Man I really wish Animal Crossing used a grid layout when designing things. Constantly moving things around cause it doesnt land where you want is really annoying. Also making paths is horrendous. "Open Tab. Drop Tile. Close Tab. Move to next space. Repeat" This is my first AC game and im enjoying it immensely but theres definitely alot of QoL changes they could make in the next one.
Well, it does use a grid. We just can't see it. But if you pay attention, you can start to see it in your head. For placing PWPs, Isabelle uses the space immediately in front of you. If you have a hard time judging it, put down some patterns in the same dimensions of the object you're trying to place.
This page gives each PWP's size. So if I'm placing a regular fountain, I'll put a 3x3 grid of patterns on the ground where I want it so when Isabelle asks if she's got in the right place, I can see if it's lined up instead of trying to eyeball it. It doesn't guarantee she'll be able to place it where you want it but saves you the hassle of needing to tear it down because her preview scene is useless in a lot of instances.
For patterns, your character always puts them down in the same order. Below your feet, right in front of you, top right, top left, etc.. Put down 9 of them at once and you can see the order. If you're doing a double width path, you can place several at once without moving.
12
34
56
If you stand where 4 is and face 3, you'll put them down in the following order: 4, 3, 1, 5, 2, 6.
Flowers are easy enough. Trees are tricky for me to judge (especially if the 3D is off) so I usually just dig a hole in between them to space them out.
I agree that these things could be improved. Some kind of town planning mode would be nice. And I hope pathing is built in to future games. But there are at least a few tricks you can use to make things easier on yourself in the first place.