Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft UI has officially entered the realm of self-parody

seldo.tumblr.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 330 posts

Re: Microsoft UI has officially entered the realm of self-parody

#21

Post by riffic »

dhimes wrote: post #14
varunsrin wrote: post #9

The first problem with the article here is that some of the buttons (Move To, Copy To) did not exist previously. They are also extensions of existing functions (Move, Copy) - so concluding that half the UI is covered by buttons that were not used is an inaccurate assumption. Secondly, the actions are being moved from the context menu to the ribbon. Most new computer users find it very hard to remember additional, non…

Most new computer users find it very hard to remember additional, non intuitive actions like right clicking & context menus I didn't realize this. In fact, if I were asked to guess, I would have answered that most new users would pick up pretty quickly how to use context menus, especially if the context menus had related commands like file manipulation if in Windows Explorer (is it still called that?), or formatting…

agree, in fact UI like this encourages a user to develop bad usage habits, which will remain with them for an indefinite amount of time until these behaviors are (if ever) unlearned.

Re: Microsoft UI has officially entered the realm of self-parody

#22

Post by Triumvark »

encoderer wrote: post #6

I think the point is missed. It's hard to claim that the context menu is good UI. The fact that so few people use the menu bar means that it's currently useless and needs to be reworked. It's not as if they're replacing the context menu with the ribbon, they're replacing the currently-unused menu bar.

True, and shortcut key functionality (the commonly used good UI) is simultaneously expanded.

Re: Microsoft UI has officially entered the realm of self-parody

#24

Post by SoftwareMaven »

rickmb wrote: post #16
varunsrin wrote: post #9

The first problem with the article here is that some of the buttons (Move To, Copy To) did not exist previously. They are also extensions of existing functions (Move, Copy) - so concluding that half the UI is covered by buttons that were not used is an inaccurate assumption. Secondly, the actions are being moved from the context menu to the ribbon. Most new computer users find it very hard to remember additional, non…

> but it will be extremely helpful for beginners Methinks that kind of summarizes the issue: Microsoft doesn't seem to realize it's not 1995 anymore. "Beginners" are no longer a big market, and people are more comfortable with "discovering" software interfaces, as proven by the success of web apps, Apple, etcetera.

Most "normals" I interact with are beginners every time they use the computer. They are not comfortable discovering anything. I can teach them something and be confident in them forgetting it by the next time I talk to them.

Things like moving files around directories is black magic to them. Directories are black magic to them. The problem I see with this solution is two-fold:

1. The people who understand this stuff will be comfortable using context menus.

2. The people who don't understand this stuff will be just a stymied by the "move to" being in the ribbon versus being in a never-seen context menu.

However, what I would imagine MS is hoping with this is that the people in category two will gradually slide up to category one (well, more like 1a) because these things are in their face all the time.

Re: Microsoft UI has officially entered the realm of self-parody

#25

Post by eddieplan9 »

This reminds me of this famous quote:

The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products.

Re: Microsoft UI has officially entered the realm of self-parody

#27

Post by systems »

Well, in general I agree with the comments saying that the review missed the point about reworking the Tool/Menu bar so that people start to use it more

I still think, it's too crowded, and will benefit from a mode selection (i.e. Advanced with all these button, Basic with only the most used ones and Custom )

Re: Microsoft UI has officially entered the realm of self-parody

#28

Post by wtallis »

CoryMathews wrote: post #20
rickmb wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but it will be extremely helpful for beginners Methinks that kind of summarizes the issue: Microsoft doesn't seem to realize it's not 1995 anymore. "Beginners" are no longer a big market, and people are more comfortable with "discovering" software interfaces, as proven by the success of web apps, Apple, etcetera.

Have you met people not in the tech world? Tons of people struggle with things as simple as sending emails, or adding music.

I know plenty of people like that. For the most part, they know how to right-click (unless they're using an Apple mouse).

Re: Microsoft UI has officially entered the realm of self-parody

#29

Post by skeptical »

Microsoft UIs current state is, in general, cluttered and broken. I agree with this blogger, and my reaction was similar when I red the original post on msdn.

Having been absent from microsoft office (or any office like application for that mater) for many years, I recently got to use recent versions of microsoft products such as Word, Outlook, etc. The ribbons were a big facepalm, I didn't know such bad things exist, a few co-workers of mine said that they find them practical. I spent an average of 20-40 seconds each time I needed to click one of those buttons, even after many months of usage.

The buttons are jammed together in a rectangular area in ridiculous amounts. Some ribbons have close to 20 buttons, this will never be intuitive, it's just not visually easy to identify the buttons. Also, often a button is on the other site, all the away across the window in a far far away ribbon.

I never managed to use any microsoft OS after XP. Did the users really need other MS OS after XP? Quite frankly, I cannot find sinigle advantage of using vista or seven.

PS: The screenshots have something of a 1998 charm, I think it's that overlayed info. mspaint?

Re: Microsoft UI has officially entered the realm of self-parody

#30

Post by hernan7 »

varunsrin wrote: post #9

The first problem with the article here is that some of the buttons (Move To, Copy To) did not exist previously. They are also extensions of existing functions (Move, Copy) - so concluding that half the UI is covered by buttons that were not used is an inaccurate assumption. Secondly, the actions are being moved from the context menu to the ribbon. Most new computer users find it very hard to remember additional, non…

The "copy to" and "move to" buttons, seem to be some variation on the old "send to" command, which is currently available via both right-click and menu bar. (For those not familiar with Windows: if I select a file, the "send to" options are: compressed folder, create desktop shortcut, documents, fax, email, burn to DVD, network directory.)

Personally, that's an command that I never use; not sure how popular it is with the Windows userbase in general.

Post reply on HN