I’ve just seen this on www.theverge.com homepage, and to NOT SWAP the mini-viewports seems to be best for me, since you actually know, where every of “your” 4 viewports is, since they stay there.
I think this responds better to Apple HI Guidelines, because getting to a known place “blindly” is always better for (but not only!) advanced users.
Just my 3 cents.
Hello Samuel.
I wonder if you would redesign my own Windows Rhino ;)…
Please keep in mind that there are no any “clutter” in Rhino for me - every indication is useful at some times.
sorry… that’s a whole lot of clutter 
I don’t think that monochromatic icons, at screen resolutions, can convey the myriad of commands Rhino offers. For instance, it helps me to see a surface on the surface commands icon.
If you switched your drawing mode to Ghosted, which I often need to work in, the graphics don’t blend as well.
I should think that the background should have some gray in it.
The command line is too short for many of Rhino’s options.
Now, I am worried that Rhino might go form over function.
got an example?
Hi,
The fillet options would probably exceed that with even a 9 PT typeface.
I am sorry to be so negative, but common wisdom tells us that the command line and GUI cannot live together, but that’s the way it is doing design and CAD. I prefer a full width command line–even though I drive Rhino graphically using icons.
Using hollow backgroundless icons will also tire eye quicker than something with a fill.
The mini windows might be good for applying textures, though I usually have at least 2 of 50% windows showing, as I actually need to see two views at once. Did you import that mesh of the Lamborghini? Or draw it?
The Rhino icon does nothing. It has no reason to live there, taking up room.
When modeling, I toggle snaps very very often.
oh, are you talking about the mockups in this thread? or the current mac rhino?
I’m not trying to imply you’re being negative or anything like that… I was just curious what you’re talking about… Fillet seems fine to me the way it’s currently implemented… but then again, you’re probably pointing out something which I’m not understanding.
Ok, maybe these hundreds of necessary Rhino commands \that I know\ should be more organized… but there is still a lot of work to enhance the commands themselves, and their application to each other’s result and different workflow situations. Still any shortening of the the whole available Rhino commands index list \not just shortening the toolbars layout!\ can be safely performed only after such a general program operation revision, otherwise Rhino’s shape-plotting functionality could be almost completely destroyed.
I think at present that Rhinoceros is a really unique, completely “hardcore oldschool techno” CAD capable of modelling almost any describable B-Rep shape on any modern computer. And I badly want it to keep being developed in this way 
…
In comparison with dull 1960’s alphanumeric printers, rhino’s command line is much more “user-friendly”, interactive, autocompleted and hypertext-tagged. I even beleive it is a sight of the command-line public renassaince in the world UI design. A destruction of the fully functional cmdln \even on Mac only\ may lead to a complete defeat of Rhinoceros software ecosystem.
OPS: Please remove the first quote badge awarded to me, as my entire quote was taken out of context.
The command line and GUI can live together and design and CAD are proof of that.
I would hope that anyone changing Rhino’s interface has used Rhino for a few years, for several different disciplines.
The command line can get long, and we need room for user input too:
So, should we shorten all the options, making them unreadable, so they look like a OSX search box?
If you want to attack Rhino’s user interface please attack the Block Manager. It needs some love, power, and work.
I seem to be playing the devil’s advocate because that’s what my boss wants, but I am tired of flash over function.
it’s all the same options though.
(and, to me at least, easier to read and know what options you have selected… but then again- i’ve never used windows rhino so maybe i’m missing something)
you can drive it with a mouse or a keyboard.
is your gripe that it’s a slower way to work? or less powerful? or you just don’t like the way it looks?
or something else?
There are a great deal Rhino commands that do not even appear in the GUI anywhere because they are too specialized.
There are also custom scripts and utilities that need a text interface as well. Do you mean to break their builds? Or will you volunteer to design and program GUI widgets for most of them?
All of this just because the text line looks cooler because it doesn’t reach across the screen?
hmm… i think you’re making quite a few assumptions about bring windows UI onto osx…
i don’t know, i feel like i’m going to end up just arguing instead of conversing… i mean, at the end of each of my posts to you, i’ve asked a question or tried to clarify my misunderstandings in your statement but then you dodge what i say and go out on some other tangent.?
i don’t know how to communicate under those circumstances and i’ll end up saying something i might regret.
(but i do know this-- if mcneel were seriously considering putting in the command line in the same way it’s on windows, i’d be pretty vocal about it… it’s heading in a good direction and my guess is that in a few years time, you might be seeing some of the stuff which has happened in mac rhino being adopted on the windows side)
Function > Form
that’s empty talk… you need good points to back that up.
you might know what you mean by it but nobody else does.
No one knows here the term “Form over Function?” How will you vouch for that?
Anyway…
I love Rhino, and perhaps that’s the one thing we agree on, or you would be doing something different with your free time.
I welcome change for appearances, that doesn’t degrade or compromise usability. To make something smaller or remove functionality for the sake of appearances is a GUI design trap. A GUIs main purpose is to allow the user to interact with the program, controlling it, but also receive information from it. The command line is not only for issuing commands, but for such things as learning the volume, length or area of an object.
[On the Windows side, I can resize the command-line any size I want, and yet it ends up being 1 line for command, and 2 for feedback.]
It is true what I stated that Rhino is much larger than its GUI. By making the command line much smaller, will make plugins and scripts unusable, and that will fragment the Rhino community.
There is one last thing: if the Mac Rhino’s power is compromised, when it comes down to it, people will run it under Windows.
(I am pretty objective about this as, I would rather run it under Mint/Cinnamon Linux.)
no one knows the term form over function when you say it.
you used fillet for an example… filletedge on mac has the same functionality… arguably more than the windows version… but you’re complaining about it saying it’s form over function?
if it were form over function… it would at least be lacking in functionality (at the expense of beautifying the UI)… is that right?
oh, that’s the reason why i can’t use plugins ??
i change my stance… can we get a longer command line on mac please?. i want to use grasshopper
i personally like darker color schemes. i think the op’s interface however is just a tad dark. i have watched alot of the tutorial videos for rhino in the past looking at what many people are using and its usually a plain white background to the default light grey. it hurts my eyes to even look at that for 10 min. im not sure how people who model all day can stare at such a bright image for hours at a time. to each their own i guess. it does seem that most software these days are leaning towards a darker look. i use both the windows and mac version and have gone through and customized all my colors to darken everything and make other things pop a little more.
i personally like something in the midrange i guess you could call it.
just a less blaring background i guess.
if i’m doing longer sessions, i’ll dim the display too. (and my second display is always dimmed… that thing can get annoying if it’s full bright coming in from the side)
re: mac rhino… apple has recently added a dark mode to osx… i don’t know if software developers have access to these exact controls in order to make the whole application darker without their own customizations… so far, it seems to only affect the menu bar and dock… maybe they’ll do some more with it?
(safari itself doesn’t change when in dark mode – only the menu)
rhino:
