This page highlights recent product improvements to help you get up to date on what’s new in the ACE application.
You can return to the ACE WIKI Homepage here: ACE Homepage
With the release of ACE v1.14 the user interface has undergone a major refresh. These changes have been made in an effort to modernize the application and improve the overall user experience. Key differences in the update are demonstrated below to show how you can access many of the modified/new features in the new ACE theme.
1. Controls styling changed across the whole application
2. Addition of sidebar menu in updated design to make common features more accessible
3. Removal of Top Menu and Tool View buttons (features now accessed from the side bar menu)
4. File menu replaced with a “More Options/Ellipse” menu to access Session management commands
The “Classic” ACE theme will remain supported at present and can be easily enabled from the ACE User Settings “Preferences” tab. Please note, if you opt to use the “Classic UI” this theme may not be subject to future updates/improvements.
1. Open the ACE settings window and click on the “Preferences” tab.
2. To revert to using the “Classic” theme, check the Use Classic ACE UI check box.
3. ACE requires a restart in order for user preferences to take effect.
One of the most obvious and immediate changes noticed in the new Fluent application theme is the addition of the sidebar menu. This menu is visible throughout the entire application and replaces the Top Bar Menu as well as the small Tool View buttons seen at the top of the Classic theme's interface.
The majority of the ACE core features, outside of plug-in navigation, will be accessed from this sidebar menu in the updated theme.
All features currently available in the sidebar menu:
As outlined in the previous section, the majority of the ACE application core features are now accessible from the sidebar menu. In addition to this, there is a secondary menu included in the top right area of the ACE window where users can access more options.
Currently this menu simply replaces the file menu options from the Classic ACE theme and is the new primary location for accessing ACE Session commands for Creation/Saving/Loading etc. of ACE sessions.
The updates to the ACE user interface will affect controls across the entire application, including the plug-in Block Diagrams. There is a possibility in some plug-ins that controls appearances are not as expected due to the port of the application theme.
This section will document some other changes of note in v1.14 of ACE.
In previous releases of ACE we introduced the ability to swap between the Classic “Tiled” virtual plug-in list or a “Detailed List”. In v1.14 the ability to hot swap between these views has been removed in favor of a fixed user preference from the Settings menu “Preferences” tab.
You can change the list style using the “Start View List Style” drop down box. This selection will be automatically made in v1.14 based on your current selection in ACE, if a clean install is performed the default selection is the “Detailed List” view.
This optimizes performance on startup when you have many plug-ins installed in your ACE application. The “Detailed List” offers further improvements/enhanced features over the “Tiled” list and is the recommended view for Start View performance.
The Help top bar menu has been replaced with a new toolview that can be docked within the main ACE application or undocked as a floating tool view. The Help view is available immediately on the sidebar menu using the help button or can also be launched from within the Tools drop down menu (again within the sidebar menu).
The Help tool view contains license information, links to useful documentation and any of the ACE feedback links. As the application grows this tool view may be used for more in depth user help functionality. The help tool view is shown in the image below docked as the main content in the application. You can decide where you would like to dock this tool view to suit your own needs.