Start Menu Concept

By Lodmot
in Microsoft (Windows)

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Grand Master

Dot Matrix

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it would still be faster with the lock icon right where you can get to it quick.

The lock icon has never been present before. Why clutter the UI now? If anything the power button should be configurable to change it to the lock or sleep actions.

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Ian W

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The lock icon has never been present before. Why clutter the UI now? If anything the power button should be configurable to change it to the lock or sleep actions.

Windows Vista actually had this as a feature (which could be turned off). Windows 7 instead does what you describe, it provides an option to configure the main power button, but it is apparently no longer possible to have the main power button and the lock button on the Start menu simultaneously in that operating system.

post-483058-0-88491400-1425328673.png

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Veteran

+Asmodai MVC

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Right, but you're ignoring the bigger picture. Metro is more than the Live Tiles. It *is* the entire OS at this point. Metro *is* Windows 10.

 

How do you figure?  I've never heard "Metro" used as such.  "Metro" is a design language that is exemplified by Live Tiles but isn't critical to the OS.  They could change it if they wanted and it would still be Win10.  It also commonly refers to WindowsRT (Windows Runtime API NOT Windows on ARM) apps as they are typically designed using the "Metro" design language but if they will or will not take off remains to be seen.  So far the Windows Phone and Windows 8.x apps (the current "Metro" apps) haven't exactly taken the world by storm and while MS is making HUGE improvements that doesn't always translate into mass adoption.  It may very turn out that most Win10 installs will run primarily Win32/64 (Windows 7 compatible) applications and "Metro" could largely be ignored.  As such I don't see how you can say "Metro *is* Windows 10".  The shell and default apps of Win10 are designed with the Metro design language sure but that's a far cry from saying it *is* Windows 10.

 

Windows Vista actually had this as a feature (which could be turned off). Windows 7 instead does what you describe, it provides an option to configure the main power button, but it is apparently no longer possible to have the main power button and the lock button on the Start menu simultaneously in that operating system.

attachicon.gifWindows Vista - Lock Icon.png

 

Did you have to post that picture... it's almost painful to see the nice glass UI and many color icons in a thread about the new flat UI with very few color icons.  It's best we just forget how things once were and move on to the new EGA reality.

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Grand Master

Ian W

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So far the Windows Phone and Windows 8.x apps (the current "Metro" apps) haven't exactly taken the world by storm and while MS is making HUGE improvements that doesn't always translate into mass adoption.

Would you mind sharing what these "HUGE" improvements to Metro apps are? I am seeing dark and light themes which are not a new development, windowed applications which were previously available via third-party programs (though they did not scale as well), and a relatively minor continuation of the "universal apps" concept introduced in Windows 8.1 / Windows Phone 8.1. In fact, if this article from Microsoft is accurate, then the convergence of Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 should be more significant than the transition from Windows 8.1 / Windows Phone 8.1 to Windows 10, based on the percentage of the WinRT API that had been unified across the Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 platforms.

In other words, these aformentioned features in Windows 10 are largely incremental and are not particularly groundbreaking, unlike Windows 8 itself.

 

Did you have to post that picture... it's almost painful to see the nice glass UI and many color icons in a thread about the new flat UI with very few color icons.  It's best we just forget how things once were and move on to the new EGA reality.

I wanted to illustrate the feature. I must admit that I am not sure why you mention the glass UI when it is hardly noticeable in that screenshot (probably because of the dark wallpaper that I had the desktop set to).

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Rickkins

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Windows Vista actually had this as a feature (which could be turned off). Windows 7 instead does what you describe, it provides an option to configure the main power button, but it is apparently no longer possible to have the main power button and the lock button on the Start menu simultaneously in that operating system.

attachicon.gifWindows Vista - Lock Icon.png

See, that's the way a start menu otta look. It's not rocket science.

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+Asmodai MVC

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Would you mind sharing what these "HUGE" improvements to Metro apps are? I am seeing dark and light themes which are not a new development, windowed applications which were previously available via third-party programs (though they did not scale as well), and a relatively minor continuation of the "universal apps" concept introduced in Windows 8.1 / Windows Phone 8.1. In fact, if this article from Microsoft is accurate, then the convergence of Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 should be more significant than the transition from Windows 8.1 / Windows Phone 8.1 to Windows 10, based on the percentage of the WinRT API that had been unified across the Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 platforms.

In other words, these aformentioned features in Windows 10 are largely incremental and are not particularly groundbreaking, unlike Windows 8 itself.

 

Honestly I just said "HUGE" because I was throwing pro-Metro people a bone in order to try to avoid a debate on if Metro is good or bad. I happen to HATE it's aesthetics personally but that's really not important to the discussion (or even to me because I don't base my upgrade decisions on how pretty the UI is.) I have no intention of spending a great deal of effort defending it, my point was just to refute the "Metro *is* Windows 10" comment.

That said I don't think the fact that 3rd party programs have done something negates it as an improvement to an API that didn't do it. Heck I consider virtual desktops an improvement in Win10 even though they've existed for many, many years. It's still an improvement to Windows for Windows to officially support it. I also attribute the "Universal App" to Windows 10 because that's where it will be completed even if it was started at Windows 8.x. Heck even Cortana on the desktop is a Win10 feature even if Contana existed before Win10 (it's new to the desktop).

I wanted to illustrate the feature. I must admit that I am not sure why you mention the glass UI when it is hardly noticeable in that screenshot (probably because of the dark wallpaper that I had the desktop set to).

I was speaking in reference to the task bar (the whole bottom of your image). It's VERY noticeable to me at least. Having the "glass" look (I'm not talking about transparency, Metro has transparency) makes it look MUCH better IMHO then the "flat" look of the taskbar in Win8+. Just comparing the Windows Start Orb with it's "lighting" and gradients to the basically 2 color (not counting anti-aliasing) four white boxes on a single color background of Metro is a HUGE step back to me as far as aesthetics.
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Grand Master

Ian W

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Honestly I just said "HUGE" because I was throwing pro-Metro people a bone in order to try to avoid a debate on if Metro is good or bad. I happen to HATE it's aesthetics personally but that's really not important to the discussion (or even to me because I don't base my upgrade decisions on how pretty the UI is.) I have no intention of spending a great deal of effort defending it, my point was just to refute the "Metro *is* Windows 10" comment.

I misunderstood your intention then. I apologize. It just seems that so many are giving Windows 10 more credit than it deserves. The aforementioned light and dark themes, for example, are treated like they are entirely new features when they were, in fact, already available.

 

That said I don't think the fact that 3rd party programs have done something negates it as an improvement to an API that didn't do it. Heck I consider virtual desktops an improvement in Win10 even though they've existed for many, many years. It's still an improvement to Windows for Windows to officially support it.

Oh no, I didn't necessarily mean it that way. My point was that these features were available before. I must admit that I would rather have them native than use a program. (I am seeing little to no use for the virtual desktops feature).

 

I also attribute the "Universal App" to Windows 10 because that's where it will be completed even if it was started at Windows 8.x. Heck even Cortana on the desktop is a Win10 feature even if Contana existed before Win10 (it's new to the desktop).

I understand why you feel that way, but their significance in Windows 10 seems to be exaggerated.

 

I was speaking in reference to the task bar (the whole bottom of your image). It's VERY noticeable to me at least. Having the "glass" look (I'm not talking about transparency, Metro has transparency) makes it look MUCH better IMHO then the "flat" look of the taskbar in Win8+. Just comparing the Windows Start Orb with it's "lighting" and gradients to the basically 2 color (not counting anti-aliasing) four white boxes on a single color background of Metro is a HUGE step back to me as far as aesthetics.

I misunderstood you (again!) I agree with you that the aesthetics in Windows Vista look very nice.

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Lodmot

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I misunderstood your intention then. I apologize. It just seems that so many are giving Windows 10 more credit than it deserves. The aforementioned light and dark themes, for example, are treated like they are entirely new features when they were, in fact, already available.

 

Oh no, I didn't necessarily mean it that way. My point was that these features were available before. I must admit that I would rather have them native than use a program. (I am seeing little to no use for the virtual desktops feature).

 

I understand why you feel that way, but their significance in Windows 10 seems to be exaggerated.

 

I misunderstood you (again!) I agree with you that the aesthetics in Windows Vista look very nice.

 

I feel like both Aero Glass and Modern UI with transparency look really good.

 

Aero Glass looks very rich in that it's detailed and has an attractive glass blur effect that looks very pretty and detailed. It definitely made Windows 7 look ahead of its time. 

 

I also think Modern UI looks very rich as well, but for different reasons. It has a very simplistic and contemporary feel to it, almost like looking at an abstract painting. Having a simple opacity setting with no filters on it would add to its contemporary look. ^^

 

Maybe Microsoft will include both. o;

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Grand Master

Dot Matrix

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Windows 10 will have transparency. I wouldn't hold your breath for glass. New release = new theme to set it apart.

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MikeM97

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Hey Mike, just fyi, this isn't something actually in the OS at this point, it's just someone playing around in a photo editing program. 

 

Sure , but if we look towards Start Meny 8 , we'll see some users complaining about that it's working fine on Windows 8 , and on 8.1 not .

I've got no problem with it , but ... God knows what's in there .

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