Feature Request: Option to hide Premium features in GFUI

Problems and Support
,
#1

A similar request was mentioned by @roy several weeks ago (original post), but I wanted to add my two cents, since the free trial for Premium has ended.

I am not going to be upgrading to Premium for the foreseeable future. I honestly have no need for any of the features offered for the monthly fee. Therefore, I humbly request that you provide a way to disable or hide all of the Premium buttons, floating palettes, overlays, and so forth that are currently scattered throughout the GFUI.

By all means, keep the “GO PREMIUM!” button in the header as a friendly reminder of what we might be missing, but stop polluting the rest of the interface with annoying, non-functional elements.

Please, just let me get to work without all the extra noise.

Thanks for listening.

4 Likes
#2

FWIW, Glowforge support responded to the previous post with:

Hello - those gold diamonds are used to highlight the features that are part of Glowforge Premium. I’m afraid we are unable to remove them."

I’m a developer, so this tells me that either Glowforge has the world’s worst developers, or this isn’t the truth. And, since I know the Glowforge developers are pretty good, it isn’t the truth. They absolutely can remove all of the Premium features if you’re not getting Premium. Somebody has apparently made the decision that they want to have annoying clutter (aka UI pollution) for all the people who aren’t paying $50 per month. This is a very bad decision — people react negatively, not positively, to what is effectively badgering — and I hope they reverse it.

Having the gold diamonds during the free trial period makes sense. It tells new customers which parts of the interface are part of Premium and which are included in the free service. But, once your trial is over and you haven’t paid, both the widgets and the gold diamonds should go away.

I agree on leaving the GO PREMIUM button. It is a relatively non-annoying way to promote the upgrade for those who might find it useful. It doesn’t feel like clutter or pollution.

2 Likes
#3

Yes, I recall seeing that response … and I literally LOL’d when I read it.

Having worked at several software development firms over the years, my take is that the marketing department has more pull at the weekly meetings than the engineering team does.

At the very least, some of those features (specifically the toolbar buttons) could be simply greyed out as inactive with a “This is a Premium” feature” tooltip that appears when you hover out them.

There are definitely better ways to handle this sort of thing.

2 Likes
#4

Maybe I’m more dense(oft accused) but just sitting there doesn’t seem too bad. Now if the diamonds had animated sparkles to them or flashed or twinkled or …(I copyright the idea but am open to royalty negotiations)… that would be quite annoying as they would be specifically designed to pull attention to them.

But your request. I’m still waiting for an option to reverse the direction of the engraves so the air assist doesn’t spew the smoke stains and acrylic splatter all over the freshly engraved surface. But, “the reveal” does look nice for shows…issue: we aren’t trying to sell gfs, we’re trying to use them.

1 Like
#5

What man makes, man can change

#6

Here are the issues:

  1. The yellow diamonds make the tools I don’t have and don’t want the brightest thing in the GFUI. For some reason, the things you actually want to use are relatively low contrast (60% gray on 10% gray — what were they thinking?).
  2. The tools I don’t have are active, not disabled. If I accidentally click on one of them, I get an annoying full screen advertisement.
  3. The thing on the right covers up my artwork. There’s no excuse for that. In fact, there’s no excuse for that thing being on top of the artwork even for people who pay for Premium! It’s just bad UI design (same goes for the measurement/size/scale display).

I know the GF software team can do better.

Yup, it’s the same problem. They’re trying very hard to sell Premium while those of us with Glowforges just want to use them, with or without Premium. On this note, surely they’re aware of the concept of a “demo mode” or “attract mode”. Space Invaders, which came out 42 years ago had one, and pinball games had them before that. Promoting Premium to brand new customers — or during the 1 month free trial — makes perfect sense. Similarly, if they want to show off an engrave reveal for “demo mode,” I can understand that. But actual customers want an optimal UI and optimal paths because we don’t stand there in awe watching every engrave.

3 Likes
#7

I’m with you. I think it’s the new design “in” thing that’s a stupid halfway between inverting things to dark mode.

With you there too. Would never say you’re wrong on either of these.

I see your reasoning for #2 but I guess that part just doesn’t bother me. I just try to not click what I’m not using.

#8

Me too, of course! But, I click on the @#!& thing on the right by mistake because it’s on top of my artwork and it’s active even when the Option key is held down to get the Hand tool.

#9

Thank you for the idea and conversation - I will ask the team on your behalf!

#10