Microsoft, THIS is what Metro UI on Desktop Should Look Like! Community

[Stefano Elia]

Looks nice, great design as always Zain. :D

[MorganX]

Making a mockup is nothing like making an actual product with huge compatibility constraints. There were plenty of cool looking mockups made internally at Microsoft as well, believe me.

I don't think some of the purely aesthetic choices have anything to do with compatibility. If Aero worked and all the themes and skins I don't think compatibility is an issue. Whoever is making the decisions, is choosing craptastic. Microsoft has never been known for their "style," though some things have gotten better.

Let's just hope MS doesn't lock out skinners and customizers.

[MorganX]

I think I posted elsewhere but at least Win8 should be good for Neowin, with the death of Aero we'll actually need themes again. Good work Zain. There are lots of great concepts floating around.

Gotta love progress :>

[PyX]

I really can?t tell why so many people like these shots. Looks like something that could be drawn in Paint (except for the icons of course).

[MorganX]

I really can?t tell why so many people like these shots. Looks like something that could be drawn in Paint (except for the icons of course).

All of Metro can be drawn in Paint.

[LAMj]

(except for the icons of course).

false

[floopydoodle]

Update:

[George P Global Moderator]

You know what, specially with icons in mind, MS made them more plain and a bit monochrome in the VS2012 beta and everyone tossed a fit. If you do the same in Explorer I bet people will toss a fit there as well. So really, regardless of how they change the theme it's icons and other elements overall, someones going to toss a fit.

[dead.cell]

Yeah, I just realized I'm still using/loving Zain Adeel's tweaks to Aero with his theme Shine 2.0. :D

This guy... :wub:

[Knife Party]

as always, someone with a brain that logically thinks think through! Nice job Zain, its been a pleasure to be exposed to some of your work bro (Y) keep it up

[Kyang]

Microsoft are limited in the amount they can change without potentially breaking older apps. Also without window borders it because a lot more difficult to use touch to resize them.

I would like to be able to change the accent colour, and have it effect icons, and the status bar, taskbar etc Not sure if this would be possible with the theme system as it is.

The Icons need to be much more Metro-fied, just look at Visual Studio 2012 and Office 2013

Things would still work without borders. IIRC, the actual touch area around the windows in Win8 is larger than in Win7, and extends beyond the visible window edge.

I agree with everything else you said.

[dagamer34]

The first image looked great, but I kinda wish the icons didn't have the same primary color to make them more distinctive.

[Milo Bladimir Van]

... Also without window borders it because a lot more difficult to use touch to resize them.

Just because you can't see the window borders doesn't mean that they're not still there. This is my current win8 theme (no hacking required - the window borders are still there, just the same colour as everything else):

[theyarecomingforyou]

You know what, specially with icons in mind, MS made them more plain and a bit monochrome in the VS2012 beta and everyone tossed a fit. If you do the same in Explorer I bet people will toss a fit there as well.

People are already throwing hissy fits so there really isn't any reason to back down now. Microsoft has gone on about how it has removed all the fake 3D effects from the operating system yet the icons still have faux-depth and don't gel with the new visual style.

If Microsoft is going to make sweeping changes then it needs to do so with some consistency. Right now it looks like amateur hour.

[Zain Adeel]

THIS.. is really sweet!! good work man! I like the icons.. They can be refined but I like the direction. The titlebar would look better white. the accent suits the status bar more. But that's a personal preference.

Update:

[George P Global Moderator]

People are already throwing hissy fits so there really isn't any reason to back down now. Microsoft has gone on about how it has removed all the fake 3D effects from the operating system yet the icons still have faux-depth and don't gel with the new visual style.

If Microsoft is going to make sweeping changes then it needs to do so with some consistency. Right now it looks like amateur hour.

I think they will, and won't back down on the theme change, just saying that people won't be happy anyways. This is why the system lets you add your own theme, even if you have to hack msstyle.sys or w/e the file was, I forget.

[Nazmus Shakib Khandaker]

Update:

I really like this design! However, I am a fan of colored status bars like in Office 2013 and VS 2012.

[.Neo]

Update:

Snipped

When comparing this to the OS X Finder there's one huge usability problem: With the exception of the status bar all elements are screaming for the same amount of attention. Instead the focus should lie with the content area of the window. With you mockup my eyes are constantly being drawn away from it.

[MorganX]

When comparing this to the OS X Finder there's one huge usability problem: With the exception of the status bar all elements are screaming for the same amount of attention. Instead the focus should lie with the content area of the window. With you mockup my eyes are constantly being drawn away from it.

Some of that is the Ribbon which wants your attention to pick a task, but I agree.

[Scorbing]

Beautiful. Send it to MS.

[remixedcat]

I think the ribbon's icons need to be less distracting a bit and mabye less chrome elements on the ribbon's part. for minimal UIs like metro monochrome icons are best. this way they also theme well. for dark themes they can change to a white on black set and the white themes they will be black on white set. kinda how google chrome is...

they can take pointers from browser designers in how to implement themes. chrome and firefox are easily themeable, yet are able to still function well and they make it easy to personalize, yet the UI is still the same in general...

they can run it like personas and people can customize like that.

[.Neo]

Some of that is the Ribbon which wants your attention to pick a task, but I agree.

It really shouldn't ask for any attention. I know it's there, but maybe I don't want to pick a task there.