[Concept] New Ribbon UI !

[Zain Adeel]

Actually we can, many of the elements you incorporated aren't unique. Putting text on its side just doesn't do anything to improve usability, it makes things worse. That's pretty much a given.

Are we looking at the same screen shot? Because if you're actually trying to convince me the buttons aren't scattered all over the place we're not. The left brown border seems to have no real purpose. Its elements can be easily put in the white area which wastes a lot of screen estate at this point.

the left brown bar is the titlebar. The caption buttons are there to leave the white area for the app. Example. This white area will work differently according to each different app. But that brown area will remain the same.

Obviously this approach is too different from what we do now. But the idea is to deal with the asthetics. As these concepts cannot be tested. Atleast they are neatly designed graphics. The fuctionality is there. The productivity is in question because we cant test this.

But i guess thats how this must go.

Make many designs.

test them all.

see which has the best balance between productivity and asthetics and select that. Im just showing these here because im uploading these to dA. so i want my neowin comm to know too :)

[Chasethebase Veteran]

Definitely an interesting concept.

Also in relation to the initial mockup that you posted, I find it funny how people still prefer UI elements from IE7 & Vista over this...I wish Microsoft would at least give them a design refresh now.

Also serves as a hint to those who design solely for OS X, come and design some stuff for Windows and make it work, oh wait you won't because then you won't be able to bash it. :p

[Zain Adeel]

Yes well the main reason is that we have Aero for too long now.

Microsoft refreshed the UI with Vista. and that is exactly how the style is in Windows 7. But not i think we need to get away from aero. But i feel more and more that microsoft are gonna stick with it. Recent metro shots show the tiles having a gradient layer and a shadow line and highlight line. Indicating the tiles like glass. :(

[omganinja]

The ribbon has no place in explorer. If you can't find what you want to do in the current explorer window, buy a mac.

[Zain Adeel]

The ribbon has no place in explorer. If you can't find what you want to do in the current explorer window, buy a mac.

i believe the ribbon is there to make it easy for touch users to use those commands.

when there is no mouse or keyboard it will be faster than press hold.

[Guest]

I love your mockups personally.

Were they any chance inspired by this video by microsoft:

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20090228/microsoft-office-labs-vision-2019-video/

?

There was another concept video similar to this that they did with a clear card that displayed digital content, the colours and feel remind me of that too, can't find the video though.

[Zain Adeel]

I love your mockups personally.

Were they any chance inspired by this video by microsoft:

http://www.istarteds...ion-2019-video/

?

There was another concept video similar to this that they did with a clear card that displayed digital content, the colours and feel remind me of that too, can't find the video though.

Yes highly !!! :) i wrote it in the first screenshot that the colors and feel was inspired by a future concept video.

[~Johnny]

The ribbon has no place in explorer. If you can't find what you want to do in the current explorer window, buy a mac.

Really? Let's just look at some of commands that the ribbon exposes that aren't that easily accessible or obviously findable in the current explorer and even more learned users would occasionally like to use

• Copy Path
  
• Delete Permanently
  
• Map Selected Folder as Drive
  
• File History
  
• Invert Selection
  
• Show / Hide File name extensions
  
• Show / Hide Hidden Items
  
• Hide Selected Items
  
• Sort by options (regardless of layout)
  
• Group by options (regardless of layout)
  
• Set Default Library save location
  

And then there are commands that are typically hidden behind a single menu that people might want to use - like

• Copy / Paste / Cut
  
• Remove File Properties
  
• Show Preview / navigation / details panes.
  

Because believe it or not, even lay computer users occasionally like to move their files about - and they're not intuitively going to look inside an "orangise" menu to cut files :p Obviously for you you'd probably Ctrl + X, but Windows isn't designed for just you.

Most of these options exist scattered somewhere about the explorer UI if you right click somewhere and open the right menu, or find the right menu option and open it's dialog box - but the ribbon takes all these options and places them in a nice, easy to find area. Along with all the other standard features. Point is, it brings to the forefront and makes easily accessible features people might want, but either don't know where they are, or never knew they existed.

(Of course, this is just with the dev preview ribbon layout. Microsoft have tweaked it for the consumer preview, so there might be more / less commands)

[MFH]

Yes well the main reason is that we have Aero for too long now.

Really? I think they should stay with Aero and focus on consistency - hell with Vista they published a whole new UX Guide, just to don't give a rat's ass a few years later. Why would anyone still follow Microsofts lead in terms of design (or development platforms for that matter)? Opposed to let's say Apple Microsoft themselves changes their mind with every release. Instead of focusing on what was a success they always try to bring the next big thing, that's just as half baked as the last one as they never focus on finishing one of their designs?

[Chasethebase Veteran]

In terms of Aero they may as well stick with it. Aqua has stuck around for a while in OS X and is still somewhat present (To a lesser degree), but the UI has been tweaked based on this, rather than completely overhauled.

Windows 7 built on what Windows Vista did, and made it much better, so this is what Windows 8's desktop UI should do as well.

[Zain Adeel]

Really? I think they should stay with Aero and focus on consistency - hell with Vista they published a whole new UX Guide, just to don't give a rat's ass a few years later. Why would anyone still follow Microsofts lead in terms of design (or development platforms for that matter)? Opposed to let's say Apple Microsoft themselves changes their mind with every release. Instead of focusing on what was a success they always try to bring the next big thing, that's just as half baked as the last one as they never focus on finishing one of their designs?

you have a valid point.

Its like a joke when i see some UI bugs here and there in Aero. I mean they have the same stuff from Vista. Why couldnt they just fix it? Maybe you are right. They are so focused on working on the next thing that they dont pay attention to detail in the product they are about to release.

I look at some graphics in Win7 and they are aweful. Some elements are not properly made. Like quick jobs you can say. Some icons dont make sense. Oh and those win95 icons?? Those are shockers u know. Because its not like they are hidden somewhere. U see them some in errors and other elsewhere in the OS even in normal usage. There is alignment problems all over the UI.

There is no consistency even in Aero.

so i dont know what they are doing. The Metro stuff is great. But they cant leave the desktop like this.

[Aethec]

you have a valid point.

Its like a joke when i see some UI bugs here and there in Aero. I mean they have the same stuff from Vista. Why couldnt they just fix it? Maybe you are right. They are so focused on working on the next thing that they dont pay attention to detail in the product they are about to release.

I look at some graphics in Win7 and they are aweful. Some elements are not properly made. Like quick jobs you can say. Some icons dont make sense. Oh and those win95 icons?? Those are shockers u know. Because its not like they are hidden somewhere. U see them some in errors and other elsewhere in the OS even in normal usage. There is alignment problems all over the UI.

There is no consistency even in Aero.

so i dont know what they are doing. The Metro stuff is great. But they cant leave the desktop like this.

If you want to build a GUI for a widely used, commercial product, you need great graphics.

You cannot just use medium-quality ones. You need really good images, icons, backgrounds, etc.

Great graphic designers are not easily found, and they can't create good stuff quickly. They need not only time to create the graphics, but also time to think about how they're going to do it, and more importantly how this will affect perception from users. For example, having four icons which are a blank sheet and a white icon on top looks good, but users with impaired vision or users who have a hard time recognizing shapes will not be able to use it.

Since there are few great graphic designers, they always have something to do. The work queue that is given to them must be prioritized, thus the common requests such as redoing the Registry icon or the Disk Quotas icon aren't done. After all, these icons already exist - what is the value added in changing them? Almost none. What is the cost for changing them? Huge. => it's not worth it.

[Zain Adeel]

it is worth it if you care about the product you are developing.

U can hire a single guy to find find all the old icons. And another guy to make new ones. And one guy to add them to the OS.

And this can be done within a week.

These icons took me 3 days. But i had to think about how they will look first. I had to go over their size again and again before i was comfortable that they will work. Also i had to make sure they are distictive enough.

Remember Those people who cannot make shapes wont be able to use windows 7.

White icons also help color blind ppl. White is pretty much white to them as far as i read. Also white makes it easier to spot them since you see the shape not the colors. You will ofcourse have colors for selected apps according to their chosen accent. Which ive pointed by making the explorer yellow. IE will have a blue square when selected. So its really pretty. Imagine that box having hot tracking like in windows 7. Such animations bring life to simple and flat UIs. Thats whats great about Metro. Its flat. Its too simple. But when it moves. It comes to life. Its alive. Its dynamic. It has depth. It feels like the text is floating in a 3d environment. UI is incomplete without animation.

If i was at MS. I would care about my products. I will put men there to work and make it a perfect OS by release. Its a big job. Its a big company. They shouldnt afford to be lazy. If they fix the old icons and any old UI and replace it. Make it consistent. People will love them for it. Atleast those who care about the quality of a product.

I download apps. Some are good. Some are just great because how well they are designed. It shows how much work went into them. And only those apps get my review and star rating. I dont rate other apps because the work they put in seems meh!..

So thats what a complete consistent product gets out from a user. I tell my friends how great WP7 is all the time. Not because i own it. But because how nice and complete the OS feels. And i want others to use it, but more then that i want MS to sell it well and make money for their hardwork on it.

I want to love Windows like i love WP7.

that is why i want them to fix their Design laziness.

[floopydoodle]

This is the direction I wish MS would have gone...

[Zain Adeel]

@ floopydoodle: Well i get what u presented with the design. And that is exactly what MS shouldnt do. Just making everythign monotone and flat wont make it in line with the metro language. I took some time to edit my newest concept and merge it with my old METRO DESKTOP APP concepts.

And this is what i created..

(The superbar height is the normal height of the options bar as in Metro in DP) so that is somethign which will treat desktop as a Native and Productive Metro app. It will also have the search bar that i designed. So it will work brilliantly. And this design is easy to impliment to other apps. Like photoshop and the likes. I moved the close buttons to their original location as per my earlier concepts.

Yes i didnt add the clock in the notification area. As the clock is there when we reveal the charm menu. So no duplication. If they decide the time and date to be there then it shouldnt be everywhere.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

your concepts in this thread Zain are how i wish MS would have gone with the desktop side of things, instead it ended up a mess of new and old styles :/