Hi Victoria, thanks for opening up the discussion about this. I’ve spoken with others who would be very happy to see the current RDM improved.

How many devices do you tend to test for?

Basically the popular sizes for desktop, tablets, and mobile. I would never have the desire to test side-by-side because for me personally I want to be focused on the current viewport, but having that option is great for those who want to use it.

This is a good reason why the current RDM’s page refresh when switching devices is frustrating, it lacks the ability to quickly toggle between views of our presets. It’s also dangerous to lose unsaved code by accident. I understand the purpose of having the refresh, but at the very least have an option for the user to enable page refresh or not.

How often do you resize the viewport in RDM mode?

Constantly, with various break points for responsive content I’m always checking different sizes. Sometimes it’s best to just grab and drag the viewport and look at the widths. We’re all aware of popular device widths and when they need to change, this is why the centered RDM window is poor function and the previous RDM was superior. Upper left is just so intuitive and user friendly it can’t be beat.

Do you prefer a UI where all controls are visible and within easy reach, or would it be better to hide some of the uncommon ones like DPR and touch simulation in a menu?

It’s fine to have them included, the current UI just needs to be cleaned up and optimized use of space. (examples on that below)

Here are some previous videos, images, and code I’ve worked on since the latest RDM was released.

Feedback:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWZ5JvDFIp8

Design suggestions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9MfQKjHrmc

Problems and solutions sheet:

https://i.imgur.com/aZ3bFyZ.png

The following 2 options, backgrounds and toolbars, should have the ability to be independent from the dark or light theme. Dark and light themes should still continue to be there, but if a user wants a light theme with a dark page background and dark toolbar that is a reasonable request.

Background color option:

https://i.imgur.com/aZZvYD3.png

Toolbar - Dark or Light option:

https://i.imgur.com/dbgi2NB.png

Dark vs Light toolbars:

https://i.imgur.com/ZfsxzU4.png

Gradients aren’t necessary in the toolbar buttons, was just referencing the previous RDM.

Style editor upgrade idea:

https://i.imgur.com/o95i6VP.png

This would be VERY useful. There are often many of stylesheets, having to scroll to find them is time consuming.

Custom userContent.css code we created to get the current RDM looking like the designs mentioned above:

https://gist.github.com/hensm/c2e6ae6873657604e73287a0d57a5acf/revisions

To summarize, the previous RDM was great. The team who worked on that put a lot of love into creating it and the UI decisions and functions were made for a reason.

I spend A LOT of time using RDM, enough that I went to the trouble of making these videos, graphics, and getting the code worked out for the current version. Using it for hours every day I have a good perspective on everything so I hope my feedback helps.

Feel free to reply and/or message me if you have any questions or wanted to chat in more detail.

Again, thank you for opening up the discussion and I look forward to seeing the updates.