Posts tagged Microsoft

Windows 8 Consumer Preview: What’s Changed?

As I have spent a few weeks using Windows 8 on both my netbook and my main desktop computer I thought it would be a good idea to go over what has changed.

The biggest and most noticeable change coming from previous Windows versions is that of the new ‘Metro’ Windows Runtime (WinRT) environment. From my understanding this is not merely a touch-based shell that sits on top of Windows but rather a core level environment that provides four new distinct paradigms for Windows users: a fullscreen immersive app experience, side-by-side app snapping, pinned live tiles and a touch-centric metro-inspired user interface.

The Start Screen (Metro)

By grouping the live tiles and changing certain properties like tile size and position I was able to organise my start screen to look more uniform and clean by de-cluttering the unnecessary apps that plagued the start screen upon first install. As you can see you are able to pin not only metro apps but legacy shortcuts as well. (each time you install a legacy app the shortcuts appear at the end of the start screen just like the start menu)
 

More Settings (Metro)

This is the new settings page where users can customise and control certain new features which are provided in Windows 8 such as the lock screen which appears when you are aren’t logged into Windows as well as changing your theme which consists of a background pattern and a selection of fixed colour variants.

One of the great benifits of using Windows 8 is that it is integrated with Microsoft’s cloud storage solution SkyDrive, which means that if you are logged into Windows using a Microsoft ID (such as a Live account) all your apps, app settings and legacy explorer configurations are saved to the cloud which will enable you to sync them to multiple devices. So far this seems to work well and syncing is surprisingly fast.
 

Desktop (Legacy)

What is now known as the legacy desktop environment is essentially Windows 7, so little has changed but that is not necessarily a bad thing as Windows 7 is still a very solid OS. However one of the main differences you will instantly notice is that Windows Explorer not only looks different but that file management performance has greatly improved.

The explorer ribbon in it’s current implementation is still quite bad, though I must confess as a power-user one feature I do like is the ability to pin any explorer option found in the ribbon to the ‘Quick Access Toolbar’ which is displayed on the Aero glass part of the window. For me every folder needs to be displayed and structured a certain way i.e: grouping files by file-type and then sorting by date modified or name, so I have pinned the ‘View’ and ‘Group by’ options so now I can quickly change the folder properties a lot more easily.

Compact Windows explorer list view

This may or may not be a new feature but is something I came across. If you resize a window right down to it’s smallest width the navigation pane disappears so that you are left with a list of files with the folder. This is great because if you do what I do and ‘hide file names’ for photos in a large photoset for example, what you are left with is a nice orderly list of photos with no extra chrome which makes viewing files much cleaner. Another great option for viewing items in this compact list view is ‘Content’ which you can see in the photo above. This would be also be a nice way to view files if you are multitasking and don’t want to take up a lot of screen space if say you’re using a netbook, just snap the folder to the side where you can scroll through the list of files or photos without cluttering the desktop space with unnecessary explorer chrome.

Detailed Pane moved

Another change to explorer which I particularly like is that the detailed pane is no longer at the bottom of the window which I always found to take up too much space but instead is now placed in the same position as where the preview pane exists, to the right side of the window. For power-users this will be useful, especially for photographers as the camera’s EXIF data is more prominently displayed.

Side-by-side Multitasking (Dual-Metro View)

Much like the snap function in Windows 7 (although this works differently) Windows 8 allows users to snap apps to either side of the screen for multitasking purposes. Essentially developers provide two layouts for their apps, one for fullscreen viewing and another for viewing in snapped mode. In the screenshot above I have opened to the left the Windows Store where I am viewing an app and to the right I have snapped another metro app which is Music - which by the way is poorly designed and thought out to the extent that the app is rendered useless.

Side-by-side Multitasking (Legacy/Metro View)

You can also use the legacy desktop while viewing a metro app. In this instance I am showing Adobe Photoshop running beside the People app displaying recent tweets from The Verge. (Unfortunately there are no social networking apps in the store as of yet but in a ideal situation when more apps are available I would have a metro version of Twitter or a news feed snapped to the side)

So what do I make of Windows 8 Consumer Preview? It is hard to say right now, as a designer I feel compelled to point out all the UX inconsistencies (which I will be doing in a later article) but I do realise that this is only a beta release and that I am assuming many features are yet to be revealed so I am reserving complete judgement till later builds are made available.

The main aspect that will determine if Windows 8 is a success on an UX level is if Microsoft is able to offer a great selection of extremely high quality apps that are not generic in the sense that apps do not merely stick to the default layout and controls (which so far all Windows 8 apps have done) but that they should make use of the APIs to create some innovative and creative interactive experience. Judging by what I have seen so far with Windows Phone and it’s marketplace I am not so optimistic. Will HTML5 be enough to convince developers to build these high quality apps? I’m not so sure.

Redesign: Windows Phone Marketplace UX

The Windows Phone marketplace was the first website that Microsoft released that had a feel of Metro to it. It’s a dramatic shift from how Microsoft were previously designing their web pages. Text, DIVs and graphic elements have better spacing, heading fonts are better (but far from perfect) and because the page is cleaner looking it is a lot easier to navigate and find where you are.

The Problem? See below.

I highlighted the most prominent issues regarding the layout and design. There are certain aspects to the page that are either unnecessary or could be improved. Such as the way users navigation through app screenshots in a way that isn’t generically copying Android’s marketplace and improves upon what Apple has done with their basic horizontal scrolling. (that’s so 2007)



Disclaimer: All images used are for illustration purposes. No copyright infringement intended.

Compare the two images and you will notice a dramatic improvement. Elements on the page are correctly sized and positioned. And the main featured element on the page becomes the most important section, the screenshots instead of the tile icon which is still important but not so much that it takes away from the reason users are on the page in the first place, TO SEE THE APP!

How users navigate app screenshots

Instead of the generic grid of portrait images, users are presented with a modern stylish looking Windows Phone (HTC Titan) that immediately makes the Windows Phone marketplace stand out as unique featuring it’s own product with pride as the main interaction element.

Using the Metro Panorama UX:
What better way to illustrate the beauty of Windows Phone than to make use of the panorama controls as a slideshow. This can easily be done in purely HTML5 or as a JQuery script. (but should not be in Silverlight which is not supported on mobile devices)

* Notice something unique? The screenshots are displayed in their correct orientation and not forced in portrait. I imagine Microsoft uses some form of CMS system to input app data into the marketplace. Developers should be able to select whether their app should be displayed in portrait or landscape when submitting their app. The CMS will then use two different sets of CSS and asset files as templates so the CMS can make the adequate changes to reflect the orientation change. This solves the problem of a developer manually making the changes for each app.

Support for Video playback
Developers will have the option to feature a H.264 HTML5 video (Silverlight or Flash as a fall-back if they’re using an old browser) of their app in action that will play in-line inside the Windows Phone. Videos tend to attract more attention because by nature humans are visual so by creating more engagement with users they are more likely to take up a ‘call to action’ such as sharing, downloading or purchasing an app. (Videos must be in sizzle-reel style showing real-time playback through capture software and not a video captured through a camera with narration. This is to maintain continuity with a high-end level of quality)

Navigation controls
Users will navigate screenshots by either:

• Clicking and dragging/grabbing the far right or left of a screen and moving either way
• On a touch device? Swipe left or right because the slideshow would be optimised for HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery instead of SL or Flash.
• Use the directional keys on your keyboard

There are rumours circulating that Microsoft may merge the Windows Phone marketplace inside the Windows Store and so my design proposal would by default be defunct. However I still believe that it is important that they pay more attention to little details as the UX and get that Windows Phone on the page.

Windows 8 Start Screen: Boring UI or F****n’ Sweet?

On Friday Microsoft revealed a video demonstrating Windows 8 booting up from post in just 2 seconds. You can watch the video here.

What is not so exciting is Windows 8’s Start Screen which was revealed at the end of the video. Now don’t get me wrong, I am definitely liking the new design approach, it’s just that knowing Microsoft they are not going to consider every small detail when it comes to the design, even if what they release is not final code.

What I hope has been done is allow the Start Screen to be fully customisable (not merely changing tile layout). But similar to the ‘advanced’ controls under Appearances in the legacy environment, these new controls will enable options such as:

• Adding a background image from the computer
• Adjusting the tint level added by default onto every background (the tint is to separate the background from the tiles to avoid them conflicting visual)
• Adjusting the opacity level to all or only specific tiles and an option to reveal tiles (revert to 100% opacity) on mouse-over or touch
• Allowing users to select any tile colour, not just a list of pre-chosen swatches

People love Windows because of this level of personalisation. In the image below you see an example of how I drastically enhanced the UI by simply adding a background image and reducing the tile opacity. This is the small detail I referred to earlier.

I am hoping Steven Sinofsky does not let everyone down by revealing unfinished code because they have had plenty of time since AllThingsD to consider every aspect of the OS.

What are your thoughts. If you walked into a store which UI would catch your eye first and would you want to see on your computer or TV? 

Windows 8 Explorer Metro Ribbon UI with Touch First in mind

With the Microsoft BUILD conference nearing closer there has been an increased surge of excitement throughout the developer world as Steven Sinofsky, President of the Microsoft Division begins to openly discuss the in-depth look into the mechanics behind their new  ”Redesigning Windows” approach.

He recently posted an article on ‘Improvements in Windows Explorer’. Where he discusses how the Windows Explorer (They should change it to File Explorer) has developed over time and ends with introducing the new Windows 8 Explorer that features the ‘ribbon’ we see today in applications such as Microsoft Office or Live Essentials.

This GUI (a static kitchen sink) had it’s uses in feature rich applications, however Microsoft should consider developing this further and provide a “dynamic and intelligent” ribbon that is not only configurable but is smart enough to change it’s UI based on device type and window size. (i.e: icon size, text placement, number of rows and columns, spacing etc.)



As it stands this Ribbon interface is ideal for legacy applications as it provides a function but I assumed the whole idea of Windows 8 was to move away from standard Windows environment and provide something revolutionary and innovative. Like mentioned previously, a “Dynamic and Intelligent” Metro ribbon that understands the users needs.



See full Size with annotation

That is exactly what I designed in the above image to try and communicate this point. By simply borrowing the design from IE9 (chromeless window) and moving the ribbon below the navigation bar it makes everything more legible. I have also increased the spacing between elements to maximise touch performance, provided a better way to collapse the ribbon and added additional functionality [see full size image]

Microsoft needs to give Windows a personality, this is what I mean by ‘intelligence’. The Explorer should be something that is centric to the OS experience not just a boring environment that lists your files but is an all-in-one GUI - library, document viewer, control panel and so on. For example, Explorer should have an organisation tool that allows me to organise and structure my entire PC in a simple method by creating virtual groups, libraries and tags so that I wouldn’t need to create a number of actual directories just to organise my files. All it takes is a simple search to find everything without ever navigating to a folder.

These are just some ideas of what I see as a truly “Reimagining of Windows” but whatever we see at BUILD I am hoping it will truly be something innovative and different (by that I mean totally touch-first and Metro styled UI - no legacy stuff at all but completely “redesigned”).

What are your thoughts on Windows 8 so far? Do you agree with how Microsoft is presenting the Ribbon to users in it’s new operating system or should they redesign it similar to how I explained through my concept design?