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Interesting Windows Desktop UI Concept

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Re: Interesting Windows Desktop UI Concept

#41

Post by s_o »

sek wrote: post #29
willifred wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand feeling frustrated, but it's a little unfair on yourself. Most designers hone their ability through constant application of their skill, not to mention very often years of expensive schooling. Nobody does it overnight. Although it's certainly possible to do without the expensive formal schooling. > what are the ingredients The ingredients (AKA the elements and principles of design): http://en.wikiped…

Thanks for the suggestions, what is so difficult for me is i don't see progress. How i said, i don't think it is something to learn overnight. I just don't saw a starting point yet, in the technical world there is always a tutorial. That book sounds very interesting, this is probably the thing i was looking for.

I'm just like you in that I'm more of a hacker that has trouble figuring out how to make things look good. Try this book (I've read 3/4 of it--excellent book):

http://www.amazon.com/Design-Hackers-Reverse-Engineering-Bea...

It was made just for people like us!

Re: Interesting Windows Desktop UI Concept

#42

Post by 51Cards »

Visually it looks nice but practically I don't think it works for a lot of users. I would guess that with all the white-space and over-sized elements you're only getting maybe 50% of the same content on a screen layout. What this would be good for say is to throw Windows into a "Streamlined" mode. Set basic users set this interface and then use the stock UI for advanced users.

Re: Interesting Windows Desktop UI Concept

#43

Post by mark_story »

no-espam wrote: post #13

Hmmm looks like Zune. I'll argue it's one the best pieces of software to come out of Microsoft. Too bad MS just killed.

Much of the zune visuals live on in the xbox and windows 8 as well. WhileMS had some terrible design in the past they seem to be entering a new phase where design is at the forefront.

Re: Interesting Windows Desktop UI Concept

#45

Post by droctopu5 »

nchlswu wrote: post #31

Not to take away from the work, but am I missing something? This strikes me as primarily being a visual design or what some people call a theme. This is a great visual design. It's cohesive and incorporates zune/metro very well. I particularly like how the focus window is highlighted and everything else fades a little. However, I think this redesign (and Metro itself) also highlights how minimalism isn't necessarily…

Agreed. I like this visually, but the title is misleading.

I don't see a new "UI Concept" here.

Re: Interesting Windows Desktop UI Concept

#46

Post by robszumski »

nchlswu wrote: post #31

Not to take away from the work, but am I missing something? This strikes me as primarily being a visual design or what some people call a theme. This is a great visual design. It's cohesive and incorporates zune/metro very well. I particularly like how the focus window is highlighted and everything else fades a little. However, I think this redesign (and Metro itself) also highlights how minimalism isn't necessarily…

I love visual design exercises like this, but it's one thing to throw it out there and a completely separate (10000x harder) feat to actually have this implemented. If you usability test this interface, it's going to fail all over the place. Remember, Windows is probably the only piece of software with EVERY SINGLE segment of users.

http://cdn.robszumski.com/share/file-copy.png The file copy window that's tacked on to the explorer window contains way too much information. A skilled but non-technical user is going to see "164 MB/s" and "72%". Where's the time left? You have to remember, people don't read -- at all, ever.

"Hey user, how do you tell when this is done?" "Funny you mention that, I never have any idea. I know that the percent is there in the squiggly bar, but what does that mean? Each week my podcasts seem to take different amounts of time to copy, but I never really know."

http://cdn.robszumski.com/share/copy-worst-case.png "Sometimes I can't even read the number because the line goes straight through it." Obviously this could be designed in a much better way, but when you look at these perfect screenshots it's impossible to see how it would act. This is where designers make their money for the company.

There are a lot of people in the comments of the article saying the author should be hired by Microsoft. I don't think that's going to happen.

Re: Interesting Windows Desktop UI Concept

#47

Post by Groxx »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #37

Welp, I don't like it. It's too, erm, "indistinct" [which itself is a pretty nondescript description!]. For MS I suspect they couldn't use this as a major theme because of lack of contrast. On a consistency POV, in http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9029/desktopoy.jpg , why does the [web] browser have a separated tab bar but the file manager doesn't? No tabbed file browsing? Why are the tabs in the skype window not c…

And Skype! half the width is devoted to the contacts list, cramming the actual conversation into as much space as you get on your standard smart-phone. Do they really expect you to be devoting that much time to gazing longingly at your list of contacts, instead of communicating?

Re: Interesting Windows Desktop UI Concept

#48

Post by pilsetnieks »

Raphael wrote: post #36
pilsetnieks wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not killed, it's called Windows Phone 7 now.

There was a program called Zune for Windows desktop which was like Windows Media Player but with a radical UI.

Something similar will probably surface for Windows 8 Metro interface.

Re: Interesting Windows Desktop UI Concept

#49

Post by encoderer »

robszumski wrote: post #46
nchlswu wrote: post #31

Not to take away from the work, but am I missing something? This strikes me as primarily being a visual design or what some people call a theme. This is a great visual design. It's cohesive and incorporates zune/metro very well. I particularly like how the focus window is highlighted and everything else fades a little. However, I think this redesign (and Metro itself) also highlights how minimalism isn't necessarily…

I love visual design exercises like this, but it's one thing to throw it out there and a completely separate (10000x harder) feat to actually have this implemented. If you usability test this interface, it's going to fail all over the place. Remember, Windows is probably the only piece of software with EVERY SINGLE segment of users. http://cdn.robszumski.com/share/file-copy.png The file copy window that's tacked on t…

While it's too early to say what will be in the final build, that is one que he seemed to have taken from the MSDN Windows 8 blog, http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/23/improving-our-...

I also call foul on the mock-up you posted with the unreadable text. This is a problem commonly solved in all form of design work by putting a stroke on text that's not on a solid background color. Your mock-up there is more straw-man than informed counter-oint.

But I agree with your broader point that this would be given poor marks in a usability study. For one, the dozen shades of grey, seemingly a go-to favorite for designers, strikes me as quite un-functional.

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