After admiring Maya 2016’s new cleaner look recently, I realised there is a lot of wasted space at the top of the attribute editor. I was thinking it could do with a rethink/ redesign considering its pretty much been like this since version 1. Any thoughts? Am I completely insane?
The proposed layout below. Shift the buttons to the top menu making space for preview icon on the left.
Arnold Rendering Blog 
If only that was the only thing that needs redesign in Maya…
But it’s true that 2016’s new UI is a good step forward.
I think your proposition is valid, but if you try to add the light shape (SpotLight) icon as well, it might get a bit crammed… Since it’s the only light to have that though, maybe that should be elsewhere…
What would be awesome in my opinion, would be the ability to show/hide the tabs you don’t want in the attribute editor, just like in the channels editor.
you’re not insane. It’s a great idea.