How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11? • Hacker News Board

Re: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?

#211

Post by csours » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 3:28 PM UTC

akersten wrote: post #209

flohofwoe wrote: post #190

Funny how the more the screenshots go back in history, the more 'useful' the UI looks like (even though they no longer adhere to the current fashion fad - which should actually be handled through a user-accessible themeing engine, no need to pay some UI designers big bucks to come up with rounded corners). For instance right in the first Task Manager screenshot, I have no clue what those tab icons on the left side ac…

It's not just looks, there are real features missing from the new control panel activities too, and I don't look forward to the day the old ones are removed. For example, to disable a network adapter, you have to go into the Vista/7 version of Network settings so you can right click it and get the context menu. It's a mess!

ncpa.cpl forever baby

Re: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?

#212

Post by sandworm101 » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 3:30 PM UTC

Lol. Anyone else notice that in the first screenshot the CPU is at 18% and is using 10.4gb of memory? Ah windows. You will never change.

Re: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?

#213

Post by alberth » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 3:33 PM UTC

macOS

I posted this yesterday, macOS is also at fault.

Here’s an interest blog post from a former Apple UI employee talking about the growing inconsistency in macOS UI.

https://www.corbinstreehouse.com/blog/2021/10/macos-12-monte...

Re: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?

#214

Post by LudwigNagasena » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 3:37 PM UTC

AlexandrB wrote: post #179

yuppie_scum wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are they so into XML? Move on to json or yaml please

That seems like change for change's sake. XML is fine for stuff that's machine generated. I doubt anyone is hand-editing MSIX installers.

If it is not hand-edited, why isn't it binary?

Re: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?

#215

Post by kyriakos » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 3:40 PM UTC

a bit unfair to complain about Windows Media Player 12 having the same UI when the application is clearly included for backwards compatibility even though it has already been replaced by newer application (called just Media Player) with the new UI.

Re: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?

#216

Post by trashburger » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 3:43 PM UTC

323 wrote: post #154

alentred wrote: post #30

To be fair, I think some examples, and specifically those from 95/NT and then 3.1 times, are too far-fetched. I agree that consistency is important, but it doesn't mean that every screen needs to be redesigned altogether. For instance, I don't think that examples of Screen Saver Settings or File Properties are relevant, as long as their styling is in line with the rest of the OS. One thing that surprises me a lot, th…

One universal solution that works for all apps - you render the app in an off-screen buffer and pass that to AI to re-render it in the new style. This way you don't need to touch the code. AI could also translate mouse clicks/coordinates accordingly if it moves stuff around. You could even have "UI themes", tell the AI to re-render in Windows 2000/XP/11 style. EDIT: the downvotes I'm getting with no comments are funn…

I upvoted because I thought it was well-done satire. This is satire, right?

Re: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?

#217

Post by withinrafael » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 3:43 PM UTC

kevingadd wrote: post #129

alentred wrote: post #30

To be fair, I think some examples, and specifically those from 95/NT and then 3.1 times, are too far-fetched. I agree that consistency is important, but it doesn't mean that every screen needs to be redesigned altogether. For instance, I don't think that examples of Screen Saver Settings or File Properties are relevant, as long as their styling is in line with the rest of the OS. One thing that surprises me a lot, th…

If you're using win32, it will automatically update most of its widgets to match new styling - but if your application is old enough it won't happen automatically since it would have broken things. You have to opt in by having styling turned on (this is really easy to do). See https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/620045/Custom-Controls-... (I can't remember where the documentation for this is on MSDN, but I'm sure it…

It's documented on Microsoft Learn at https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/controls/cookbook-...

Be aware though Microsoft considers its WinUI 3 framework as the primary framework for implementing its Fluent design language and controls. (WinUI 2 will get you there too but has recently been deprecated.) Win32, common controls, WPF, WinForms, etc. are considered legacy technologies and cannot officially make use of many Fluent styles or controls.

Re: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?

#218

Post by jabbany » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 3:45 PM UTC

kk_cz wrote: post #128

jabbany wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This! So much this! What's the point of having a taskbar that only groups by app...This has been one of the major pain points of me using Mac OS and it is immensely sad that Windows 11 has also taken this approach. At least some Linux DEs still let me keep my app windows ungrouped...

this works: https://github.com/valinet/ExplorerPatcher

I mean if I'm at the point of having to monkeypatch the explorer executable, I might as well not use Windows...

Re: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?

#219

Post by kyriakos » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 3:47 PM UTC

eCa wrote: post #18

mihaaly wrote: post #3

I am still looking forward for the option to ungroup task bar buttons, preferably with titles. Again! Something that was there before, worked, and was useful. But some designer decided we don't need that, to the bin with it!

One of the first things I installed recently on my first Win11 computer was StartAllBack[1]. It’s not perfect but the standard taskbar is so bad that I had to fix it somehow. [1] https://www.startallback.com/

the only reason i use it is to get vertical task bar. if MS added back the vertical taskbar option I'd be completely ok with win11 taskbar UI.

Re: How many layers of UI inconsistencies are in Windows 11?

#220

Post by rejectfinite » Mon, Jan 02, 2023, 3:51 PM UTC

RDP, Run dialogue, MMC.exe and Services.msc should stay the way they are thank you very much! These are work tools, in guides and SOPs all over. Rather no redo those.