Thank jeepers they've put some contrast back into the design. The gray-scale theme was like looking at a TV back in the 1960s, in a dim room. I can understand that modern usability research finds that too many colours and borders can be visually confusing, but to swing completely the other way was a brutal reaction. The RC seems to return to the middle ground where a tasteful amount of colour and contrast is helpful and pleasing. I thought all print and UI designers know that 2 or 3 base colours with a contrasting splash colour as about as much as the brain can quickly consume.
The CAPS menu is utterly bizarre. I'm sure I remember from high school that it takes on average 11% longer to read blocks of caps text (my favourite historical example of this is the inside cover of the pretentious Yes vinyl album Topographic Oceans <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_Topographic_Oceans> where all the dense lyrics and notes are printed with italic caps white-on-black, it's an eye-bleeder). I'm unsure about the coloured status bar, it could be good if it's not too distracting. I wonder what colour it will turn when Visual Studio is stalled or crashed? I also wonder how customisable the whole app appearance is. If it was fairly customisable then it would stop a lot of arguing. My old adage is that if you get into a long argument about how some UI should appear, then make it an option. Greg
