In Version 7x the search was part of the top header. Now it has been moved under the top header - and it takes too much valuable space. It’s a waste and basically forces users to move scrolling since the main content is mostly not visible.
I suggest to move Search back to top header.
SuiteCRM 7.x was very productive and fast. Unfortunately the usability and speed suffers in v8. The new CRM is much slower and looks actually worst. it’a utility and not design contest.
It doesn’t have to be slower.
Make sure you turn on opcache in production, it makes a big difference.
I also don’t think it looks worse, but I do think it would benefit greatly from some UI adjustments (aimed at utility, like you wrote).
