Is there a way I can try out Ubuntu Touch on my laptop/computer via a virtual machine or some other way just to get a feel of it before installing it on a device?

Hi, I'm new to this community and was surprised to see Ubuntu Touch continuing as a community project, which is great to see by the way so keep up the great work.

I recall though how when Canonical maintained the OS they had a "pages" feature i believe it was called. So they had a page for "People", "Videos" and perhaps for other things like media, music, social media, messages, etc. I may be wrong but I've noticed this is no longer the case on the current distribution. Is there a reason this "pages" feature was no longer maintained by the community in favour of the usual app grid system?

I for one am sad to see this pages features go as it allowed a different way for the user to interact with their apps and their phone, very different from the other two popular touch based OS's, something which caught my attention back when Canonical first revealed Ubuntu Touch. A different way of interacting brings a different and unique experience and may help Ubuntu Touch to stand out from the likes of Android and iOS.