[Concept] New Ribbon UI !

[FMH]

Real nice. Not bad at all.

The final version will be more along this line. I hope.

[.Neo]

That said Zain Adeel, I people came here expecting to see a new design by Microsoft. I totally hate misleading topic titles like this.

[Stoffel]

I just hope they are going to Metro-fy the buttons and layout, so it doesn't look like you move to a completely different environment every time you switch between desktop and Metro start screen

[Zain Adeel]

That said Zain Adeel, I people came here expecting to see a new design by Microsoft. I totally hate misleading topic titles like this.

Well its not misleading :p

i didnt state anywhere that its from MS.

People know me here for my graphic work.. I also tagged it with UI design. So they should expect such topics to show my work.

And its amazing how ignorant many are without reading my post. Or even taking a deep look at the work and saying things that are baseless.

And no they should not METROFY it.. either its Metro. or Aero.. Dont mix both. It will look like ****.

[Dot Matrix]

You know... I once heard the default, brightly-coloured Start menu in XP described as "Fisher-Price-like", and it stuck with me.

Having that damn dog in the search didn't help XP either. :pacifier:

[fusi0n]

not bad

[Kirkburn]

I notice you've made all the icons the same size - tbh, that's not a good idea. Not all options are the same importance.

The Finder by comparison. Sorry, couldn't resist! :laugh:

The Finder, which apparently does pretty much none of the things that are in the ribbon.

[limok]

I like it, I know which theme I'm usin when Win8 is released. :whistle:

[darth_vader]

Nice work Zain, I like it.

[pack34]

Yea good job Microsoft lets add more crap to explorer (regardless if you can hide it or not) clutter clutter clutter!!!

The ribbon is better for people who are newer to the platform or aren't as computer literate as the rest of us. Not everyone knows that you can double click a file name to rename it or the various keyboard shortcuts. Having a collapsable tools pane makes it much easier to use for newer users.

Since we know how to do everything we need by keyboard shortcuts or the command prompt we will never need to un-collapse the thing to access the tools.

[KevinN206]

All the screenshot are so far from the DP. When do icons get changed? In beta? RC? RTM?

[briangw]

The Finder by comparison. Sorry, couldn't resist! :laugh:

That looks even worse! :D

[.Neo]

The Finder, which apparently does pretty much none of the things that are in the ribbon.

You have a hard time understanding the concept behind the Menu Bar and Action button apparently, that's okay though.

Well its not misleading :p

i didnt state anywhere that its from MS.

Not, but you must be able to see that others can interpret it as such.

That looks even worse! :D

We found another Microsoft employee! :p Haha

[~Johnny]

I see here a less efficient use of space than the current ribbon really - and again I don't see how this is more "consistent" than the current ribbon.

Personally I think the current layout of the ribbon is more than fine. At most, maybe a colour change to match the Office 2010 style ribbon, but given that this is following the default "Windows" Scenic style ribbon, it'll let let continue. Works like a charm in the dev preview anyway.

[Zain Adeel]

Yea. Works like a charm... Most cars work like a charm. But we still skip the ugly ones. If something works doesn't mean it should look ugly. Ribbon as it is is not designed in my opinion. It looks like old icons thrown in a grid. And well I gave ribbon some breathing room. All icons are equal because once you present them. Ppl will use them. We should treat them equal. Also with my design it still takes less space. The android mobile platform does really neat colored and freeform icons. Atleast bring up the quality to match them then. I will do a coloured version maybe.

[.Neo]

Personally I think the current layout of the ribbon is more than fine. At most, maybe a colour change to match the Office 2010 style ribbon, but given that this is following the default "Windows" Scenic style ribbon, it'll let let continue. Works like a charm in the dev preview anyway.

I honestly don't get why it needs to be there in the first place. I mean a bar that takes up half the window for cut, copy, paste etc.? You gotta be kiddin' me...

[vox_a]

@MS

[Zain Adeel]

@MS

lol this was funny!

I honestly don't get why it needs to be there in the first place. I mean a bar that takes up half the window for cut, copy, paste etc.? You gotta be kiddin' me...

I only understand ribbon in specialist Softwares like the Office Suite. or Photoshop or other such softwares. Not in Windows Explorer.

But.. to me the only logical reason to add them to the WE is to make it easy for touch users. (But then we dont need those small icons, thus resulting in my use of equally sized icons)

[Mocosoft]

I like the icons.. But I'm thinking on getting ride of the bar and add the functions to the mouse pointer..

Sorry for the bad mockup.

[Zain Adeel]

that idea is very nice.

there are 3rd party apps that do that.

The problem with ppl will be for touch users. Because u will need to select the folder or window before accessing this menu with another click or touch. Whereas the direct button in Ribbon are more direct. Its just that Ribbon is not pretty. Otherwise its good. (if they make all icons the same size).

[Ravensky]

Needs color, other then that I love it!

[Kirkburn]

You have a hard time understanding the concept behind the Menu Bar and Action button apparently, that's okay though.

If you're saying you'd rather that all the actions went back into menus ... well, I guess that's an argument. Not a particularly useful one though.

Perhaps your Finder screenshot should have included the menu bar?

Anyway, I'm off topic. On Mocosoft's revision - yeah the mouse hover actions seem to have worked well in Office.

[Zain Adeel]

Many will disagree.

But.. Every action (like cut paste delete)

These all are better arranged in a menu

As many action have long names. Putting them in a grid in an iconic fashion is ineffective. An extra click wont kill anybody.

Anybody remember my Metro concept?

i designed a searchbar at top? That bar can house a few icons that will open a a menu which can house all the ribbon actions.

[.Neo]

If you're saying you'd rather that all the actions went back into menus ... well, I guess that's an argument. Not a particularly useful one though.

Perhaps your Finder screenshot should have included the menu bar?

Are you randomly hitting that reply button without knowing/understanding what it is you're replying to, drunk, visually impaired or just really really dense? I can't tell which one of the four is the case.

[~Johnny]

I honestly don't get why it needs to be there in the first place. I mean a bar that takes up half the window for cut, copy, paste etc.? You gotta be kiddin' me...

It doesn't take up half the window... but past your exaggerations -

It's primarily there to give more visibility to all the commands, and to make it easier and more obvious to use them. Microsoft found that outside of power users, people were wanting to use tools that already existed, but they didn't know they existed because they were hidden in random boxes / menus / tabs etc. With the ribbon, they can surface a lot more options in a single area, whilst still giving prominence to each individual item. If you think it's big, just minimise it. Most users will appreciate how easy it makes using explorer now. It does greatly accelerate a few tasks (copy path & delete permanently are certainly enough for power users to appreciate being exposed). Heck, in the ribbon and it's major tabs, there are over 60 exposed commands for Windows explorer to everyone to see, use and understand thanks to it's tooltips (which also handily expose the keyboard shortcuts in them too). That's a lot more commands than Windows 7 exposes by default.