Microsoft.com New Design Preview • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft.com New Design Preview

#31

Post by dewiz » Thu, Jun 28, 2012, 11:51 PM UTC

Really cool responsive design, works and resizes smoothly both on FF and Chrome, while I've seen some similar implementations being very slow on Chrome.

Re: Microsoft.com New Design Preview

#32

Post by aristidb » Thu, Jun 28, 2012, 11:53 PM UTC

dchest wrote: post #30

I decided to download Movie Maker so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a Downloads menu there. I clicked "All Windows Downloads". (The site is pretty fast, BTW). I selected "Windows 7", then scrolled down until I found Movie Maker. I clicked "Get it now" and it showed me the Movie Maker page. On that page I clicked Download Now, and it started downloading!

This is a reference to Bill Gates ranting about not being able to download Movie Maker easily. See here: http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-...

Re: Microsoft.com New Design Preview

#33

Post by duncans » Thu, Jun 28, 2012, 11:56 PM UTC

dchest wrote: post #30

I decided to download Movie Maker so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a Downloads menu there. I clicked "All Windows Downloads". (The site is pretty fast, BTW). I selected "Windows 7", then scrolled down until I found Movie Maker. I clicked "Get it now" and it showed me the Movie Maker page. On that page I clicked Download Now, and it started downloading!

Were you carrying out the "BillG test"? http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/2008/06/24/full-text-an-...

Re: Microsoft.com New Design Preview

#34

Post by yaix » Thu, Jun 28, 2012, 11:59 PM UTC

Good to see that the use the "menu with down-arrows" correctly, that is "on click", rather than flickery on hover.

Re: Microsoft.com New Design Preview

#35

Post by meej » Fri, Jun 29, 2012, 12:24 AM UTC

zackham wrote: post #11

Really nice support of different browser sizes. Resize your browser from wide to really narrow to check it out.

Agreed! I noticed it plays very nicely with the window docking features in Windows 7. Beautifully done.

Re: Microsoft.com New Design Preview

#36

Post by fratis » Fri, Jun 29, 2012, 12:26 AM UTC

We've all known it for a while, but this redesign (which I think is quite nice compared to Microsoft's previous efforts) throws their logo into stark relief. It looks outdated. It doesn't match.

I'm speculating that we'll see an across-the-board Microsoft rebrand within the next two years, including a new logo for the company. They've rebranded their core software offering, they're now changing directions on their hardware/software philosophy, and trying to gain some mindshare for their new aesthetic (and their new appreciation for aesthetics more generally) is going to be a core part of that movement.

Thoughts?

Re: Microsoft.com New Design Preview

#37

Post by brudgers » Fri, Jun 29, 2012, 12:26 AM UTC

zyb09 wrote: post #9

Shouldn't the menu be all capitalized?

Words in all caps are harder to read.

Re: Microsoft.com New Design Preview

#38

Post by brudgers » Fri, Jun 29, 2012, 12:28 AM UTC

derpmeister wrote: post #10

That's the squarest site ever! I take it IE still doesn't support rounded corners?

What is the advantage of rounded corners?

Re: Microsoft.com New Design Preview

#39

Post by akshat » Fri, Jun 29, 2012, 12:30 AM UTC

There is no auto-complete in the search box. Should this not be expected?

Re: Microsoft.com New Design Preview

#40

Post by jrockway » Fri, Jun 29, 2012, 12:41 AM UTC

derpmeister wrote: post #10

That's the squarest site ever! I take it IE still doesn't support rounded corners?

I don't think that's it. That's what the UI on Windows Phone and Surface looks like, so I'm guessing it's intentional.

Personally, I am fucking sick of rounded corners, so seeing the right angles here really made me happy. I'm guessing their designers felt the same way.