We've updated the test server with a patch to fix typeblocking.
Ironically, there are fewer menu items than on ai2 at the moment. I think the new Blockly CSS makes the menu items chunkier which gives the impression that there are more.
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Ok, I was able to reproduce this. It seems to have to do with the window being short enough that the blocks/media on the left hand side is taller than the visible space. When this is the case, interacting with the blocks editor (such as moving the mouse over it) causes a focus event to fire, which scrolls the view so that the whole editor is in the viewport. If the window is large enough that the left column doesn't overflow the viewport, then the scroll isn't needed and the block editor is also fully within the viewport and the behavior is as expected. It also only affects the Classic UI, not Neo based on my testing.
Maybe that was the case, but 22 choices/options in a right click menu is (maybe) to many.
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Is the Classic UI going to disappear in early 2025? I certainly hope not.
Tim commented on several items> Here are my annotations,
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Use the Ctrl/Option key to drag blocks from the middle of a stack
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Join and create list blocks automatically extend to include new inputs if you drag values near them. This is a terrible option. Can users be given the option to turn off the feature?
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Hold the shift key to drag a box to select, move, edit multiple blocks
Works, . Well it Works, sometimes. This is not the tool to provide to novice users. -
Scroll automatically when dragging near edges of the workspace
Works - "when dragging a block!". This a bit disorientating at first, but guess it is something we will get used to
I certainly hope not. This just doesn't work. My arthritic fingers are going to go wild just as they do with Windows 11 features that are always accidently being turned on when the offensive key is hit. 
I for one and very disappointed to see this stuff. someone's convenience or cleaver idea is someone else's hurtle. I refer you to your own documentation https://accessibility.mit.edu/
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This whole stretchable rectangular block selection approach does not work well on laptops. Maybe it should include auto-zoom to zoom out as you extend the selection rectangle over the screen boundaries?
I don't like selecting what I can't see.
Regarding block duplication in general, as a Power User I find it a great mess generator in the hands of noobs who did not read the chapter on procedures.
I would restrict the Duplicate option to only single blocks.
For contiguous stretches of blocks, I would replace it with a Generate Procedure option, which would request a name for the procedure, and produce a procedure with those blocks, with parameters for the enclosing local variables. Extra credit: replace the blocks with a call to the procedure.
Copy/Paste is poor practice.
Let's not encourage it.
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As an AI2 user, hopefully it doesn't disappear at all, I prefer it over the new UI.
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We intend to maintain both UIs going forward.
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In the previous version, the ability to select a shortcut menu item with the right mouse button was disabled. This should also be disabled here, because accidental click problems will return.
Yeah... We had patched this in our old version of Blockly but in this new release we simply bundle their precompiled version. It seems that the core issue was never fixed on Google's end.
So it can't be changed?
There is also some strange behavior when selecting blocks. I'll try to record it.
When we check the check box to be able to select blocks and then try to select them, the blocks do not get selected and the check box is unchecked. Also there is no autoscrolling when we want to select blocks that are off screen.
Not without a bit of effort, but monkey patching Blockly isn't something foreign to me.
I edited the previous post.
In some ways this makes sense to me. A key feature of this Blockly update is that we are now using a fairly modern version of Blockly with plugin support. Both the autoscrolling feature and the multiselect feature are provided by plugins. My understanding is that the autoscrolling function only works when dragging a block, whereas if you're holding shift to select multiple blocks (the multiselect feature) then the behavior of the autoscrolling plugin won't apply. The autoscroll plugin is not really our own but @HollowMan6 was the GSOC contributor/mentor who authored the multiselect feature with App Inventor and he might have a good idea of how they could interact.
Ahhh, I hadn't seen the "checkbox" (above the zoom controls) which activates the multi-select (This could do with a tool-tip...). It doesn't work well with the box drag, but does work for the selection of blocks, one by one. You then have to untick the checkbox to release the multi-select.
The test server has been updated with the following changes:
- Add preliminary support to navigate the UI with the keyboard (see Help > Show Keyboard Shortcuts)
- Fix an issue that caused selecting multiple blocks by holding the shift key to fail
- Fix an issue that caused non-math blocks to pop out of math blocks, even though the connections should be valid (e.g., TextBox1.Text + TextBox2.Text)
- Fix an issue where options like "Make Generic" would appear in the backpack blocks menu
- Fix an issue where certain blocks couldn't be removed from the backpack
- Fix an issue where dropping block PNGs into the workspace would fail
- Fix an issue where event parameter references would not reflect internationalization and/or mark the blocks as errors
- Fix an issue where event parameter names were stored in projects despite App Inventor being able to infer them
- Fix an issue where the title bar would not appear in compiled apps when using Device Default theme
Please continue to report issues so that we can look at them.
Cheers,
Evan
Hi all,
The test server has been updated with the following changes:
- Fix an issue where the ChatBot drawer could not be opened due to an internal error
- Fix an issue where the "Show Keyboard Shortcuts" dialog could not be opened via keyboard shortcut on macOS
- Move the Blockly scripts to the App Inventor CDN to improve load performance
Please continue to report issues so that we can look at them.
Cheers,
Evan