Last year, a mock-up of a new Steam interface (opens in new tab) appeared in a client update and was quickly removed. We still don't know if the image represents anything real—it's just an image—but we did learn later from a Valve presentation (opens in new tab) that some kind of Steam UI refresh is in the works. And it's still in the works, says Valve's Alden Kroll.
In a Twitter thread about an upcoming Valve presentation in Milan (opens in new tab), Kroll was asked if the UI update is still happening. "Yes: We're still working on it :)," he said. Kroll then responded to a second question (opens in new tab) to confirm that the option to mute Curators is a feature being worked on.
Yes: We're still working on it :)January 5, 2018
So there you have it: The Steam UI update is happening. Eventually. I hadn't assumed it was scrapped, as it's pretty normal for Valve to mention something and then go silent on it, but I had started to wonder if it would be a full refresh or if recent piecemeal additions—the new Curator pages, for instance—were what Valve had been talking about last year. Though we still don't know what this update is going to look like, it sounds like we'll know it when we see it, and we haven't seen it yet.
As for when we will see it, Kroll hopes it'll be finished within the next 40 years.
Gosh I sure hope we get done before then!January 8, 2018