114 replies to this topic

[MorganX]

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder because I think it's great! Soft and easy to view/use, very functional on desktop and tablet. Superb actually. Best Office yet.

Really slick. I would like all my Windows apps (desktop apps) to look and function similarly.

[oceanseleven]

Scorbing, on 17 November 2012 - 15:05, said:

I'm going back to Office 2010. This white is driving me crazy. I have a bad headache right now. I can't deal with this sh...t. This is horrible.

Epic fail Microsoft. Sorry fanboys, but this UI really sucks.

What about the Light Gray and Dark Gray options?

[libertas83]

Excel and OneNote work pretty well in 2013, but I agree with Outlook 2013. That will be the first Outlook, I will not upgrade to because they got rid of the To-Do bar. Metrics probably showed nobody interacted with it, but metrics cannot show that I didn't use it! I need that for my upcoming meetings!

I think the complaints about the white though is because of your monitors. Turn the brightness down and it won't be that bad, and yes, you are supposed to turn it down!

[Scorbing]

oceanseleven, on 17 November 2012 - 19:45, said:

What about the Light Gray and Dark Gray options?

They don't really help the eyes.

[~Johnny]

Max Norris, on 17 November 2012 - 14:31, said:

But what's killing 2013 for me is the terrible font rendering, and killing off hardware acceleration to "fix" it isn't an option.

It's perfectly possible to disable Words sub-pixel font positioning if you wish, without disabled hardware acceleration. (The Text won't be hardware accelerated anymore of course, but the rest will). Though I personally think it looks much nicer

[DirtyLarry]

I like the new design actually, but just basing this opinion on the screenshots, I have not used it yet on a daily basis.
But I also prefer the simpler, minimalistic approach to UI design. So I like it, a lot actually, based on the screenshots.

[oceanseleven]

Scorbing, on 17 November 2012 - 19:51, said:

They don't really help the eyes.

They look fine for me, so I guess I'm having a hard time understanding what is "horrible" about the interface. Can you post a screenshot and maybe point out what is the problem specifically with the Dark Gray option?

[MorganX]

libertas83, on 17 November 2012 - 19:49, said:

Excel and OneNote work pretty well in 2013, but I agree with Outlook 2013. That will be the first Outlook, I will not upgrade to because they got rid of the To-Do bar. Metrics probably showed nobody interacted with it, but metrics cannot show that I didn't use it! I need that for my upcoming meetings!

I think the complaints about the white though is because of your monitors. Turn the brightness down and it won't be that bad, and yes, you are supposed to turn it down!

You have valid reasons for being displeased with Outlook based on your usage. It's a shame too. 2013 is the lightest, most well optimized Outlook yet. Outlook accounts for most of our Office Corporate desktop support and I'm happy with where it has gone. Hopefully you can utilize the rest of 2013.

[Ambroos]

You know what was so nice about Office 2010 with a dark theme? It wasn't about the user interface, it was about your content. With the dark theme it feels like the user interface is taking a step back and your content, whatever you're working on, is taking the spotlights. With Office 2013 it's the opposite. Your white page just drowns amidst a whole user interface of whiteness. There is almost no visible separation between content and tools. It is distracting and annoying to work with for longer periods of time.

And seriously, that "dark gray" setting is barely worth. It's not dark, it's just slightly less white.

This is a good content-focused UI. Microsoft had it and threw it away and that was a horrible mistake.

[MorganX]

~Johnny, on 17 November 2012 - 19:52, said:

It's perfectly possible to disable Words sub-pixel font positioning if you wish, without disabled hardware acceleration. (The Text won't be hardware accelerated anymore of course, but the rest will). Though I personally think it looks much nicer

I wonder if there are video card/monitor specific issues because it really looks fantastic to me. Seriously. Whites have never bothered me but I do adjust the gamma and dynamic contrast using my monitor controls and Catalyst Control Panel to get it perfect for me.

[Scorbing]

oceanseleven, on 17 November 2012 - 20:01, said:

They look fine for me, so I guess I'm having a hard time understanding what is "horrible" about the interface. Can you post a screenshot and maybe point out what is the problem specifically with the Dark Gray option?

I already posted screenshots. Go back to the first page of the thread.

Ambroos, on 17 November 2012 - 20:04, said:

You know what was so nice about Office 2010 with a dark theme? It wasn't about the user interface, it was about your content. With the dark theme it feels like the user interface is taking a step back and your content, whatever you're working on, is taking the spotlights. With Office 2013 it's the opposite. Your white page just drowns amidst a whole user interface of whiteness. There is almost no visible separation between content and tools. It is distracting and annoying to work with for longer periods of time.

And seriously, that "dark gray" setting is barely worth. It's not dark, it's just slightly less white.

This is a good content-focused UI. Microsoft had it and threw it away and that was a horrible mistake.

[MorganX]

Ambroos, on 17 November 2012 - 20:04, said:

Snip

While this doesn't bother me at all, I do see what you're talking about. I can see how it would bother some if they need that contrast.

[Ambroos]

MorganX, on 17 November 2012 - 20:08, said:

While this doesn't bother me at all, I do see what you're talking about. I can see how it would bother some if they need that contrast.

Thanks for understanding.

This is also one of my issues with the lack of transparency in Windows 8. I think it's great how Windows 7's windows are transparent. Absolutely not because it looks fancy, but because it pulls focus away from it. The frame isn't important, it blends into the background. It's about what's inside the frame.

[+remixedcat]

OMG That MS word 2010 UI is nice!

[oceanseleven]

Scorbing, on 17 November 2012 - 20:08, said:

I already posted screenshots. Go back to the first page of the thread.

I actually thought the dark option in 2010 was way too dark, so our opinions are the opposite on the topic for this thread. But, for me to say 2010 was "horrible" is a stretch to say the least especially considering the Silver option worked great for me. So I was just curious if it was something actually horrible with the UI or you just have a preference for a darker appearance.