Nodes 2.0, still a downgrade from legacy nodes, proven with just one node.

[Sofocletus]

I installed the latest version of ComfyUI (21.1) and decided to see if any improvements have been made to Nodes 2.0.
Still the same issues after six months, let me show you just with one basic node some of the ways Nodes 2.0 are a downgrade for the user.

First off, workflow messed up because Nodes 2.0 are bigger and at the same time display far less information than legacy nodes.
On the left, for the same width can read the entire name of the LoRA, on the right can only see the first 4 letters.

To display the full name the Node 2.0 needs to be nearly twice the size (in area) compared to legacy nodes, this of course translates into larger workflows.

Bigger workflows need to be zoomed out more to fit on the screen, the Node 2.0 has far worse readability at smaller sizes, so the problem is compounded.

Drop down lists are much worse in terms of efficient use in Nodes 2.0, first off they display far less options, necessitating lots of scrolling to find entries. Node 2.0 shows 7 LoRAs, legacy node shows 42, meaning you have to scroll six times longer to find things.

Of course there's a search function... which is functionally worse in Nodes 2.0.
Legacy node: star typing LoRA name, after it's found hit enter and done.
Node 2.0: start typying, after LoRA is found it's necessary to use the down key to select it and then press Enter.
This makes a two step (type>Enter) into a three step process (type>select>Enter).

And then it gets worse.
After making a search, in Nodes 2.0 the previously typed entry remains in the search box, so instead of just opening the drop down and start typing it's necessary to first delete the previous entry carefully because when highlighting the text with the mouse to delete it if the cursor moves out of the search area the drop down is closed automatically.

Much worse.
A failed search in legacy nodes keeps the previous entry, in nodes 2.0 cancelling the search removes it, so the previous LoRA needs to be searched for and selected again.

This is just one node, one that any user utilizes constantly and would see immediately that it works much worse in Nodes 2.0 than in the legacy nodes. This makes me think that the UI is being developed by people who don't use Comfy, because any user (and you'll find plenty in an online search) keep pointing out this and many other issues with the way Nodes 2.0 works and looks.

Unfortunately the development team is slowly forcing the change to Nodes 2.0 without addressing issues like this.

[Sofocletus]

Reading a discussion regarding Nodes2.0 on Reddit someone mentioned that ComfyUI should had done it with Svelte.
Never heard of that, never created a node based UI, I'm not a coder.
I made this, copy the code in the text file into the Svelte playground and you can play with it: https://svelte.dev/playground
MockupUI_v02.txt

Runs smooth, waaaay more clean and readable than Nodes2.0.
Open the menu on the top left of any node, select Flow > Custom Flow, now you can connect nodes on any edge. Hovering on the dots highlights the label for the connection in the node. It also used to show the name of the node connected to it and what value it was getting (checkpoint name, numerical value, image name), but that got lost somewhere along the way.
Going back to Normal mode restores the normal look of a ComfyUI node, keeping the connections, going back to Custom Flow does the reverse, it goes back to where you set it, great if things get confusing about what is what in the input and outputs.

No need to have 1.5 gazillion nodes to do basically the same, check the Load Image node, open menu, change mode, enable scaling.
Select Load Image, enable resize in the menu, change image size input to just "/2" connect Show Anything node. You can do math in an variable input box, no need to add a node to multiply a value, then another to add a number, etc, etc... Simple, where you need it, that is the way.

Right click on canvas, select Tablet Mode, one tap on a node makes it twice the size, tap again to put it back down.
LoRA Loader kind of broken, but go to the menu, select number of LoRAs to load.

Change node size, collapse node, note it maintains node width, better than Comfy's implementation.
Collapsed nodes show each connection, you can still plug and unplug things, this is most definitely the way.

Node titles wrap to two lines as the get too narrow.

It was accidental, but I love that when resizing a node all the way up it turns into a transparent node with floating elements. Looks great IMO.

Custom node color, they look nice.

Right click text box, change font size, like doh!, why don't we have this in Comfy?

Load an image, set "Lock Size ON", load another image, it won't change the node's size or shape.

Right click canvas, Node ID's on and off, it shows the node ID on the node and on the connections to another node.

Of course it's a mockup, but it looks and works so.... comfy. Do you agree?

It got to the point that trying new ideas and fixing issues broke more things than it fixed. But this is things I tried and worked:
-KSampler preview image between the model, positive, LATENT labels... where it should be.
-Up Down arrows on the drop down menus, kept things more visually constant and functional, hit and miss while vibe-coding.
-One Empty Latent to rule them all, for image and video, with automatic size/frame number constrains for WAN and LTX.

Things I'd like to try:
-Collapsible groups, like Graphs but better.
-Better search function in dropdown menus, just like litegraph, that's the best.

[Sofocletus]

I forgot a few things...
Ctrl+click to remove a link, double click to add/remove link waypoints.
Double clicking on a node input label centers the view on the node connected to it.
For the Custom Flow mode, enable it in a pair of nodes, connect a normal output from the first node to any side of the second node, then do it in reverse, drag the node from the second node to where you want the connection on the first one. Perhaps it's not the best solution but it works better than having an "Edit Custom Flow" mode where inputs and outputs are moved around.

[Sofocletus]

So I went and did a Comfy...
I have a basic front end running on Svelte, barely functional but it works and can generate images.