Property panes in the more modern SharePoint Framework-based web parts still carry the same feel, but not the same look of the classic web part property panes.

As part of Communications Sites feature, Microsoft provided a plethora of new SPFx-based web parts in a ready-made template that can be configured. For each web part, a custom property pane is accessible.

By clicking the pencil icon of a web part, the property pane is shown:

Each top-level item in the property pane reveals more configuration values and data for the content editor:

Changes performed in the property pane are immediately reflected on the page, thus providing a more fluid experience for managing page content. It also helps page editors to avoid the constant Edit/Save/Reload-loop when fine-tuning page content and element positioning.

Within our earlier HelloWorld Web Part, the property pane is accessible similarly to how it is available in classic web parts through the small menu:

Microsoft aims to provide a legacy bridge between classic and modern web parts, thus the property pane inherits the classic properties, but builds upon that to show a button to access the modern properties:

Clicking on Configure replaces the classic property pane with the modern one showing you the web Part properties:

Possibly in the future, we might not have to worry that much on the classic property pane, and the currently modern property pane could be the default one.