IE9 UI

[GJVC]

I don't think any normal users would be able to browse the web if that really became the interface.

Not that it doesnt look good, but it's way too different from an ordinary browser layout

[Kralik]

I love the new Chrome 6 UI.. the bar at the top is very narrow.. looks great.. I won't mind something close to that by MS..

[M V E]

I want something like this

[Uncharted]

^ top nice bottom horrid

[KeeperOfThePizza]

What I think they should do

1. Do not copy Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Opera.

2. Do not use IE8's UI or Metro UI

3. Do something New and Original

it's probably a far cry but I think they need to move on up.

I would love it if they did something like this:

And this:

Source: http://www.favbrowser.com/leaked-internet-explorer-9-screenshots/

Ugly IMO. Metro UI is nice on a phone...

[Uncharted]

Metro is only for phone

[Tech Star]

@XT-G, I quite like that. :yes:

@ JonathanMarston, I also saw the before and loved that. :D

[~Johnny]

Metro is only for phone

They use it on the Desktop too... it's not just for phones =/

IE6, 7 & 8 were all designed to fit in with Windows Explorer, and have similar stylings to XP (IE6), Vista (IE7) and Seven's (IE8) Windows Explorer Windows, so I'd think I.E 9 would share a similar styling to IE.8, but maybe move the tabs or the address bar into the title bar to save space =)?

[Ayepecks]

Metro is only for phone

No it's not.

[KeeperOfThePizza]

No it's not.

+10

[Eric Veteran]

You can add or remove buttons already.

[Frylock86]

Metro is only for phone

No it's not.

+10

+100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

[Chasethebase Reporter]

Why are so many people having a crisis over Metro? It looks great on mobile, on a Desktop, not so much. It's like saying iOS should be used on a desktop, when it isn't designed for that.

IE9 won't change much in terms of UI, probably just small tweaks to fit it in with 7 more.

[~Johnny]

Why are so many people having a crisis over Metro? It looks great on mobile, on a Desktop, not so much. It's like saying iOS should be used on a desktop, when it isn't designed for that.

IE9 won't change much in terms of UI, probably just small tweaks to fit it in with 7 more.

It does look great on a Desktop. Zune & Metrotwit are both a testament to that. There is nothing inherently mobile specific about Metro's design philosophy. Keep in mind Metro isn't a rigid design element like the Ribbon UI (or iOS) - it's a design philosophy, a set of guidelines for you to follow, and interpret into your own needs to create beautiful applications.

Metro is about simplicity, and focus' on beautiful typography and user content above all else. It's about clean, light and open design - letting content be the UI, and stripping away everything else. It's also about fast, smooth and natural animation/motion. All of those things work perfectly fine on the desktop and mobile, and they look amazing on both when done properly.

[AgentGray]

And that's probbly what so many people have an issue with when it comes to metro. They see a UI designed for phones and think it's getting brought to desktops because that's what Apple would do. Apple designed iOS and it's components... making a unified, custom desinged envrioment. Microsoft on the other hand created a design concept and are giving people the ability to use it how it works best. Two entirly different things.

[Ayepecks]

Why are so many people having a crisis over Metro? It looks great on mobile, on a Desktop, not so much. It's like saying iOS should be used on a desktop, when it isn't designed for that.

IE9 won't change much in terms of UI, probably just small tweaks to fit it in with 7 more.

I don't agree. When done right, it looks amazing on a desktop. The Zune software looks great.

[murkurie]

As long, as the tabs are not top, I won't mind using it. I hate the tabs on the top. If it looks like the FF theme Twenty Ten, I would probably use it as my main browser.

[.Neo]

I can't stand the fact that Internet Explorer 8 forces the Tab bar and second toolbar button row into one space. Keep the toolbar for toolbar buttons and address bar, keep the tab bar for tabs only.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

The Metro UI may look nice for the Zune Player. It simply wouldn't work for a web browser though.

The IE 9 UI will be a refinement of the IE 8 UI. Nothing more.

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

I think IE9 will be just as bloated as IE8. I cant picture it being minimal at all, nor functional to use as a mainstream browser again.

[jason13524]

I think IE9 will be just as bloated as IE8. I cant picture it being minimal at all, nor functional to use as a mainstream browser again.

First time I've ever seen ayone say IE8 is bloated and the 2nd point, you've not used the test copies of IE9 or been reading their blog. Its currently more functional than any browser available.

[hdood]

Keep in mind Metro isn't a rigid design element like the Ribbon UI (or iOS) - it's a design philosophy, a set of guidelines for you to follow, and interpret into your own needs to create beautiful applications.

Could you please link to these guidelines? As far as I know, no such thing exists. The only thing that exists is the Zune software's UI, from which people have extrapolated a whole "Metro" design, despite the fact that it's used nowhere else, and has little to do with the actual Metro design found on the mobile devices.

As for MetroTwit, I don't see how it's the same as the Zune software.

They have little in common apart from a lack of depth. Is that what Metro means? "Flat?" Whatever Microsoft considers "Metro" to be internally, I have serious doubts that it's the kind of ultra-vague philosophy that people here are claiming.

Anyway, the problem I have with the design is that it completely ignores the UX guidelines for Windows. It is radically different from them, and radically different from the Windows design itself. It's really inconsistent with Windows and looks completely out of place. If all of Windows looked that way, then that would be one thing, but to have a single OS component (IE) be so radically different from the rest of the system? It's absurd.

There is also no framework for it. To use it, you have to custom design everything. You have to draw everything manually, all the way from the window borders down to the individual UI controls. It's a lot of work trying to jury-rig the look into a framework that was not designed for it.

[Prince Charming]

Could you please link to these guidelines? As far as I know, no such thing exists. The only thing that exists is the Zune software's UI, from which people have extrapolated a whole "Metro" design, despite the fact that it's used nowhere else, and has little to do with the actual Metro design found on the mobile devices.

As for MetroTwit, I don't see how it's the same as the Zune software.

They have little in common apart from a lack of depth. Is that what Metro means? "Flat?" Whatever Microsoft considers "Metro" to be internally, I have serious doubts that it's the kind of ultra-vague philosophy that people here are claiming.

Anyway, the problem I have with the design is that it completely ignores the UX guidelines for Windows. It is radically different from them, and radically different from the Windows design itself. It's really inconsistent with Windows and looks completely out of place. If all of Windows looked that way, then that would be one thing, but to have a single OS component (IE) be so radically different from the rest of the system? It's absurd.

There is also no framework for it. To use it, you have to custom design everything. You have to draw everything manually, all the way from the window borders down to the individual UI controls. It's a lot of work trying to jury-rig the look into a framework that was not designed for it.

For what it's worth, there is a UI Design and Interaction guide for Windows Phone. Whilst is is obviously WP7, and not Metro, the two are to a degree interchangable, and it lays out a lot of stuff including sizing, spaces, typography and so on. There's also the Metro Design Language document, which is designed primarily as an explanation and provenance for Metro, but also details quite well good usage and areas of Metro. It's something of an applicable design guide document.

Finally, frameworks do exist. There's the Microsoft relased Cosmopolitan theme for Silverlight, which isn't a massive effort to port across to WPF given the extreme commonality and XAML background. It's quite verbose in its inclusion of controls and elements.

[8inch]

I'm sure it won't have the IE8 glassy buttons. The new IE9 logo comes without the old glass effect as well. Glass is out.

[hdood]

For what it's worth, there is a UI Design and Interaction guide for Windows Phone. Whilst is is obviously WP7, and not Metro, the two are to a degree interchangable, and it lays out a lot of stuff including sizing, spaces, typography and so on. There's also the Metro Design Language document, which is designed primarily as an explanation and provenance for Metro, but also details quite well good usage and areas of Metro. It's something of an applicable design guide document.

URL? I'm not so sure how interchangeable the two are. The Zune software is very different both in form and function from the WP7 interface (obviously a computer is not a phone). I'd like to see the actual guidelines for the Windows Metro design as used by Zune that he seemed to claim exists.

Finally, frameworks do exist. There's the Microsoft relased Cosmopolitan theme for Silverlight, which isn't a massive effort to port across to WPF given the extreme commonality and XAML background. It's quite verbose in its inclusion of controls and elements.

I was talking about the native world. Most software (including all of Windows and most other Microsoft software) is native code, and can't (and probably don't want to) use Silverlight or WPF.