SharePoint SE - cluttered interface, how to deal with it?

Question

We are about to upgrade from SharePoint 2016 Server to SharePoint Subscription Edition and the (not so) new modern experience. First impressions, I'm confused. It's so apart. Old lists and new lists mixed depending what type of list you are creating. Our existing pages will be left in classic style, while a new page will be created using modern UI (still not modern like online modern but som limited on premise modern type of page). Powershell is not our friend here ether since on premise pages can't be transformed using script (not supported).

Navigating through our site will be an utterly messed up experience! It's half done, modern transition stopped in the middle.

What's your experience going from classic SharePoint to modern (server-based)? How do we keep a solid and user friendly experience using SharePoint SE? Is there a way to avoid this cluttered interface, like remove all classic list templates from beeing used? Is that even possible?

SharePoint Online is unfortunately not an option.

Answer 1

You will need to create a plan for adopting the modern experience for all your SharePoint content.

For lists and libraries, this isn't so bad as you can simply switch the experience in list/library settings.

As you are on-premises, unless you want to build your own automated methods using PowerShell or CSOM etc, you may need to manually create the new modern pages and begin copying information across from the classic pages. Though, this may be an opportunity to improve your intranet content and take advantage of modern web parts.

Personally, I have found the modern experience to be a massive improvement for user experience. The key is that you do not want a hybrid of classic and modern experience, since this will make things very confusing for users.