What Modern UI should've been

[SubTract]

Just some screens I put together of what I think modern UI could have been.

 

 

 

 

What are your impressions and what do you think could've been done better with Modern UI?

[BAPEsta]

If you're the one who designed this you've just schooled the whole design department of Microsoft.

[ajoy39]

No, first of all moving the start menu to the top serves no purpose and I'm sure apple would go crazy about having the menu be up there. Secondly, I don't went Metro to replace my desktop background. Modern UI is fine for it's purpose the main problem with it is that you have to have a touchscreen to really take advantage of it. For touch devices the traditional start menu is an equally awful experience. 

[911^NEmeSis]

No, first of all moving the start menu to the top serves no purpose and I'm sure apple would go crazy about having the menu be up there. Secondly, I don't went Metro to replace my desktop background. Modern UI is fine for it's purpose the main problem with it is that you have to have a touchscreen to really take advantage of it. For touch devices the traditional start menu is an equally awful experience. 

Yeah probably some sort of lame patent that goes on about the location of a navigation bar :D Don't want Apple to start sueing now do we lol

[ajoy39]

Yeah probably some sort of lame patent that goes on about the location of a navigation bar :D Don't want Apple to start sueing now do we lol

If they can patent a rectangle with rounded edges, I'm sure they patented a top menu bar. 

[extremescouter]

No, first of all moving the start menu to the top serves no purpose and I'm sure apple would go crazy about having the menu be up there. Secondly, I don't went Metro to replace my desktop background. Modern UI is fine for it's purpose the main problem with it is that you have to have a touchscreen to really take advantage of it. For touch devices the traditional start menu is an equally awful experience. 

 

I agree. The basis of windows 8 is compatibility with both tablets and PCs. However, they essentially mushed the two systems together, and made an operating system that isnt optimal for either a tablet or a PC. Modern UI is more acceptable for tablets, so maybe they could think of somehow to make Windows 8 into a more desktop orientated system. 

[mybeat]

Nothing really. 

Think of UI as a hammer, it's used to hammer down nails and it's a tool to do the job.

It doesn't need to changed every few years just because someone wanted it to change nor it's required to preform the job.

 

While some might object to this saying: "But, but, it's now better", actually it's not.

This especially concern businesses and people who use PC as tool to get the job done. Think of all the cost associated with staff retraining and so on.

 

On a side note, I still remember when we had to roll-out Vista for a factory where I've used to work. This was a nightmare for IT as we got tons of calls and factory productivity noticeably dropped for the duration of 1 month.

 

Also:

* Interface 101, less clicks the better, © Jahtzee. 

* Less mouse movement the better © can't remember who.

[ajoy39]

I agree. The basis of windows 8 is compatibility with both tablets and PCs. However, they essentially mushed the two systems together, and made an operating system that isnt optimal for either a tablet or a PC. Modern UI is more acceptable for tablets, so maybe they could think of somehow to make Windows 8 into a more desktop orientated system. 

Honestly, even on my desktop I like modern UI. I like having all my programs arranged exactly the way I want them with labelled categories for everything. The biggest problem is that I can't resize the tiles, i'm using a mouse not my finger I don't need the tiles to be that big and I could fit more tiles per space if I could downsize them. 

[extremescouter]

Honestly, even on my desktop I like modern UI. I like having all my programs arranged exactly the way I want them with labelled categories for everything. The biggest problem is that I can't resize the tiles, i'm using a mouse not my finger I don't need the tiles to be that big and I could fit more tiles per space if I could downsize them. 

 

Yeah, thats true that it could be good to have more options. I guess I've still really not gotten used to the tiled interface, but it could be good if they allowed you to customize it. 

[ajoy39]

Nothing really. 

Think of UI as a hammer, it's used to hammer down nails and it's a tool to do the job.

It doesn't need to changed every few years just because someone wanted it to change nor it's required to preform the job.

 

While some might object to this saying: "But, but, it's now better", actually it's not.

This especially concern businesses and people who use PC as tool to get the job done. Think of all the cost associated with staff retraining and so on.

 

On a side note, I still remember when we had to roll-out Vista for a factory where I've used to work. This was a nightmare for IT as we got tons of calls and factory productivity noticeably dropped for the duration of 1 month.

 

Also:

* Interface 101, less clicks the better, © Jahtzee. 

* Less mouse movement the better © can't remember who.

metro uses less clicks. open menu, click program. in the old menu it's start, all programs, find the folder, program. You could add the programs to your desktop but you can still do that in metro and it accomplishes the same thing while cluttering your desktop. 

[WoodenMarker]

Very nice. The start menu could use some reworking though. Rectangular panels would work nicely.

[bradscoolio]

Is this just a re-skinned windows 7 with a metro rainmeter?

[Box_Of_Rocks]

Windows key + X ... It will solve alot of the "hassling around" to get where you want to go

 

I have a windows 8 laptop with a touchscreen and the biggest problem of it all is the diffenrence between desktop apps and modern i apps :)

[ajoy39]

Windows key + X ... It will solve alot of the "hassling around" to get where you want to go

 

I have a windows 8 laptop with a touchscreen and the biggest problem of it all is the diffenrence between desktop apps and modern i apps :)

other than giving you the desktop option at the bottom, I don't see what this benefits. 

[ixi_your_face]

If the 'modern UI' was like this i'd buy win 8 in a heartbeat. It looks so much more usable than the real one :(

[Toby]

You seem to have just put a MUI overlay on the desktop background...I'm glad it's not this way.

 

- Aesthetically it's not coherent.

- If we're going to have MUI and a start menu, we certainly don't need the terrible start menu we're used to.

- Putting windows on top of it, to me, looks all sort of wrong/messy.

 

Basically you've taken everything and lumped them in one messy pile, which is precisely what was wrong with the old start menu in the first place.

 

The solution to MUI is more capabilities...More tile sizes, more live tile functions, better integration (not overlapping) with the desktop side etc.

 

Edit: You might've inspired me to try my own MUI mock-up though, so thank you for this.

[SubTract]

If you're the one who designed this you've just schooled the whole design department of Microsoft.

I took my current desktop and with a little photoshop got what I would like rather than the actual desktop, This is not a working desktop. (I wish)

The modern UI start screen and the taskbar and start menu are mine, just I put them together with photoshop, and put a nice background on. I'm currently looking into ways of making it possible.

 

No, first of all moving the start menu to the top serves no purpose and I'm sure apple would go crazy about having the menu be up there. Secondly, I don't went Metro to replace my desktop background. Modern UI is fine for it's purpose the main problem with it is that you have to have a touchscreen to really take advantage of it. For touch devices the traditional start menu is an equally awful experience. 

The taskbar at the top is just my personal preference, I've used it like this for many years simply because the options are accross the top of all desktop applications so it saves a lot of mouse movements, having it at the bottom would work just the same with a bit more mouse movement. I also don't think that apple could have a problem, OSX's UI is based on Gnome anyways.

 

It appears that there would be a lot of modification to the shell for explorer aswell as modern UI to actually make this possible, I'm going to give it a go and I'll let you all know.

[SubTract]

You seem to have just put a MUI overlay on the desktop background...I'm glad it's not this way.

 

- Aesthetically it's not coherent.

- If we're going to have MUI and a start menu, we certainly don't need the terrible start menu we're used to.

- Putting windows on top of it, to me, looks all sort of wrong/messy.

 

Basically you've taken everything and lumped them in one messy pile, which is precisely what was wrong with the old start menu in the first place.

 

The solution to MUI is more capabilities...More tile sizes, more live tile functions, better integration (not overlapping) with the desktop side etc.

 

Edit: You might've inspired me to try my own MUI mock-up though, so thank you for this.

Personally I think that Metro UI is more suited as a desktop than it is as start screen, Live tiles much like widgets serve better purpose this way IMO.

[ajoy39]

Personally I think that Metro UI is more suited as a desktop than it is as start screen, Live tiles much like widgets serve better purpose this way IMO.

I'd have to disagree, especially with the way you have it set up now with the floating windows. If you are trying to click to close a window for example and you miss the x button, you probably just hit a tile to open a program. 

[Toby]

Personally I think that Metro UI is more suited as a desktop than it is as start screen, Live tiles much like widgets serve better purpose this way IMO.

 

I agree, but only assuming you're using the desktop in the colloquial "wrong" way.

 

If you mean as a "base" screen, kind of like your command center for a spaceship, then yes. If you think about what a "desk top" actually is in reality though, it's your workspace, where you have your paper piled on top of each other. With that in mind, I think MUI should fulfill the role of "desktop" (colloquial), but be separate from the "desk top" (where all the windows go)

[SubTract]

I'd have to disagree, especially with the way you have it set up now with the floating windows. If you are trying to click to close a window for example and you miss the x button, you probably just hit a tile to open a program. 

Just like in windows as it is if you have an active windows and click out of it, it does not active what you pressed simply minimizes the windows. If I were to use this anyway the windows would be maximized. The small windows were simply to display the concept.

 

I would love to see anyone else' mockup. Always looking for ways to make using my computer easier.

[SubTract]

I agree, but only assuming you're using the desktop in the colloquial "wrong" way.

 

If you mean as a "base" screen, kind of like your command center for a spaceship, then yes. If you think about what a "desk top" actually is in reality though, it's your workspace, where you have your paper piled on top of each other. With that in mind, I think MUI should fulfill the role of "desktop" (colloquial), but be separate from the "desk top" (where all the windows go)

I agree completely. We really should have a better name for it. Home screen is probably better suited yet doesn't fit properly either.

[gjrud]

There are still the big boxes that seem to be made with MS Paint, why are they considered so classy and fancy?

[Samdb]

That looks awesome, much better than Microsoft.

[wkronbaek]

Would i seem like a Linux fanboy of i just posten a screenshot of gnome?