I am not sure whether you have skin in the development of this mess but I talking to you as a customer and giving you feed back about a product you may have contributed bringing to the market. How I use it is entirely up to me. Phrase like … this is the way it going to be from now on suggest a rather obdurate mindset which is not very conducive do dialogue for the better development of the product… which is very much need speaking as a paying customer. I have been pushing for customisation since the u point adjustments vanished without warning from FX back 2020/21 but someone brought them back because it made sense. Moving and switching panels around is not convenient… you fail to appreciate the point and you keep coming back telling me how wonderful it is… well it is not. It is clunky and disruptive. It may mean extra work for you or someone else but both solutions are possible though preselection of the method for applying the benefits. It is not rocket science… challenging perhaps as we discussed already…allow yourself some conceptual flexibility it alway brings around better solutions…as for the 10 years that is just the Indian Project not my time with cameras
Not at all. Yes, I have participated in beta tests for at least four years, for which I may or may not get a tiny reward, but that hardly pays for the time and effort I spend participating, which can sometimes be several hours a day, several days a week for around six months or more. And, even then, DxO don’t always listen to us.
Unfortunately, that comes with the proviso that how you use it is already limited, or have you never yearned for more, different, local adjustments?
Not my phrase - just relaying what DxO seem to be saying.
Not true. I do appreciate the point, but I, like 99.9% of other contributors on these forums, don’t work for DxO.
I have never said it is wonderful, but the whole thing is still in development and there are other things due to be added.
What I would keep on saying is, give it a chance. I used to do everything in Photoshop, until they started their subscription pricing. So, I had to accustom myself to these weird things called U-Points. In PS, I had to create a mask for every adjustment (in the sidebar) and then tweak the adjustment in the sidebar on the adjustment layer. When I started using PhotoLab 1, I used to miss so many things from PS, but I persisted and found that I was working faster and easier - except when it came to Control Points, where I had to keep on hiding and showing the equaliser to see the effect it was having on the image hidden by it.
As a long-time software developer, I appreciate the time and effort it takes to try and please all of the people all of the time. One set of folks have been screaming out for years about the limitations and irritations of U-Points - another set are now screaming against any change.
Maybe there is a way of having both ways as options but, from my experience of managing software projects, if the alternatives are not fully developed, it becomes far too dangerous to attempt to switch between them. Have patience. Take the time to accustomise yourself to the “new way” because, from what is coming out of DxO, they are up to their necks trying to get what they have done to work well, without having to divert attention from getting just one option right.
Indeed it is not rocket science - that is so much easier than software design, which I have often felt is akin to knitting with air.
I am very flexible when it comes to concepts but I can also see that what you are asking could take some considerable time, as we’ll as convincing that there is a hard enough business case for that time and effort involved in having the code complexity that would be required to “just” do this or “just” do that.
If you really think this is so important, it is DxO that you are going to have to convince, not the bunch of users that you are beating up here 
The logical conclusion of this would be that every tool would be duplicated making the LA adjustments palette very large indeed. Without splitting it into sub palettes, I already have to scroll to see it all.
Perhaps if every global tool had a ‘brush’ icon, clicking on that could offer a choice of controls (brushes, gradients etc) for your LA usage. Then all you would need would be a layer palette to manage your adjustments.
No it does not logically lead there because you start form the wrong place. Think preferences or workspace options select what you need call it My workspace and you can actually end up with less clutter… it is really really a very simple concept. implemented on many platforms CAD in particular.Yes it has complexity at the tech end but that is not the consumer’s or user’s problem. The rest of the negativity displayed here is from those who either have invested time to go down this route or those who thing that their way is the only way. I support choice and have done ever since this urge to remove u point on screen adjustments kicked off back in 2021 or theer abouts when they dropped them from NIK FX .Well they came back because they make sense and provide a USP that distinguishes DXO from other similar products. Now imagine a launch that tell the public We bring you one of the best RAW engines AND full customisation of the UX. Customers do not care how you get there, they only care for what you have to offer and the more you look and feel like the big boys, the more they perceive you as A Me Too Brand which ends up in no man’s land
Got lucky found a modification cabinet.
Some drilling, some hiding old holes with caps.
And done.
I got a 10 of Wifes happiness.
See it’s simple…to modify user interfaces…
Yap as cranky as the software… perfect match 
I have already reduced the toolset to what suits me and have my own palletes. In fact I never use the default palettes excepting the new addition of local adjustments. However, there are times using my set of global tools will not suffice and I require to apply one or more of them locally. Thus my idea (but not my invention because I’ve seen it in other editors) is to enable global or local use of each tool without spawning multiple copies of everything.
In fact, back in the real world because I accept there are also profound shortcomings to that proposal (particularly regarding speedy workflow), what is needed for flexible and personal deployment of tools is being able to define keyboard shorcuts for any function.
Reading all this brings to mind:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/angels_dancing_on_the_head_of_a_pin
Schrankie?
And yes in dxopl is also some old holes plugged with caps 
The software its comunication is the user interface and that’s in the middle of transistion.
New preview engine, new workingcolorspace, new colorcontrolsystem, softproofing, Lut’s, new Local Adjustment interface, new controlline, and new luminance masking.
DxO is struggling to get the controls on par with the engine updates.
Aka the dashboard is outdated. And just drilling some more holes in order to fit some extra knobs and levers isn’t enough anymore. So they have to redesign the hole dashboard. I am glad i don’t have to do that.
I’ve thought this for some time. Suspect the developers have several 27" screens and just don’t relate to working on a single small screen, let a lone a laptop. I have multiple 24" screens and don’t have the problems other describe.
I agree. A 16inch laptop should be the standard. I work on that on travels and often with just the track pad no fancy wacoms and the like. At my desk I have twice the size and M1 and that’s great but my point is that no one seems to appreciate the need for a dedicated UX team to challenge the tunnel vision of developers. They are different skills. When work has gone too far down the line everyone gets defensive and clams up.
Well they need to do that pronto, and they need to get a UX team in place to guide them. PL is a consumer product not a teckies playground. Some of the responses I have received here are so unbelievably defensive that I am surprised they ever innovate anything. Sometimes it sound like they are working from their bedrooms …and are of the USSR school of customer service… ‘You will get what your given’ types unwilling to listen Perhaps they are of a younger generation never met anyone with a different opinion to them and they short circuit when challenged… terrible
When I was working (not in image editing) I was either coding or typesetting most of the time. The software I had allowed me to create my own computing environment that did exactly what I wanted. I have problems with the idea I should adapt to software rather than vice versa but its the way image editing programs are at the moment and I have to live with it.
That is all I have ever advocated with regards to how adjustments are applied and consistently across the platform and the NIK collection. They need to think preferences or workspaces and allow us to choose how we want to work… but the resistance to even explore the subject is difficult to comprehend. Perhaps it only some who respond to this forum and there are others who may be more in a listening mode… difficult to tell
Not sure, could be my englisch understanding, are you speaking about this forum or about the customerservice/supportservice of DxO?
In this forum:
Every year there are unsatisfied people(customers) whom are posting there point of view and most of them are about pricing against there gain. (which i find strange no one forces you to buy blind a product. Self investigation and trail is always necessary.)
Often just flaiming without any selfreflection about the adaptiontime that’s often needed at the new application or new tools/UI and that can be collide with experienced users/forummembers.(not a excuse, just a observation.)
That said constructive critism is often snowd under by the back and forward arguments. Or just ignored.
It is always difficult to acknowledge you are or something is wrong when your engaged in something.
As Field service engineer i am facing this every day.
Users who are conviced they are right and the multifunctional is wrong/faulty wile they just misread the user interface, didn’t know what they do, placed the paper wrong/jammed in the tray, etcetera.
They just say “fix it…” And damped paper, don’t start about that…
Every year in the fall i explain this and every year they say never heard about that…
On the flipsite when i am testing and examening the multifunctional i am always find something which can be better/ replaced/repaired.
Some design flaws i can’t change/solve and i am often honest about that.
If it’s wrong it’s wrong in my eye’s.
About support of DxO i have no complain about there communication with me about my tickets but it sounds like overload stress and too many emails…
Just give it a few weeks/months until the dust clears up and the emotions are less and post again your idea’s and suggestions. I am sure then they find much more soil to grow.
Edit: Before someone bites my head off, i try to say it’s much more difficult to see the others point of view from the other side at a distance then standing next to him/her to see what is the problem.
Regards
Peter
Yes Peter I understand. I don’t often fall into the user error category. I paid for a new version of something that was already good and was told it will be better. Then I discovered that they removed a key usability feature which has worked for a very long time. In addition the application of the LUTs is terrible …That’s the issue which coincidentally occurred again back in 2021 with the NIK collection when all the slick promo images showed the sliders in the main visuals but were no where to be found once the new version wiped out all the older versions from my drive…brought them back as suggested in the Spring this year. The issues however seem to run deeper. I have invested a lot of money and time on this platform and I want it to be better. I agree that if one has a specific problem/issue the response is good but again this not what the string of messages is about…
Could I suggest a way to minimise the issues you have highlighted with perhaps a relatively simple change in your workflow?
I assume your problem is most apparent with images that require several layer adjustments, and currently you are masking an area and making all of the adjustments and then moving onto the next layer adjustment?
If you add your layer masks to all of the areas you want to work on, just establishing an initial mask without any adjustments, chroma, Luma etc and then working in the local adjustments you can easily move from layer to layer and make whatever adjustments you need. If you have labelled the layers then you can unselect any local tool and work on a completely clean image. If you haven’t bothered to label the layers simply switch on the eraser and as you mouse over each layer the mask shows up. It is quite an efficient workflow. YMMV
I hope this helps.
Are you thinking of something like this?
Procedure
- create “layers”
- adjust each layer as needed
- disable layer by clicking on the “eye” button
In this example, I’ve used three control line “layers”
- Global: mask options left at their default
- Rose: mask options set to adjust the rose mostly
- Background: inverted duplicate of “Rose”
Adjusting mask opacity is awkward because the mask is overlaid while the slider moves.
I thank you for the suggestion and the effort in posting this. i am sure it works. I work differently far more intuitively and i do change my mind between adjustments. Many of the shots have are very busy and complex. Throwing points where I think might work and making quick judgements on the overall balance of the picture is how i work. the beauty of the on screen siders is that i can do this very quickly particularly if I am editing 90 images in a couple of hours. I want software which is customisable to my working needs not having to learn and adjust to the software. I have worked both as photgrapher and an architect the CAD platforms all offer customisable tool workspaces. You pick what you need and creat your own workspacee. I do not wish to impose my way of working on anyone PL 6 LA work perfectly well so if new things come along give us choices of how to apply them. Chroma and Luma may well be wonderful but I do not need to use them very often. Anyway thanks again
Works on Windows if you uncheck show mask.