Customizing S/W 2003 interface

[ltiritilli]

Is there a way to set up S/W 2003 to use the S/W 2000 type interface?

A company that I do some work for recently updated their S/W 2000 to 2003 Office Pro. In 2000 you got dialogs for the different tools and functions that could be dragged off the working area to a second monitor. Now they come up in the property manager which often needs to be dragged out wider to access everything and a lot of screen area is lost. And if you need to use the feature manager flyout you lose even more working area.

For all practical purposes I have lost the use and benefits of the second monitor in SolidWorks.

Also I used to use Toolbox to create some complex holes in parts and to create special screws by modifying standards. Now I can't create a screw without opening an assembly and can't use Toolbox to create a hole at all. Instead of a screw that contains only the selected features, I get a screw with a feature tree that contains every option available on that particular screw.

I can now see why so many people keep previous versions on their machines. Unless there is a way to revert to the old interface I expect that I will uninstall 2003 and reinstall 2000.

 

[SBaugh]

No you can't convert SW03 to use SW00 UI. The new UI is extremly nice once you get used to it.

If your losing screen space try getting a bigger monitor. I have a 22" and I don't see that big of a difference if I have to drag my FM a little larger to see it. But if your dragging it to the width of one of your monitors, then I don't know what to tell you. Because IMO I see no benefit to using dual monitors.

To create Complex holes in your parts try using HW (Hole Wizard) then you can use Smart fasteners to populate your holes in an assembly. Once the screw is inserted in the assembly you can open the screw up as a part. Or you can go to the Toolbox directory and open them from there.

Most people keep their old copy because they are having troubles crashing more than because of the UI.

SW03 is a big jump from SW00. If you had been following along from SW00, to SW01, to SW01+ you would see a gradual change instead of major change.

If you made any files in SW03 you can't save them back to SW00.

Have you even looked at the benefits of SW03? Multi-bodies Major improvement. You have missed the what's new for the last 2 major releases. There is alot that has changed besides the obvious. You should really check out the benefits before (what i would say) is a hasty decision.

Best Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
When in doubt, always check the help

 

[ltiritilli]

I have removed 2003 and reinstalled 2000. When really wide monitors are affordable I will probably give up dual. But not before. Even with a larger monitor I want to use all of it for the part not menus. You can get used to anything when you have no choice. But the change certainly didn't help anything. Even Microsoft makes it possible to use the old interface if you prefer.

There are many nice new useful features in 2003. It is a shame that you have to put up with the new interface to use them. I will probably add a 2003 installation for use when I need to use the new features but will continue to use 2000 for most of my work.

In my case, many times, the modified fastener is the part that I am modeling and it is not a part of any assembly. Smart fasteners are not much help to me and I dislike all the unused and unecessary features being automatically included with every fastener.

I don't like the new interface at all. But if they make the feature tree window moveable to a second monitor that will help. But the way they draw fasteners will keep 2000 on my machine for a long time.

I realize that due to the lag in updating S/W my complaints are are well behind product development. But the tech support that I just talked to told me that there was no shortage of complaints about the interface at the time it came out. The complaints did about as much good as asking for a material density table did in 1998, 1999 and 2000. Still don't see one in the product.

 

[DetroitPickles]

Just how big is you monitor(s)?

Like SBaugh stated, you are missing a LOT of improvements to stick with an old interface. Everytime somebody changes the interface of anything, they get hate mail, email, phone calls, etc.

I think AutoCAD DOS versions were cool. Why did they chnage to Windows, and then change to icons, etc.? Why did Pro/E migrate away from the nice out plop down sidebar menus and go to Windows with the icons? How is that Windows 3.1 interface working out for you?

A bigger monitor or a resolution of more than 640x480 IS pretty much required. If you got some 19" with 1280x960, and can't live it, then you got some serious problems.

But your Smart Fastener problem is easily cured. Don't use them. SW gives you a way to NOT use them, whcih is what you want in the interface, right? So make yourself a toolbox with fasteners drawn the way you want them and insert them. Shoot, you could even use Mate References to make them easier to insert. You do have Mate References in SW00 right?


Mr. Pickles

 

[StarrRider]

Itiritilli

I did used dual monitors with my laptop for a while. SolidWorks does not use it effectively but there is a way to do it. My screens are synchronized but I can use a virtual screen on one monitor for the graphic display (set it really high - 1600 x 1200). Set the other monitor to something more reasonable for the menu and Icons (try 1152x864 or 1280x1024).

Position the Virtual Screen so that the Lower Right Corner of the modeling area is in the Lower Right Corner of the monitor. Then expand the browser window until it you can see just begin to see it on the left side. I had to move most of my toolbars to get the graphic area to fit.

It took a quite a bit of time playing with everything to make this work right – and I am not sure if it was worth it – My main complaint was that my UltraBrite ViewSonic 19” high resolution monitor uses the low resolution for the menu and browser while the graphic display uses the Laptops 1024x786 LCD – it does work but I would have done it the other way around if I could.

I eventually stopped doing this because of the negative side effects. The first one was that I could not LOCK the virtual screen in place so every time the mouse left the graphics area the virtual screen jerked away from where I wanted it. I got around this by not having any tool bars on the right and moving the mouse to the lower right corner of the screen (takes less time than adjusting your focus to the other monitor). The second reason was learning where all those toolbars went to – that seemed to take forever. The main reason was that the virtual screen was a royal pain. – For anything else - the laptop was almost worthless. - I couldn’t just turn the virtual screen on and off – and the SolidWorks settings only worked well when the dual monitors were hooked up.

Lee

Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.