Windows UI Improvements


Recommended Posts

Hi,

I just made this post to show which design elements in Classic Windows should be improved in a future version of Windows.

For example Aero is still part of Windows 8 and not everything is flat and modern.

I listed here the things I noticed.

  • Windows Media Player has still some Aero Elements and is not flat. Like the Mondern UI.

wmpj.png

  • The same applies to the Windows Photo Viewer

photoviewer.png

  • and as well for Windows Fax and Scan (Ribbon support would be cool)

faxscan.png

  • also the OOBE and Windows Easy Transfer needs to be overhauled and Aero Elements should be removed there as well

oobe.png

  • Windows Explorer Ribbon should get the Office 2013 Ribbon features.
  • like: Auto Hide. Touch Mode, Same Close button (would fit then with Visual Studio as well) etc.

ribbonqi.png

  • Powershell Menu should be flat and white coloured, like the other Windows Applications

powershell.png

  • Screensaver Window should fit into the Appearence Center (I made a sample below)

screenpa.png

  • Like 1
Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1138274-windows-ui-improvements/
Share on other sites

I agree with all of these, but I don't think you'll see it happen.

For example, I'm fairly certain at this point the WMP, WPV, and WFaS are all considered depreciated apps. If anything, they'll be made into Metro apps if any change were to happen to them.

While we're on it, Device Manager could use an overhaul too, but I'm sure if that were to happen, many here would cry bloody murder. God forbid things change.

post-420821-0-22163700-1361717983.png

  • Like 2

While we're on it, Device Manager could use an overhaul too, but I'm sure if that were to happen, many here would cry bloody murder. God forbid things change.

No-one here has a problem with change, as you have been told many many times before

What people have a problem with, is when the change is unnecessary and make things more complicated, difficult and awkward than before, when 2 clicks become 4, when easy access frequently used settings are moved and hidden

Give your walls a fresh coat of paint, maybe even knock a wall down to open up the space in the house, but what good is a fresh coat of paint when you move walls in-front of doors and windows? Now you have to walk around those walls to leave the house or look outside

Pointless

  • Like 3

I can agree with you guys on this one. The right click on drive > Properties dialogue is also a throwback to the 90's.(At least on 7)

Image to demonstrate:

B0aoZ5M.jpg

And yes, it's very dated.

I wander how much Blue will fix in this regard. WMP looks so outdated and as it is the only application to play music Windows ships, this is just pathetic. Also WMP for W8 has the same exact issues as WMP for W7.

Aero Basic is still present in numerous applications and the buttons have the old style gradients:

Tn1LWhN.jpg

I know some of the burden lies with developers but clearly Aero Basic code is still present within Windows 8 and wasn't updated to the new visual style.

Aero Basic is still present in numerous applications and the buttons have the old style gradients:

I know some of the burden lies with developers but clearly Aero Basic code is still present within Windows 8 and wasn't updated to the new visual style.

All standard MDA apps look like this because of MS half assed job with thier VS.

The best thing they could do is to try and put all the leftover pop up dialog windows into the root control panel window. They put a number of them in already but never went all the way. After that we need new icons and we'll see what's left after that. Since they updated task manager I have hope that they'll do the same to other tools like disk management and so on.

faxscan.png

If we look at this image, we do not see that there is a title (Sender Name / Subject / etc) because it has the same color as the list; okay the pre-selection is blue, but when the cursor is on another line, then the title no longer attracts our attention.

I would also like to tell that the scrollbars are now a nightmare. They can't be seen anymore!

Conclusion: More CONTRAST is needed.

Windows 2000 was excellent regarding the contrasts.

Cheers

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • IBM are good at announcing stuff, but not at actually delivering it... How many decades ago did they announce quantum computers, and here we are in 2026, with CHINA delivering them, and IBM still talking...
    • It sounds like you’re trying to rewrite a narrative to align this layoff with your political beliefs. Games can be horrible, whatever backwards notions you have don’t change that bungie has problems, mostly with just bad games, and arrogance. When they pushed Microsoft to let them be independent they lost their way. They hired on a bunch of people and they couldn’t justify the employee count consistent with their revenue.
    • Trying out Noctalia v5 on CachyOS  
    • Calibre 9.10 by Razvan Serea  Calibre is an open source e-book library management application that enables you to manage your e-book collection, convert e-books between different formats, synchronize with popular e-book reader devices, and read your e-books with the included viewer. It acts as an e-library and also allows for format conversion, news feeds to e-book conversion, as well as e-book reader sync features and an integrated e-book viewer. Calibre's features include: library management; format conversion (all major ebook formats); syncing to e-book reader devices; fetching news from the Web and converting it into ebook form; viewing many different e-book formats, giving you access to your book collection over the internet using just a browser. Calibre 9.10 changelog: New features Content server: A new "modern" interface with a sidebar to ease navigation Content server: When used with HTTPS allow installation as a PWA (Progressive Web App) Edit book: Saved searches: When filtering the list of saved searches match by keywords CSS parsing: Add support for CSS Level 4 selectors Cover grid: When using an image larger than the viewport as a texture scale it to fit the viewport Annotations browser: Allow restricting displayed annotations by custom annotation styles as well Edit book: Compress images: Add option to convert PNG images to JPEG or WEBP Bug fixes E-book viewer: Fix IME on Windows not working when typing in notes for highlights Conversion: Heuristics: Improve performance in some pathological cases SNB Input: Fix error on some input files Windows: fix rare crash when too many notifications are displayed at once Fix duplicating of books not duplicating value from enumerated columns when the column has a default value defined Fix a regression in 9.8 that caused errors from AI plugin providers to be silently swallowed and not displayed to user Fix CSV export invalid when exporting comments field Disallow Python templates when reading book metadata (CVE-2026-53511) Improved news sources The Week Economist Espresso Horizons Download: Calibre 9.10 | Portable | ~200.0 MB (Open Source) Download: Calibre for MacOS | 327.0 MB Download: Calibre for Linux View: Calibre Home Page | Calibre Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      xvvxcvv earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Enthusiast
      Xonos went up a rank
      Enthusiast
    • Conversation Starter
      Admir earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • First Post
      The_Focal_Point earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      405
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      168
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      129
    4. 4
      neufuse
      69
    5. 5
      Xenon
      68
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!