Hello Pavel, I partly agree with you...
I have to admit that my initial thoughts and concerns came from my long term experience with PB v1, v2 and v3. Since v4 was not to my own and others liking for many various reasons and issues, I did not use it at all. Personally, the v4 frontend experience was so bad, that I could not make professional use of it.
Frankly speaking, I can't even remember if v4 was ever related to Bootstrap, I mean in the sense of all responsive grid features. The options in the row-, cols- and addons-settings just implied it. This is why I wondered why certain options are still there, and this basic grid options were removed.
If the entire layout is based on a flexbox grid, I can understand the changes. If it is just a Bootstrap namespaced grid variant... I can't understand it.
You are right, people in general are lazy or they get used to something new very quickly.
Although I am a very quick learner and a user of many different tools and techniques, but I could have easily missed that crucial PageBuilder logic:
The device icons are not just previews switcher (like in any other tool I know), in fact they are an essential tool for the responsive display!!! I am sure, this important detail is still not obvious for many users. The previously mentioned blog post is such an eye-opener. I believe not many users are aware of it.
I agree, you have even more layout freedom with this approach. I like the interactivity. But I guess you don't have less klicks. You have to touch each column. Hence, all the other responsive options are still in the panel's responsive tab. I am curious how this is technically achieved, and what the actual generated CSS is. I mean, if this is all custom style for each column, there must be a lot of code at the end.
If one is thinking in "bootstrap" terms and mobile-first, it feels a bit strange. Actually, in PB you start with the default columns for a large screen... and then you would have to set each custom column widths for any other device. So, the logic is somewhat vice versa. There is no small to large inheritance. (Please, correct me if I am wrong)
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BTW, I just installed the v5 over a v3 test installation.
Appreciate the "backend" schematic editor view. Unfortunately I had no free time for more tests, but my first experience is much better than in v4. The frontend editor UI is working in Safari. Which was a big problem in v4.
My first surprise in v5:
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frontend editor does NOT show any green handles for AddOns? No move, no copy?
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backend editor has all green handles and options for AddOns, Columns, Rows.
Big question: Why are both editors different in basic tasks!?
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frontend editor ROW options are an icon toolbar
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backend editor ROW options are a regular drop down menu