[UI Design Vision] - Master issue with video, proposals, and related issues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcaUtfeD5DA&t=1s

Objectives

• Give continuity to the work started in the UI Design Vision presented in the video above.
• Propose UI improvements for Inkscape, aiming at:
  • Be welcoming to new users
    • Reduce UI complexities
    • Adhere to industry standards
    • Reduce context switching
    • Context aware panels and tools
  • Empower seasoned users
    • Allow mastering complex tools
    • Keep granular controls

UI Proposals

This section will be updated with links to each UI proposal issue.

1. Group (or give users the option to group) tools in Toolbox panel
2. Merge Commands bar with Tools control bar (inkscape!6900 (closed))
3. Status bar:
merge with zoom controls
4. Allow users to move color palette to the right side of the screen (#301)
5. Ruler:
small visual tweaks (#300 (closed))
6. Update properties panel with contextual object settings (inkscape!6781 (merged))
   1. Adopt columns layout for better readability
   2. New color picker (inkscape!6781 (merged))
   3. New gradient editor (inkscape!6781 (merged))
   4. New stroke paint and style dialogs
7. Panels dropdown menu
   1. Split "active tab" options from "open new panel" menu: #298 (closed)
   2. New organization for panels menu: #299 (closed)
8. Path effects UI improvements
   1. New columns layout
   2. Path effects dropdown:
small tweaks
9. [not in the video] New theme (themes!17 (closed))

Links

• Presentation: https://www.figma.com/slides/pvyQl0dgkQ0MTy0L1ZxPrN/Inkscape-UI---Vision-Work?node-id=1-57&t=6BwONInEoupH45lb-1
• Figma file with the UI concepts: https://www.figma.com/design/qV5dUNN5N85A02XZ9N4EcS/Inkscape-%2F-UI-Design-Vision-Work?node-id=3704-23863&t=phme0ZjKLC0QYz1v-1

Reference images