Windows UI Improvements

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

It's going to take a lot of work to unify the UI for Windows. And I don't think Microsoft has the resources to pull it off. They're too busy making incremental changes to go back to the older stuff and update them. It would be nice if all the older icons are updated but most users won't complain about it.

I think it would go a long way if Microsoft made a team dedicated to updating the UI so it matches their current interface and design guidelines.

[zeke009]

Outlook 2013 still has the same old "Outlook Today" screen and 5 default themes as Outlook 2000 or earlier. They should either update it or remove it entirely.

I'm surprised this feature has been ignored for as long as it has been, it gets uglier with each release of Outlook too!

[Quillz]

Good points. An OS that's been as controversial as Windows 8 should, at the least, be graphically consistent throughout.

You're asking the impossible of Microsoft. They can't be consistent if their lives depended on it. I think Win2000 was probably the most consistent-looking OS since the Win3.x days. Remember the infamous Win3.x-era font panel that was around through Vista? Windows is simply too big at this point for old icons and dialog boxes to be updated to be consistent. And even if they could be, Microsoft has made it clear they have no intention of fixing what isn't technically broken.

They need to fix the bug where, if you choose black for the window border, the title bar text is unreadable. Or just put back the classic window appearance dialog box... The default blue on client and especially server 2012 is extremely hideous.

I agree, it doesn't make the text completely black, but a very dark gray that is basically unreadable unless you stare at it head-on. Why on Earth they didn't automatically contrast the text to be readable against any color scheme is beyond me, especially when this seemingly worked fine in Vista and 7.

[George P Global Moderator]

It's going to take a lot of work to unify the UI for Windows. And I don't think Microsoft has the resources to pull it off. They're too busy making incremental changes to go back to the older stuff and update them. It would be nice if all the older icons are updated but most users won't complain about it.

I think it would go a long way if Microsoft made a team dedicated to updating the UI so it matches their current interface and design guidelines.

Well if they do update things quicker like with blue we should see these little things updated or dropped and replaced by something new.

[Quillz]

I don't want them to get rid of Aero. I want them to bring it back and improve upon it. I hate the flat design.

Aero Glass is no more, but the underlying Aero technologies, like GPU-acceleration, is still in Win8.

Well if they do update things quicker like with blue we should see these little things updated or dropped and replaced by something new.

The problem, again, is with Windows' legacy support. Even if they dropped one small, ancient dialog box, it would likely break some old program that relied on it. I would love for Microsoft to do what Apple did and completely start fresh with a new code base, and simply cutting off legacy support entirely, but let's face it, Microsoft just can't do this. They have too many clients with different hardware configurations to support.

At the very least, I'd at least like to see old icons get updated, along with the extremely annoying Screen Saver dialog box, but if it hasn't happened by now, it never will.

[Auditor]

Yeah.. windows 8 is about removing and removing things which were promoted as good things before. No aesthetic in UI or give user a choice to simply turn things on or off. Force all this metro crap on users face and dictate them what they can do with their system. Now what is next thing removing from windows. May be they can remove windows explorer as no one really uses and start putting tiles on the start screen for all your folders and files. Atleast that will push user to visit ugly tile face every time they need to find a file. May be while they are there they will click some useless app and waste time there or may be MS will be able to get their 30% share from someone buying app. Removing Aero is about preserving battery life which MS know it sucks at this moment and may be forseeable future for tablet marke but may be MS does not know that not everyone is using low powered tablet computer. I really hope MS continue its downward spiral path and in next 5 years cease to exist.

[Dot Matrix]

The problem, again, is with Windows' legacy support. Even if they dropped one small, ancient dialog box, it would likely break some old program that relied on it. I would love for Microsoft to do what Apple did and completely start fresh with a new code base, and simply cutting off legacy support entirely, but let's face it, Microsoft just can't do this. They have too many clients with different hardware configurations to support.

I think they're getting closer to doing just that. I think Windows 9 or 10 will be a cut off point for a lot of older ****. Either update to Modern UX or face extinction.

[Pulagatha]

I wish they would do something like this. Merge the title bar and the menu bar. Give the options their own designated space and keep the Aero Glass in the background.

[Quillz]

I think they're getting closer to doing just that. I think Windows 9 or 10 will be a cut off point for a lot of older ****. Either update to Modern UX or face extinction.

I would be alright with this, but they'd risk losing the enterprise market.

[Dot Matrix]

I would be alright with this, but they'd risk losing the enterprise market.

The enterprise market has been dragging their feet for years now. If they want to continue doing that, that's their fault. They're only hurting themselves. But it wouldn't take much to develop a vertical app for Metro. Not if most companies have already done so for iOS.

But, personally, I agree with you. I'm ready for an OS that isn't defined by years of excess baggage just because some schmuck wants to run a 20 year old program. But it's looking like the days of running years old programs is over.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Well if they do update things quicker like with blue we should see these little things updated or dropped and replaced by something new.

It'll be a slow process but it's better to start now than later. I'm a little surprised that Microsoft is updating Windows so rapidly. If Windows Blue is an indication of what's to come, then we may see things getting dropped faster than ever.

The problem, again, is with Windows' legacy support. Even if they dropped one small, ancient dialog box, it would likely break some old program that relied on it. I would love for Microsoft to do what Apple did and completely start fresh with a new code base, and simply cutting off legacy support entirely, but let's face it, Microsoft just can't do this. They have too many clients with different hardware configurations to support.

At the very least, I'd at least like to see old icons get updated, along with the extremely annoying Screen Saver dialog box, but if it hasn't happened by now, it never will.

Exactly. The first step should be cosmetic updates. Things like icons and colours can easily be changed without breaking anything. It would make the OS look more unified.

Old icons like this:

[Ian W]

While we're on it, Device Manager could use an overhaul too, but I'm sure if that were to happen, many here would cry bloody murder. God forbid things change.

Oh, you mean that thing that hasn't been updated since World War II? I doubt that "many would cry bloody murder" if it were updated, especially in light of the fact that it's cumbersome.

[George P Global Moderator]

There are lots of things that can be changed without breaking any apps, like icons of course but also like the above posted boxes, most of the things that come up through the control panel can all be changed and no apps would be effected I think. They already moved a number of things inside the main control panel window so doing the rest would help.

And it's about time they changed IEs internet options dialog window as well.

[Dashel]

I know some of the burden lies with developers but clearly Aero Basic code is still present within Windows 8 and wasn't updated to the new visual style.

It's going to take a lot of work to unify the UI for Windows. And I don't think Microsoft has the resources to pull it off.

I think it would go a long way if Microsoft made a team dedicated to updating the UI so it matches their current interface and design guidelines.

As long as the applications (and utilities) draw their own UIs to a larger degree, this will never change as long as there is a Desktop, and that is a good thing. It will only happen in in the closed gardens of Metro and Mac OS. I personally have never understood this call for unity or beyond that, using it as a criticism.

Dot, why aren't you a Mac user? You share all the same cardinal sins.

[Dot Matrix]

As long as the applications (and utilities) draw their own UIs to a larger degree, this will never change as long as there is a Desktop, and that is a good thing. It will only happen in in the closed gardens of Metro and Mac OS. I personally have never understood this call for unity or beyond that, using it as a criticism.

Dot, why aren't you a Mac user? You share all the same cardinal sins.

Cardinal sins?

[ATLien_0]

What microsoft should do, just for one upgrade cycle is solely work on unifying the UI elements, I mean everything. They have left bits from the 95 era on up scattered all over the OS. For a company as big as theres, they should be able to get every team on the OS to work together on this. How long did it take for the add fonts menu to change. What about the disk properties pie charts, those are still classic. Or properties tabs, I though those were supposed to go away. Its getting a bit out of hand, with each upgrade cycle they only upgrade the UI elements to the parts of the OS that they improved. After switching from using OS X and Windows all the time, I can I have noticed in OS X that its far less of a problem and Apple does a pretty good job of upgrading everything

Also part of the use of the old icons is because I believe Microsoft shifted the new high res icons away from the shell32.dll file, which half of the OS still uses

[+hedleigh Subscriber²]

One of the biggest issues I found when I migrated to windows was the inability to resize system windows. I couldn't understand why the windows were of a fixed size and you couldn't read all the data without scrolling and resizing columns.

I find that to be lazy design in the extreme.

[Noir Angel]

That's the price they pay for slapping a half arsed UI together at the last minute. Making major UI changes between RC and RTM stage is never a good thing, and that's what you get, an inconsistent UI that looks like complete crap. Personally I hope they reverse it as removing all the definition from application UIs makes them look awful.

[anidais]

Many elements in the desktop still use rounded corners, gradients and aero-style buttons. I know most can be fixed easily as they are part of the visual style and should not interfere with anything else. What about the desktop icons? You would think a company like Microsoft would pay more attention to detail.

For example, this looks better than what we currently have:

Screenshot taken from: http://andr1525.deviantart.com/art/imageres-dll-by-Windows-8-344138647