy function etc

The navigators are available

[jaybod]

Thanks muneer your a star

[muneer]

You are welcome. When you say “make copy function”, do you mean this?

[jaybod]

actually, your first answer showed me what I was missing. I have been using the option below to add screens

I had not seen the extra options here

so I was actually missing options, including the add from saved screens function which was causing my issues.

Thanks for pointing out these features it really helped.

Thanks

[kent]

I got you. I newly discovered Thunkable, but got into the dilemma of new UI is still beta and missing a lot of features (eg. I can’t edit the shadow properties of a button, the “Raised” button not working. Tutorial I can find got an advanced tab which makes me in confusion, then later only discovered about the new UI. Starting a new project in the old UI is not sustainable as I can’t move it to the new UI later. In short, I feel that Thunkable is unusable for now until the new UI is fully functional, as I need the project done in asap.

[domhnallohanlon]

@kent

I can’t move it to the new UI later.

Hi @kent, we’re working on a tool to translate old UI projects to new UI projects. This was announced a few months ago and thankfully we’re at the testing stage for this already, so it should be out shortly

@kent

I need the project done in asap.

Thunkable is probably the best option out there if you’re looking to get a fully functional prototype released in hours rather than weeks. What are your particular project requirements and do you have any desgins or mockups we can use as a reference?

Thanks.

[tatiang]

I’ve been doing all of my serious development in the legacy interface. I prototype and teach (and WDC!) using the new drag-and-drop interface. But I would say if the old interface has everything you need, go for it. I don’t see any signs that that interface will be phased out soon.

And as @domhnallohanlon stated, we should be able to convert from old to new pretty soon.

[codeswept]

I may be wrong, but I think you can save your legacy screens and add them in a DND project. Haven’t tried it but think it might work.

[kent]

Thanks all for the quick responses. However, I find the new UI is faster in building, thus I would like to jump into new UI instead of spending time studying old UI and then have to familiarize myself with the new UI again later. I think Thunkable should focus on getting the new UI fully functional asap so that new users like me don’t stuck in between. Thanks a lot!