Fresh New Modern Look

[RachelW]

We've added a lot of functionality to Designer in the last few years: Global Search, caching, Formula tool with new expression editor, Browse everywhere, data profiling, inline Visualytics, more than 10 tools including the Python tool and the Prescriptive category of tools, Interactive Chart tool, Insights tool, View possible connections, etc.

All of that functionality has made Designer an even more powerful tool, but it still looks the same. In 2018.4 we're changing that. We're making Designer look as powerful as it feels. In the words of a customer who participated in feedback sessions, “Alteryx is on the bleeding edge. NOW it looks like it.”

We want Designer to look like a powerful modern tool that gives you actionable results. When you show people workflows you've developed, they should see the same powerful tool you do, even if they've never used Designer.

A More Modern Looking Designer

We've made small tweaks across Designer to give it a new look and make it easier to use. We've made improvements from the splash screen imagery to the one tool example styling.

Designer's true beauty is in the analytics super hero you become when you use it. Some modern styling enhances that beauty. One of our goals was to make Designer more beautiful: 

The splash screen has been updated to to match the look you see on the Alteryx website and hopefully pump up your adrenaline. What actionable insights will you find on this good day!

We got rid of the old desktop application header and replaced it with that a deep blue blue that pops against our new icons. This small change is oh so much better!

All one tool examples also got a new look.

The tool configuration dialog showcases those beautiful category icons while making it easy for your to personalize your tool palette.   

Then we made some fine tuning touches that really ties the Designer's new look together. You'll find updated icons and fonts throughout Designer. We will continue to update these icons across the Designer in future releases, because these little changes make a big difference. We've updated lots of icons and fonts:

• Icons: 
• Icons in the results and configuration windows have been updated. The actual contents of these windows are the same, for now...
• The Designer application icon as well as the various file types icons have been updated to slick new icons. What's behind that analytic app file icon on my desktop? Pure power.
• We updated a lot of the text in Designer to a new font, Barlow. Like the icons, the new font reminds me Designer is a lean, mean modern machine.

We didn't want to stop at pure aesthetics. Whether you've been using Designer for years or it's your first day, we made improvements to put what you need at your finger tips when you need it. 

• We removed the tool bar, which provides a little more vertical canvas space. Some buttons were relocated closer to the canvas, where the action is. Some of the buttons didn't were not relocated, but these actions are still accessible via the application menu and keyboard shortcuts.
• The following buttons were moved inline with the workflow tabs: run, run as analytic app, scheduler, add new workflow.
• Zoom in/out buttons have been moved to the canvas. Since they zoom in/out on the canvas, this will help you access that functionality easier.
• Removing the 'X' button from dockable windows (e.g. results, configuration). This is to prevent users from accidentally closing the window (results especially) and not know how to get it back. New users have lost the results window for days after closing it, because they didn't know how to get it back. By closing and displaying from the View menu, we are making it easier to bring back windows you've closed, since hiding is in the same place as showing.

I hope that you like these changes as much as we do. Upgrade to 2018.4 today or take Alteryx Designer for a 14 day test drive to check it out. Please let us know what you think of the changes as we value and consider this feedback as we continue to make Designer more modern looking.

[SamDesk]

Wow, that new splash and blue header look gorgeous! Can't wait to get the update.

Sam 🙂

[RachelW]

@SamDesk I'm so glad you like it as much as I do! 

[josereyes_ah]

Excellent 😃 It's very cool

[Balders]

Please bring back the old macro group icons. The outlined shapes are rubbish. Its so hard to tell them apart visually now!

[RachelW]

Thank you for your feedback. We are making some additional changes to the Designer UI for the next release and will consider this feedback for revisions to the new design. 

[Crydata]

Awful 2018.4 UI changes:

buttons move & remove (why? no),

header (harder to read, invisible symbols, mitigated (insufficiently) in 2019.1),

font (harder to read)

Incredibly hard to reconcile with the Alteryx I know and love who I would expect to:

> ask users far more than they did

> make optional/allow user option to customise/personalise

> value function over form ALWAYS

There is obviously a bit of 'change dislike'/re-learning element (as always) but also underlying that, some poor decisions. Please do not do this again.

You can find the complaints thread here: https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Ideas/Bring-back-Save-undo-and-re-do-buttons-to-th....