CS6 font selector is a UI fail

Question

Please put the font selection menu in the Character tool panel back the way it was in CS5, where it showed a dozen or so fonts in the drop-down and I could actually scroll through the list with the mouse scroll wheel or the dropdown's scrollbar -- exactly as the one in the quick Control toolbar at the top works (why are they even different?) -- instead of this horror-show font menu that opens up the entire height of my monitor and has to be navigated by moving all the way to the edges and watching it scroll hair-pullingly slow.

Answer 1

I'm so glad I found this thread! In some way I'm glad it's not just me that finds the font system in illustrator completely and utterly infuriating.
This program is 25 years old, any other software house would be bending over backwards to make their program the best it can be and this is the system they're happy to let users struggle through? It's unbelievable.
It's not like it's a donationware program wrtitten by a single developer.
I think Adobe should be embarrassed with the functionality of their program. I watched a few videos on the new features of CS6 and it was basically people saying 'this function is a bit better than it used to be' going crazy over breadcrumbs.
I've seen 'Adobe will not admit they're wrong/have any weakness' a few times here and there, well it's about time they started listening to the people that have to work with their program because it's not good enough.
I don't expect to have to wait whilst the fonts slowly tick by and with them moments of our lives, it's a major inconvenience. I don't expect to have to click random places on my screen to get rid of a pop up/drop down menu, the program should know that if I have been adjusting a value and then click on the direct selection tool I want the direct selection tool, close the entry box instantly.
Why do I have to double click the color swatch? Why, when I've selected a path and hold my finger on the left arrow key (to nudge) am I whizzing through the file, edit, object, type.... bar?
Why does the color mode not stay on HSB? Who regularly uses RGB to adjust colors anyway? Put a color wheel in,  go on, it won't kill you. People love flexibilty.
Why do gradients have to be rasterized when using 3D? Just shift the path and change the gradient angle for me.
Why isn't there a fillet tool?
Why don't you change the tone of the buttons so the different selctions are clear? (Select, create, manipulate etc).
When it comes to text selection in a project why are my only options - a tiny line that's fiddly to click on or a giant invisible box that covers everything? How about if I want to select the writing I could just click on the text?
Why can't we drag the words for data boxes like in photoshop? (eg:opacity) that's a great feature!
And why can't we have gradients on text?!
Adobe: because text is not actually a path and gradients can only be applied to paths.
Right, so write your way around the problem, make it so when a user selects the text tool, types some text and presses enter the program makes a temporary path which remains until a user double clicks the text (at which point the path is returned to proper text) and makes an adjustment. When they have finished adjusting they hit enter and a new temporary path is created.
Basically, there's a lot of little tweaks they could make that would have a big effect on the overall experience.
It's easier to ignore the little things but sometimes you just have to roll your sleeves up and get it done.
That feels better (lol) and breathe......
Ohhmmmmmmmm