As someone who's an IDE "beginner" (I usually code in Vim, recently started using IDEA) in my opinion there's nothing at all about this that "helps beginners get going". Instead of having a useful toolbar with a few of the most common operations on it I have a double or triple stacked bar with dozens of icons, panels coming from every side, etc.
It's basically impossible to find even the easiest of IDE functions in that mess. One of the purported advantages of GUIs is the discoverability of the interface. When I have to visually search through hundreds of UI elements to find what I need, that is all lost.
The monolithic IDE concept really needs a fresh breath of air. I do like the fact that they come with a lot of integrated tools for a programming environment, but they shouldn't clutter the UI because of it. Ideally I think an IDE would start off looking mostly like a text editor and give you clearly delineated views of different activities once you need them.
It's basically impossible to find even the easiest of IDE functions in that mess. One of the purported advantages of GUIs is the discoverability of the interface. When I have to visually search through hundreds of UI elements to find what I need, that is all lost.
The monolithic IDE concept really needs a fresh breath of air. I do like the fact that they come with a lot of integrated tools for a programming environment, but they shouldn't clutter the UI because of it. Ideally I think an IDE would start off looking mostly like a text editor and give you clearly delineated views of different activities once you need them.