I teach programming in the classroom using Scratch and just recently started using Hopscotch for younger learners (age 9 and 10). I really dislike many of the changes in the new Hopscotch release. they feel like UX designing run amok, out of touch with the audience of young learners.

The script blocks (the code) that were front and center are now buried behind a few additional taps.

They've replaced buttons clearly labeled with text with icons that are sometimes cryptic even to me (let alone a 9 year old). Would you guess that an icon with an "i" is how you edit your code? I assumed it would just be some kind of read-only display of extended properties, not an editing capability.

And the worst and most subtle change is the de-emphasis of the X/Y Cartesian-esque grid. Before you had clearly labeled X and Y value textboxes and a grid with matching color-coded horizontal and vertical guide-lines to make it easy to understand the grid, and labeled light gridlines every 100 pixels. Now nothing is labeled or shown except while long-tapping to move a sprite's starting position. Anything that ties into math curriculum is a win (Cartesian coordinates, ordered pairs), and they took much of that goodness away in favor of a more "streamlined" UX.

I do like that they fixed the problem of moving large chunks of script blocks inside of the repeat loops though.

My daughter is a bit too young still so i haven't tried it with any actual kids yet, except myself. I liked the cleaner visual style but it might indeed be less clear now..