but I did notice that you've went back to "version naming" the install folder.
Is this meant to make updates more stable so they don't cause problems like failed overrides or leftover old files or just some way of keeping track of the versioning outside of the .EXE's version meta data or is this just some temporary way of keeping these "Beta tested" versions separated to see if they work properly?
I'm assuming you're talking about this folder:
The goal is indeed to keep versioning info outside of the .exe files. (you can see the source code here)
Another goal is to only switch to a higher version if it runs properly - so we don't accidentally break your app if we release a bad build of butler for example. Or, we don't break your app if your Antivirus decides it doesn't like the new butler release, for example.
You mention that your Antivirus keeps getting in the way after every upgrade (of butler, I'm assuming?) - that's precisely what this system is designed to prevent, so, please open a detailed issue at https://github.com/itchio/itch/issues with exactly what happens. You mention the login failing - what's the error message? Which Antivirus are you using? Does your antivirus pop up a "Scanning.." notification? etc.
Note that v23 was strictly worse in that sense - it always replaced its dependencies' executables without checking that they worked first. So the Antivirus behavior should be equivalent at worst - AV software don't care about paths, they care about file signatures.
(Actually, I'm noticing now you mentioned your "firewall", not your antivirus. The same applies though. I personally think that a firewall blocking all outbound connection attempts is a bit overzealous, but hey, your computer your rules - I think it should be possible in this case to add an exception for the "broth" folder wholesale though. All the same, please open an issue *just for that* with details so we can figure out an action plan)
is there a reason why allowing tabs removes the "shortcuts" at the top? Is it just about not having enough space to keep them all there or does it actually make the code that much simpler?
It's about space, not code:
Also: what would the shortcuts do: always open in a new tab? Then you'd end up with N copies of the Library open. Or should they try to switch to an existing tab if it has the same base url? (itch://library, itch://collections, etc.). Or would they just open in the current tab? Actually, that could work.
I'd be more inclined to short shortcuts while tabs are enabled if tabs were moved to the top of the screen (a-la chrome, firefox etc.). We might want to make the user menu narrower and move the "New version available" to some sort of notification system. tl;dr it's about design, I'll bring it up internally.
My first problem might be something that can't be fixes since it's probably tied to the browser code base that's used(probably Chromium since that's what does this), but I generally scroll pages by holding down my scroll button and just drag it around, but that starts highlighting everything that I'm passing by.
Is there a way to disable this behavior or do we need to just get used to it?
I'm confused, because I'm not seeing the same behavior here! (Win10, Logitech MX Master 2S)
My final problem is again just a personal preference, but when I close the client the only options I have is to shut it down so that I have to start it up again to use or to just keep it minimized on the taskbar. The old client kept running in the background as well, but it "hid itself" in the right side menu like a background process just like Steam.
Is this a limitation of the new system or was it just decided that that's what it should do?
Again, I'm not sure why you're seeing this. The app definitely closes to tray and opens back up immediately for me:
