Windows 8 RC To Get Flatter Explorer UI, Other Changes

[George P Global Moderator]

I was messing with my ubuntu vbox install today and noticed (though maybe I just forgot) that the unity bar's color changes automatically depending on the primary color in your background. I figure that screenshot of the Windows 8 desktop has the taskbar, when set to auto, doing the same thing. Or was this the case in Win7 and I've just forgotten totally?

Either way, maybe this means we can, just like with Ubuntu, have different window colors and the taskbar can be different itself now.

[LightShadow]

I was messing with my ubuntu vbox install today and noticed (though maybe I just forgot) that the unity bar's color changes automatically depending on the primary color in your background. I figure that screenshot of the Windows 8 desktop has the taskbar, when set to auto, doing the same thing. Or was this the case in Win7 and I've just forgotten totally?

Either way, maybe this means we can, just like with Ubuntu, have different window colors and the taskbar can be different itself now.

Windows 8 has a automatic aero colour option that picks the main colour from the wallpaper and sets it as the aero colour, so I'm guessing that still applies but only for the taskbar. So the taskbar will change colour depending on the wallpaper, but unlike the CP, the aero won't change colour.

[TheLegendOfMart]

add black borders to windows and you have Windows 3.11.

Do. Not. Want.

[Zain Adeel]

actually. I made a mockup of where MS could go with this.

Here the blue is the accent color of Aero (it could be any color (although a mid intensity one). This accent color will control the accent on the icons aswell. This way they can create a massively customizable UI and one which is harmonious. The window not selected will become greyscale so it can be the biggest indicator and we wont need darker shadows or even borders.

[+Zlip792 MVC]

actually. I made a mockup of where MS could go with this.

Here the blue is the accent color of Aero (it could be any color (although a mid intensity one). This accent color will control the accent on the icons aswell. This way they can create a massively customizable UI and one which is harmonious. The window not selected will become greyscale so it can be the biggest indicator and we wont need darker shadows or even borders.

Man!! This is awesome... I really like your approach... Just teach little bit Mozilla Firefox also (Australis Yuck!!)

[George P Global Moderator]

Windows 8 has a automatic aero colour option that picks the main colour from the wallpaper and sets it as the aero colour, so I'm guessing that still applies but only for the taskbar. So the taskbar will change colour depending on the wallpaper, but unlike the CP, the aero won't change colour.

That's what I figured at this point. I think it'd make for better themes in the future. Look at what's going on the *nix side as far as GNOME goes, specially for Ubuntu that I was messing with today, using gnome-tweak etc. I expect to see a good chunk of desktop theming going on in Win8.

[George P Global Moderator]

actually. I made a mockup of where MS could go with this.

Here the blue is the accent color of Aero (it could be any color (although a mid intensity one). This accent color will control the accent on the icons aswell. This way they can create a massively customizable UI and one which is harmonious. The window not selected will become greyscale so it can be the biggest indicator and we wont need darker shadows or even borders.

Yeah, that's a good one. But when MS used the same color for all the icons in VS people had a fit, and now MS is going to add some more back in. Either way I bet you'll be able to make that into a real theme with some work, just like back in the XP and older versions.

[andrew_f]

actually. I made a mockup of where MS could go with this.

Here the blue is the accent color of Aero (it could be any color (although a mid intensity one). This accent color will control the accent on the icons aswell. This way they can create a massively customizable UI and one which is harmonious. The window not selected will become greyscale so it can be the biggest indicator and we wont need darker shadows or even borders.

That's great, I also like how the ribbon is more like Office 15.

[Calum Veteran]

ugh, I honestly can't see where this metro design is going..... its just a fusion of some metro with some aero? Hope MS doesn't toy around with metro as they did with aero, can't belief they keep on dumping GUI's like this.... Now, its all white everywhere, matte colouring gone wrong, huge border titles, ****ty cursors, bloody huge coloured tiles on my desktop....and for what? wish they would stop making half ass attempts.....

so far win8 brings this to the table - metro, skydrive, some explorer functionality and ...... ?

To you, it's half-assed; to some others, it's beautiful. Go figure :)

add black borders to windows and you have Windows 3.11.

Do. Not. Want.

Of course it looks very little like Windows 3.11, though :)

[LightShadow]

You missed read the blog then.

They are showing you the RP build but some icons/ui element will only land on the RTM.

IMO, they are going to change many icons, like the "music" "picture" folder and so on.

https://twitter.com/#!/Canouna/status/203906833436524544

From a reply from Canouna, my theory is backed up. This UI is only on the main builds and won't be merged till the RTM builds.

While a few of these visual changes are hinted at in the upcoming Release Preview, most of them will not yet be publicly available. You?ll see them all in the final release of Windows 8!

As I believe, what we'll see in the RP is what we've already seen, flat ribbon, flat aero, flat navigation buttons, this flat white UI won't hit until the RTM and isn't in the RP builds as per Canouna's word.

[Matthew_Thepc]

actually. I made a mockup of where MS could go with this.

Here the blue is the accent color of Aero (it could be any color (although a mid intensity one). This accent color will control the accent on the icons aswell. This way they can create a massively customizable UI and one which is harmonious. The window not selected will become greyscale so it can be the biggest indicator and we wont need darker shadows or even borders.

looks good :D if you ever make this into a theme I'll be downloading it

[freak180]

actually. I made a mockup of where MS could go with this.

Here the blue is the accent color of Aero (it could be any color (although a mid intensity one). This accent color will control the accent on the icons aswell. This way they can create a massively customizable UI and one which is harmonious. The window not selected will become greyscale so it can be the biggest indicator and we wont need darker shadows or even borders.

Looks good! :D any pics of the ribbon minimized?

[Ravensky]

What I don't understand is why would I want to buy a new version of Windows when it does less than the current version of Windows? Because it looks different? It takes a page out of the play book for windows 1 as far as how it looks... I think Windows 8 is going to be the nail in Steve Balmer's coffin as CEO of MS...

[Brandon H Supervisor]

What I don't understand is why would I want to buy a new version of Windows when it does less than the current version of Windows?

... wut?

[Arkanius]

As Anthonyd points above, read the blog post (http://blogs.msdn.co...experience.aspx). It explains every decision in detail.

Wooops

I meant to say "Font"

I looked like an asshat just saying Windows Phone

Isn't it Zegoe by the way?

[Guest]

actually. I made a mockup of where MS could go with this.

Here the blue is the accent color of Aero (it could be any color (although a mid intensity one). This accent color will control the accent on the icons aswell. This way they can create a massively customizable UI and one which is harmonious. The window not selected will become greyscale so it can be the biggest indicator and we wont need darker shadows or even borders.

I wish Microsoft would employ you :)

[LightShadow]

looks good :D if you ever make this into a theme I'll be downloading it

Same here. I'm sure if members worked together, this could be made as a theme, and I'm very sure it will be very popular. Heck this is 100x better than Microsoft's attempt (So far).

[Boz]

Completely tastless

[Calum Veteran]

What I don't understand is why would I want to buy a new version of Windows when it does less than the current version of Windows? Because it looks different? It takes a page out of the play book for windows 1 as far as how it looks... I think Windows 8 is going to be the nail in Steve Balmer's coffin as CEO of MS...

What leads you to believe Windows 8 does less than Windows 7? It does much more than Windows 7.

[ShareShiz]

@ all people complaining...

how many hours do you spend customizing your OS ?

seems all you "artists" want is just flashy ****

aero was really just a waste of resources. do you really need some transparency to see what windows is under your current window.

im sure there will be some way for you "artists" to turn aero back on with some 3rd party app. just like there is some 3rd party app to bring back the start button.

i really just laugh at all you people that spend hours customizing your OS. do you all freak out when you get on your friends machine too ?

[freak180]

@ all people complaining...

how many hours do you spend customizing your OS ?

seems all you "artists" want is just flashy ****

aero was really just a waste of resources. do you really need some transparency to see what windows is under your current window.

im sure there will be some way for you "artists" to turn aero back on with some 3rd party app. just like there is some 3rd party app to bring back the start button.

i really just laugh at all you people that spend hours customizing your OS. do you all freak out when you get on your friends machine too ?

Dude, you are so overacting. These "artist" as you put it enjoy what they do! I hope this isn't aim towards Zain in any way since he's an artist as well. Yes there are those who are complaining about aero no longer being in windows 8 but why talk **** about the theme designers? I use to create themes myself and to me, it makes the OS more personal! I don't care how many hours I put in it. The final product is the thing that makes creating themes so satisfying !

[ShareShiz]

no. no hate on Zain. I saw his design and it looked pretty good.

Im just saying. there are a lot of people that waste their time customizing their OS just to make it look pretty.

you ever heard of the KISS rule.. Keep It Simple Stupid.

[KRazpopov]

Wooops

I meant to say "Font"

I looked like an asshat just saying Windows Phone

Isn't it Zegoe by the way?

Segoe UI is the font that they use through the Metro interface, with variations for different products (Segoe WP for Windows Phone, Zegoe for Zune SW & Firmware, etc).

I'm guessing they're going to set Segoe as the font somewhere around the RC stage of development, since it's more of a cosmetic change than anything.

[George P Global Moderator]

I really do think all the glass lovers are probably overreacting at this point. We don't even know if this is just another theme (which it could very well be) or if they did infact take all the glass out. I have to think they didn't, and besides in Win7 you're pretty limited when it came to any type of theming you could do since all/most of the window chrome was taken by glass.

I honestly think that by removing it going forward in Win8 then we'll get the ability to theme it even more than before. Besides, I don't use glass or transparency in other desktop environments I've used, it hardly makes a difference to how I work in the end.

[Anthonyd]

aero was really just a waste of resources. do you really need some transparency to see what windows is under your current window.

Source that the new UI is using less resources (in a non-negligeable way) than Aero ?