The workspace UI needs an overhaul. If you look at the first screenshot attached, it is for example not clear which icon is the active one. In previous versions of Notes there was a more clear depression of the chicklet, Now it is all flat. I know that flat UIs are the popular thing at the moment, but it should not be done in a way that makes it harder for the user.
Much of the complaints about Notes from users has revolved around the UI. Making an attempt to modernize it is good, but there is much left to do. A total redesign of the workspace is long overdue.
Look at the second screenshot, just by fixing the icons it already looks better. Flat does not have to be boring.
Make the workspace skinable using CSS, or some kind of editor. That editor should be able to export the design/theme as JSON, and it should also be possible to load that JSON into the editor. That way users can exchange themes. Include the background image as B64-encoded data.
Allow different colors and backgrounds on each chicklet. Also allow rule-based backgrounds/colors for chicklets. For example, I use an icon with red background for all my .NTF templates, and the same icon with transparent background for the corresponding database. It would be great if I could set that color automatically, using a rule-based background color. Then the whole chicklet would be colored, not just the icon.
Adding folders, so icons could be nested within a tab. I know you can add as many tabs as you like, but you want them all to be displayed in teh window, not having to scroll, perhaps forgetting they are there.
I do personally not like the new look of the tabs, they are too square and pointy. Also, the text on active tabs is hitting the edge of the tabs at full length, while there is a lot of empty space when the tab name is short. The tabs should resize and fit the label better.
There are many little things like that that could improve the workspace a lot. Put a design team on this, and see what they can come up with.
the request is very detailed: honestly say "shipped" does not reflect the request also in 12.0.1 have been made slight improvements ... but much is missing to reach the degree of usability of the workspace described above.
In the old design, the base icons were smaller, but the information contained more... The new design is scary.
About tabs within tabs: that is what the folders would give you.
If you look at a modern phone (at least Android) you can place icons on different screens ("tabs") that you can swipe between, but you can also combine application icons in folders.
I suggest to keep a UI design the users are already familiar with. Tabs within tabs is generally a bad UI design.
However I agree with dragging a tab out of the Notes client and be able to display it in a separate window, just like you can do in modern browsers.
It would be nice if you could have tabs inside of tabs. I deal with multiple companies and it would be nice if I could create one high level tab for the company and sub tabs for IT, Sales, Support, Mail, Roaming, templates, test or whatever else.
This should be easy to customize and I should be able to launch multiple notes client windows and drag and open applications tabs as well as workspace tabs from one to the other.
It would also be nice if you could set certain tabs as default setup for every user or a collection of users using policies or something. In general I want everyone in the company to have certain icons on certain tabs available to them and then allow them to customize others. This might mean having the same icon in more than one tab
I agree that the new workspace seems to waste more space and provide less information in the icons. Being able to customize how much blank space there is between icons might help