Change scrollbar width and visibility in Blender 2.8
I am loving almost everything about the Blender 2.8 beta. It addresses nearly all of the usability issues I had with Blender 2.78. (I forked 2.78 to make my own version of Blender that addressed those usability issues.) However, there is one 2.8 change that I feel is a big usability step backwards from previous versions -- and that is the scrollbar width and the scrollbar visibility.
I realize it’s currently a trendy thing in user interfaces to have the scrollbar width be extremely skinny and also hidden unless you mouse over that skinny area. But I find this to have terrible usability in practice. The skinny scrollbar makes it difficult to click precisely on the scrollbar if you’re using a Wacom tablet. The hidden-by-default nature of the scrollbar makes it difficult to discover that there’s actually more information available than what’s currently being shown. And since the discoverability area is so skinny, it’s difficult to hover over that precise area and discover if you actually indeed have a scrollbar there!
For a point of comparison, here’s an earlier version of Blender…
blenderartists.org/uploads/default/original/4X/1/d/c/1dcec086f06485789972967e9c42f8492e8f8269.jpeg
…and then the current 2.8 build.
blenderartists.org/uploads/default/original/4X/4/c/0/4c03f891f8b1c36db0ed00d550108586ca0d25d2.jpeg
The earlier one may look less attractive, but IMO it’s far more usable/discoverable.
I started a thread about this over on Blenderartists... blenderartists.org/t/change-scrollbar-width-and-visibility-in-blender-2-8/1157318 ...and as of this writing, it doesn't appear anyone likes the current scrollbar width/behavior. Nobody has defended it or has claimed that it's better than the old behavior.
So my feature request is to allow the user to set the scrollbar width as well as if the scrollbar is always visible (as it was pre-2.8).
It doesn't really matter to me where the settings would go to change the scrollbar width and visibility; I'm fine with it being somewhere in the preferences or even a text file to modify in the Blender installation. I just want a more usable/less frustrating scrollbar -- without having to fork the Blender code base again.
Thanks for considering this feature!
13 Comments
I'm working on adding this. It probably won't end up in 2.80 because of the UI freeze.
* @Eitan * Thank you -- that's fantastic!
Hi * @Eitan *. Any progress ? I hope 2.81 will have an option to change scrollbars width.
* @ xan2622 * I have a basic patch but there are some problems with it.I will post it on developer.blender.org
* @ xan2622 * It is taking me a lot longer than expected so it will probably be a while
Hi * @Eitan *. Any news about this patch?
I hope that there will soon be an option (preferably in Preferences > Themes > User Interface > Scroll Bar ), to let users set the scrollbars width as they wish. 🙏
This is being worked on. You can follow the progress here .
For what it's worth, most of Blender's scrollable areas can be moved with the middle mouse button. I do this on my Wacom tablets all the time.
The problem is that hiding scrollbar concept was taken from wrong reference. It was not taken into account, that scrollbar is needed to display location in a long list, not for just scrolling things. It is not a decoration.
Thank you! The scroll bars have been driving me insane.
I have a patch that allows you to change the size of the scrollbar(not posted). Should there be two options, one for mouse, one for tablet or just one?
* @Eitan * Sorry for the late response -- I just saw this.
I think there should be just one option for the scrollbar width as well as visibility; it shouldn't matter whether you use a tablet or a mouse.
I'd like to add that thicker slider would be extremely useful option. Scrolling with Middle mouse is great of course but extensive sliding with that way can lead to problems with finger pressing that middle mouse. Left click is always easier. Possibility to choose thickness by user would be extremely helpful, or at least to make it thicker only.