Mockup of Windows desktop


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Ribbon more touch friendly than this although it look nice

im not sure if they are going to make the desktop full metro or same look as windows 7

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They look very good, however I wouldn't say Microsoft need to hire him. Those pictures are stil Metro based, so therefor not his creation, he's just adapted Metro to his taste.

If those pictures was based upon something else other than what Microsoft have created and it still looks very good then yes he should be hired

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That being said, yes, this is what the desktop should look like. The botched up version of Aero in the DP can't possibly be what MS want. I'm hoping for a surprise theme change in the Consumer Preview, or at latest in the RC.

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They look very good, however I wouldn't say Microsoft need to hire him. Those pictures are stil Metro based, so therefor not his creation, he's just adapted Metro to his taste.

If those pictures was based upon something else other than what Microsoft have created and it still looks very good then yes he should be hired

yea like every designer in MS has invented an original design.

His designs are very original.

But he will be hired as a concept artist thinking of new ideas and interfaces. Its the engineers and designers who then create it and test it. That is where i believe most of such designs are scrapped.

For example. MS introducing Metro as an alternate UI. They are keeping the desktop. If MS get rid of desktop that would be the real change. So thats why they stick to their working designs. Which are all the same at heart. from windows 98 to windows 7

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No you don't because I'm an electronics engineer and my software is nowhere near the standards you program. LabVIEW (Control Suites mostly), and MatLAB sounds you?

I've worked with an electrical engineer and I know he at least used MatLAB. I'm aware of how he worked, and I know that there are much more pleasant-looking concepts than the Taskbar which would still be just as useful. You seem to be suggesting that the Taskbar is the best way. Why would you imply that? Many people thought the Taskbar was "perfect" before Windows 7, but Microsoft majorly improved on it in Windows 7 ;) Software can pretty much always be improved, and I'm pointing out that task management and switching can be implemented in a different way to the Taskbar; a way that is much more pleasing and still as useful.

Apple have implemented a great way in OS X Lion.

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If MS were not trying to change the desktop and create a unified experience across devices then this would be a nice evolution of Win7 and introduction to Metro that most people would probably find pretty acceptable.

Metro itself is meant to create a more unified experience across platforms, yet people that are resistant to it are under the assumption that metro should remain only on tablets and phones as a separate version of the OS. But you are right in the sense that had MS introduced metro to Windows first and then ported it into WP7, it probably would not be getting the same negativity.

I think this concept tends to highlight the potential for greater integration of features while using the least number of windows/popups open. For example, the file copying progress meter is built directly into the windows explorer rather than showing as a popup. In any case, I hope Win9 turns out similar to this.

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Realistically, when someone makes Good Mockups it is usually completely ignored by the company they are mocking up for. It would be good to see companies actually take notice of their fan made designs and get the designer onboard the project to make some concepts a reality.

[. . .]

If the company doesn't like the design or they know it wouldn't work well, why would they do that? There could be many reasons why you haven't ever heard of a mock-up designer hired by the company, and that could be just one reason.

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I'm a software developer, so I know what "real" (as you call it) computer-based work is, and I know there are better concepts for task management and task switching than the Taskbar.

Horses for courses. I personally find the way the taskbar operates to be perfect for what I do.

If the company doesn't like the design or they know it wouldn't work well, why would they do that? There could be many reasons why you haven't ever heard of a mock-up designer hired by the company, and that could be just one reason.

Note how Microsoft didn't replace the task bar with something else? Hoist on your own petard ;)

Congratulations on finding something that works better for you, but I for one prefer the taskbar model.

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While pretty, most of this wouldn't work as a real UI. The Explorer concept is just bad. The Internet Explorer concept doesn't work because there is no room to click to drag/move the window. The Skype concept is close, but not quite there. However, the Media Center concept looks amazing and I want it now.

It's very polished, though, so if you don't really think hard about how it would be implemented and used, you might miss it's failings. Looks very pretty, though. It's the right direction.

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If the company doesn't like the design or they know it wouldn't work well, why would they do that? There could be many reasons why you haven't ever heard of a mock-up designer hired by the company, and that could be just one reason.

actually i heard apple hired such a person.. who made concepts for fun or something.

Its just about exposure. If you get enough of it your ideas and concept reach the people who have the power to hire. And thats all.

Also designing concepts takes alot of people. They shift ideas mould them to account for inconsistencies or loss of functionality and stuff.

MS just need to get rid of Aero.

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^ Object.OnMouseDown()

That's how WPF handles movement for non framed windows.

Opinionated and baseless. I OPINE that it looks quite good. I'd use it >.<

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^ Object.OnMouseDown()

That's how WPF handles movement for non framed windows.

Opinionated and baseless. I OPINE that it looks quite good. I'd use it >.<

It also has no border or corner space to resize on. while you can still resize without border you need to aim like a sniper which is not good usability.

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Very clean and very consistent. I personally don't like the Metro style but this person did a good job at carrying the theme in a professional and polished manner.

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^It's not about exposure though, it's about how well your ideas work in the real world and how they'll work for the average consumer. And a whole lot of other reasons.

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It also has no border or corner space to resize on. while you can still resize without border you need to aim like a sniper which is not good usability.

I dunno if you've ever used OS X but OS X does it this way. There is no border on a lot of menus on the sides and bottom of windows. When you mouse near the edge there is a 4 pixel tolerance on both sides of the border where the mouse icon changes to indicate you can now click to resize the window. That is how it would work in this concept negating the problem you are describing.

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^ Object.OnMouseDown()

That's how WPF handles movement for non framed windows.

Opinionated and baseless. I OPINE that it looks quite good. I'd use it >.<

Yes, but where would you click and drag (in the case where you have lots of tabs open, so the area to the right of the tabs is not available)? On the tabs? That behavior already tears off or moves a tab. On the actual page? That will either scroll or highlight text. The buttons? Probably not a good place. Address bar? Maybe, but not ideal. There simply isn't an open place to click and drag to move the window... in the worst case.

I really really want that Internet Explorer concept to work. If you know how you would want this handled, let me know. I do want a workaround.

I dunno if you've ever used OS X but OS X does it this way.

In OS X Snow Leopard and before, you couldn't even resize the window by grabbing an edge. You had to grab the bottom right corner. Very annoying. But from what I hear this might be fixed in Lion.

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No Windows shouldn't look like that.

Do you really think you can make all of the software developers around the internet keep to the UI guidelines for a unified experience?

What about all the legacy apps, and by legacy I mean Windows 7 apps, how are they going to work with the new UI?

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What about all the legacy apps, and by legacy I mean Windows 7 apps, how are they going to work with the new UI?

They'd work just fine... just look very very out of place :p

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That actually looks really nice, and would make a better evolution from the conventional desktop that we're all familiar with than what Windows 8 is defaulting to as of now.

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There's still a possibility that we haven't seen the final desktop look and feel for Windows 8. Microsoft don't usually reveal drastic changes in their default look and feel until just before RTM and it's possible that the new Office design could indicate what the rest of the default theme is going to look like. If that were the case then Windows 8 would look similar to this concept.

Having said that, the concept includes some pretty basic flaws such as the position of the min/max/close buttons in Skype which would make it difficult to use.

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I agree with you people saying it looks nice, but it cannot replace the current desktop and it's not better because...

  • Windows themes should and will be placed in many different circumstances, meaning different wallpapers, colours, styles etc... The current background looks good on it, but if you change this background there's a chance it will suddenly look ugly.
  • This guy totally changed Skype's UI to make it fit into his desktop concept. I can't imagine the developers of the millions of other applications doing this as well. This concept wipes out the difference between Immersive UI and the Desktop even more, because it's basically running Immersive UI Applications on your desktop.
  • As other people have said already, this just looks nice but that is all. It totally doesn't look usable and practical, not to mention it's actually too minimalistic. Why not hide all the links on the left in Explorer when all other options are hidden already?
  • It doesn't look consistent, contrary to what other people claim. Take a look at Explorer. Window buttons are too big. Titles on the left are too big. Your current folder location is too small. Subitems on the left are too small. The v next to Homegroup and SkyDrive in the left pane is too small. While this whole concept looks good on the first sight, there are many details that will really give you a gnawing feeling as you keep using it.

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