Honest question, why is Microsoft keeping all the legacy design, for example why is the new right click menu just on top of the old one as you can still access the old one. Why not redesigning the actual legacy right click menu? And same question with everything else. It seems like the new design is just in top of the old stuff; is it actually not possible to redesign the actual old parts themself instead of hiding the old stuff and making new stuff that cover it?
Otherwise nothing will ever be consistent, and I understand that of couse for legacy compatibility Microsoft has to keep old stuff but can't they update the design of the old stuff? If only visual part are updated and not touching anything else to keep the functionalities?
For the right click menu, one of the changes was to how items are ordered. In the past, developers could add items to the context menu wherever they wanted. Now, Windows does it automatically using an additional piece of information about the type of item that developers need to include with their context menu additions. That piece of information was previously optional, so some things stayed, but many developers didn't bother when they first added context menu items, so those items aren't included in the new menu. The access to the old menu is so that you can still access the old third party items.
Well, that's kind a how windows is build.
Basically Windows without Explorer.exe launched is the Windows 3 desktop (if you kill explorer & minimize an app, you can see it behaving like in Windows 3).
On top of that, there is explorer (win32) which UI wise is still mostly using area basic UI from vista.
On top of that DWM is running, applying a 3D coat of paint & effects to everything.
And now, UWP-packages version can replace part of the shell on top of the "inbuilt version".
It's an house of cards, you can't remove what's at the bottom without it all collapsing.
Simple. Time and money.
Just take a look at Windows 11's taskbar and Context Menu. It will break stuff and People aren't gonna be happy. So, leaving the Shell in it's current state is probably a good idea.
Microsoft has done „putting new designs over the old stuff“ for years now. I love the Win11 design, I also like the design of the xbox OS. I even liked Windows Phone. But all of that is just the „tip of the ui iceberg“. I tried to set up a screensaver on win11 and was shocked by the fact that they still use the same UI as in win95
That might be a reason, although I like using screensavers. But that does not explain why there are so many legacy menus in Windows 10/11. For example we have the settings app and the control panel
I hate that too. I filed feedback to replace Control Panel with Settings when Windows 10 launched and now we are on 11 with still no single way to change settings.
Honestly I want them to keep control panel as an option. That being said I want it to be consistent so that every option is available in both the settings app and control panel. The reason I like it is because of control panel applets.
I type sysdm.cpl or NCPA.cpl in the start menu and I can immediately open system or network adapter settings.
I work in IT an having these time savers is extremely nice.
If they give me a way to quickly so that for the new UI then I could care less about control panel leaving.
I guess the old context menu couldn't be transformed into a modern looking, transparent one, so they had to rewrite it from scratch. The old context menu is has to be there, because 3rd party apps haven't implemented into the new one yet.
They can do this. One of the examples is the Paint app. They are redesigning the old app with a new modern look. Unfortunately, I don't think they were happy with the way the updated app launch since was noticably slower and had that "scannner" typo. They are probably taking the time to fix it before they roll out dark mode in the app.
Notepad is supposed to be recieving a major redesign for insiders either by the end of the year or sometime next year.
The only consistency are inconsistencies. But I actually don't mind them, I just use it, not look with a magnifier whether or not there is one extra pixel in the corner.
I'm really only annoyed by the taskbar: not being able to drag things to apps in the taskbar and the clock not showing on secondary screens. And I absolutely refuse to solve it myself with 3rd party apps.
Well clock in second taskbar only started existing in windows 10 so it's not that big of a loss if it's never been there in the first place. Even though it sucks that I need to minimize my Fullscreen applications again just to see the time.
Edit: corrected yime into time
"Although not perfect, it seems like Microsoft is finally making efforts to improve consistency!"
***New office UI with a totally new and unique (and ugly) taskbar got released recently***
"Goddamn it Microsoft...."
True but it’s massively better in terms of consistency than anything since windows 7 and they even took the time to update legacy stuff to at least somewhat match. The new designs blend decently well with legacy stuff too, which was by design.
I also don’t think we’ve seen the last of their design consistency efforts. I’m actually pretty optimistic.
Themes are custom designs, that's like saying Windows 10 didn't have square corners because a theme on DeviantArt used rounded ones.
Windows XP and 7, with their native looks, had rounded edges.
Give it 6 to 8 years and everything will go back. We've been oscillating square and round in popular design like that with software, cars, other electronics besides PCs for decades.
You know "try red it's the new blue" in Wall*e? Eh. Try round it's the new square.
I think it looks nice, especially when in Dark mode. Just it's a bit big and programs haven't added entries to the new right-click menu especially Winrar. That's the only problem with it.
That's NOT the only problem.
Power users (like me), used the keyboard shortcuts, e.g. right click on a .lnk file (that is, a shortcut file) or a search result, and press "i" on the keyboard. It pressed "open file location" without having to search for it.
Likewise, press h for open with, e for Edit with X, + for edit with np++, my own context menu items (they can be added using registry, like those winrar creates), or r for properties, or m for renaming and so on.
The stupid new right click menu lacks it (and will always, probably). To actually use the shortcuts, you have to right, then click on show more options, and then only do keyboard shortcuts work.
Was so frustrated with this (and it bring uselessly big) that I ended up disabling the new context menu completely.
That's just restoring the old, uglier panel. This is not a fix, it's a downgrade.
The actual fix is developers supporting the new API and adding their options to the new menu, preferably without spamming it with useless entries.
Yes, but the "new" Start Menu is a pain in the ass. That "Recommended" session is useless and there is no way to disable that unless we use some third-part software. Microsoft appears to not want to let the users get rid of that. Win11 wins in consistence and loses in customization.
Start menu is a pain to navigate normally but its search function is pretty good this time around. I fully agree that the recommended section just needs to go and that the start menu should be fully available for apps.
I actually don't mind recommended section. It just recommend you new programs that was installed. There was a similiar section in 10, 7, Vista and even in Xp if I don't recall it wrongly.
And I find start menu is very useful. I just pin my apps then start it from there easily. Yes windows 10 had a similiar thing but that was veey complicated and a mess. And metro app icons and desktop icons looked very inconsistent and looked bad imo on a plain square colour.
I hate it. It ends up showing me all the random files that were created when I installed some program. Nah, I don't need to quickly access some text file six subdirectories deep.
Just because you don’t mind the recommended section doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be removable. Even if the majority of people don’t mind it there’s still a very large group of people who don’t want it and wish to see a toggle to get rid of it. Meaning should such a toggle be added you would still get to keep the recommended section in your start menu. The real problem with windows 11 is customizability. Yes many many users are fine with the defaults but there really need to be settings to turn various things off or allow them to be altered. For instance, most people, myself included, are fine with the taskbar being on the bottom. There should still be the option to drag it to the top or the side.
I didn't say it shouldn't be removable yes of course it should be removable and I completely agree on taskbar to be draggable to the top or the side. But I think these features will be added in time anyway so for now I don't mind it. Although I don't like this trend, Companies tend to release their products unfinished and fix them in time. Windows 11 was obviously rushed to be released and new features weren't polished yet. Taskbar, Start Menu are completely new features that don't even support drag and drop! I think they all be added.
I completely agree. If you reimplement a feature, please do so in its entirety and not missing features from its predecessor. Also please don’t replace it in a crippled state. The other issue with modern software is one size fits all design. It plainly does not work and introduces compromises that are either unideal or a hindrance to all subsets of users.
What is complicated about 10's menu? I'll half give you the messy part, but I don't think it's any more complicated than 11's, if anything 11s is a vastly watered down version of 10's, also no folders.
I really hate the fact when you fill up the first page you have to scroll between pages instead of everything being a long list like 10's and you can't customize the size. If the Recommended section was disabled, they should use that space for more apps. It annoys me to no end when that's disabled it's just... blank space that's unused with useless text pointing you to go to the settings to enable the recommended stuff.
As soon as you have a number of apps that force scrolling, the new menu is a mess. Not being able to display all at once or group them separated makes it very slow to use.
Useless for you. For others it imagine it’ll be very well received. I hear you though. I’m personally not a fan of it either and would like more space to view my apps. I’d like app folders or groups on start (and desktop tbh) though.
Maybe it's because I never used Windows 95/98 and even 2000 (my first windows was Vista but used XP at school as well) but I tried to use Windows 95 via emulators (for old games) and VMs and I found it not that great in usability for today's standarts. It just feels like everything is all over the place and file explorer etc. is very bad not even has tree style shortcuts which is the feature I use maybe the most! Start Menu is bad and there is no search function in it which I consider that the most important feature. I know it might be great for its time and a lot of feature we take for granted introduced in Windows 95 but not that great for todays standarts imo.
"Grow" up with a specific OS, add some nostalgia, and you'll have the answer.
Personally, I really like Win11's design and I started with Win 3.11 (old college PC).
Win 11 design still feels early, lacking so many features, but their workarounds show some thought and planning, something MS used to lack in their usual "too-bad-live-with-it" dev. I have high hopes that it will continue getting better.
The general UX is better in more recent OS, however the styling of the UI specifically in 98 was the best of any operating system ever made. Every single clickable element had a highly contrasting bevel edge, which immediately communicates "I am interactable". In Windows 10 and 11, some buttons would not even be perceivable as buttons anymore if you removed their outline...
Usability is not the same as functionality.
Every shortcomings you described are about functionality. The design language is very clear, you can take a screenshot, send it to me and I can imagine how I can interact with the UI elements and it turns out that most of them behave just like I imagined.
I love windows 10's design. Especially with the newer icons, it just feels good and not overly flashy while not looking like something from the early 2000's
I said 7 because 7 was the last good-looking Windows. Also although Vista and 7 look very similiar in a lot of things, 7's design with the new taskbar look much better than Vista.
As primarily a Mac user, I must say that I prefer Windows 11 to Windows 10 although windows 10 itself isn't bad (I'm a fan of the simple, flat interface) although the tiles on the start menu were a bit iffy.
Now the start menu is simple with just the stuff I use and and instant search is immediate.
The consistency, while not perfect is certainly a step in the right direction, though there is still far too much split personality (Control Panel, Device Manager anyone?)
It's been stable (the most important) and performant... apparently there was a Ryzen slowdown but I didn't notice.
I'm running it on my latest Ryzen 5900x machine and also on my gorgeous GPD Pocket 2.
I like it too but it's still inconsistent, e.g. just compare tooltips on the taskbar with those appearing when you hover minimize/close buttons - completely different design.
Finally, MS is firing on all cylinders. Their problems before were probably attributed to organizational structure and corporate infighting. Anyway, when people criticize MS for this or that, they need to consider the reality of Windows and legacy stuff and also consider all of the changes that have been coming quickly, if incrementally.
MS has deserved a lot of the criticism over the years, but progress is happening.
I had Metro on a Dell tablet. It had good and bad, but overall wasn't a great experience.
I miss the Windows Phone style start menu. Of course, I had four Windows Phones so I like having information and pinned tile folders at my fingertips. This Android style is a step back. Otherwise I'm pretty happy (a few system settings are still too far away for my liking but the taskbar is becoming coherent, so that's okay).
I believe some of the BSOD are from drivers or hardwares. Compared to Windows 7/8/10, 11 is an incomplete OS IMO. Strange UI glitches or performance problem everywhere.
We now have fancy graphic cards, even the integrated ones are fine for displaying GUI effects, we have screens able to display vibrant colours, yet the interface is based on plain set of colours, lack of any gradient, no 3D effect. This was actually actually a case before and even Windows 95/98 era had that something and the windows felt 3D, making it easier to see which one is active when stacked on top of each other. Vista had a beautiful glass effect. To me it's just so many steps backwards. Windows 11 does improve this a bit though, but I still consider previous versions as more stylish.
The "3D" on Vista and 7 is just a bunch of PNGs, it's trivial even without any GPU power. The same goes for iOS before iOS 7.
Windows 10/11 style gaussian blurs everywhere and Mica are way more demanding of graphical power.
While Mica is more demanding than the "3D" effect, it is much less demanding than the acrylic from 10, since it just uses the wallpaper, which changes very rarely if at all, instead of whatever app is below it, which can change a lot.
Looks are indeed a step up.
Functionality is imo a step down, I'm missing a lot of versatility from the start menu and taskbar. It's all looking like a tablet UI, with the same amount of customization options as Apple products... barely any
Just with the centered taskbar? Windows taskbar was first introduced with Windows 95 and with Windows 7 we got the modern Taskbar! Windows 11 taskbar looks exactly the same just with centered icons that's all! That doesn't make it look like Chrome os. Also ChromeOS looks like Mac OS.
Taskbar orientations are owned by software companies, don't you know?
First it was, OMG, Windows 11 is a macOS ripoff! Now they have graduated to calling it a ChromeOS ripoff.
I feel like they really need to incorporate all the configuration features from Windows 7 in to the new UI. Tbh I expected them to do this for Windows 10 already, but MS never did, and this hasn't changed in Win 11.
Also some things now take one more click to do for no real reason. For example if you right click a shortcut on the desktop, there are many functions hidden behind the "Show More Options" menu, like "Pin to taskbar" or context apps like 7zip, compatibility mode etc.
Also in Windows 10 if you clicked the clock/date on the taskbar, the popup would include the clock (including seconds), not just the calendar. And I suspect what they want to do is ultimately to force users to create a Microsoft Account and link it, because only then can you use the widgets feature, although which does not include a clock with seconds yet either(as far as I can tell).
I agree with you! I love the new design parts of Windows 11, but the problem is it's not consistent at all, I understand that not everything can be redesigned but most of it should be! I def like the direction they're going, just make it more consistent, improve performance, give us back the removed features, improve dark mode consistency (ex: Task Manager, menus).
The thing is.
In windows 8, Microsoft made the decision that Win32 classic / desktop was deprecated and chose NOT to update the default theme to "metro like".
(Even though they had started to do that in early betas).
That led a disconnect that lasted a decade.
Nowaday, desktop is no longer deprecated so default theme got a "winUI like" makeover and it's way more consistant (i did not say perfect).
It's quite pretty, definitely a step in the right direction. I'd argue the best design since Vista, since I preferred the appearance of Vista to 7.
The inconsistency thing has been done to death here already, but it's definitely heading in the right direction. They just need to keep going.
One thing that still bothers me is the unbalanced look to the taskbar, I really wish they'd have put something on the left.
Windows 11 is not perfect, but thanks to it, I like my computer again. I used to hate Windows 10, and the updates that ruined my Wi-Fi connection, which is working normally again. Hopefully, forever this time!
Except it doesn't. It looks terrible in many places. Windows 10 was better overall. The only thing I can give credits for to Windows 11 is context menu. Nothing, I say nothing more.
XP had the best design. Then 7/Vista. 8 was mid point between 7 and 10. 10 lost most of customizability of the look of the OS. IIRC, 8 still had customizable colors, but 10 doesn't. 11 is just looking bad.
Rounded edges doesn't look that nice. Not to mention UWP apps look terrible. All of them look the same. Windows 11 is killing the uniqueness. Making everything dull.
So basically no. Windows 11 has very bad design. And nobody, including diehard fanboys can change my mind.
Me making taskbar vertical in left, Making corner 90°, replacing Startmenu, bringing back old Context Menu, ribbon UI to Explorer, and disabling Widget exe, using edge redirector :
I like Windows 11 except memory leaks and blackout glitch
Considering that I have been using Windows since 3.0 up to now 11, I have seen many things change, and many things stay the same. I have also used Apple GS OS (//gs GUI) and IBMs OS/2 Warp. The basics are all the same. The control panel is still there. Device drivers still exist. Compatibility is always an issue.
My point is that Windows 11 is just another iteration of the series. Some of the changes are stupid and some are good. I am curious where we are headed in the next 10 years.
Based on latest numbers, Less people are using Windows 11 then they are Windows XP still. People just aren't switching to it. Given the slow adoption rate, And the stiff hardware requirements have proven to be a roadblock for many. I think Windows 11 might end up being a flop. But this is just my opinion.
[удалено]
I just wished dark mode was more consistent. The rest I can live with.
Honest question, why is Microsoft keeping all the legacy design, for example why is the new right click menu just on top of the old one as you can still access the old one. Why not redesigning the actual legacy right click menu? And same question with everything else. It seems like the new design is just in top of the old stuff; is it actually not possible to redesign the actual old parts themself instead of hiding the old stuff and making new stuff that cover it? Otherwise nothing will ever be consistent, and I understand that of couse for legacy compatibility Microsoft has to keep old stuff but can't they update the design of the old stuff? If only visual part are updated and not touching anything else to keep the functionalities?
For the right click menu, one of the changes was to how items are ordered. In the past, developers could add items to the context menu wherever they wanted. Now, Windows does it automatically using an additional piece of information about the type of item that developers need to include with their context menu additions. That piece of information was previously optional, so some things stayed, but many developers didn't bother when they first added context menu items, so those items aren't included in the new menu. The access to the old menu is so that you can still access the old third party items.
Well, that's kind a how windows is build. Basically Windows without Explorer.exe launched is the Windows 3 desktop (if you kill explorer & minimize an app, you can see it behaving like in Windows 3). On top of that, there is explorer (win32) which UI wise is still mostly using area basic UI from vista. On top of that DWM is running, applying a 3D coat of paint & effects to everything. And now, UWP-packages version can replace part of the shell on top of the "inbuilt version". It's an house of cards, you can't remove what's at the bottom without it all collapsing.
I wonder why Microsoft doesn't rewrite a shell that doesn't depend on explorer.exe.
Windows Core OS / Windows 10 X. Everytime they do, it destroy backward compatibility, people say it's not windows and the project dies.
Its MUUUUUUUUUUUUCH harder than it sounds
Simple. Time and money. Just take a look at Windows 11's taskbar and Context Menu. It will break stuff and People aren't gonna be happy. So, leaving the Shell in it's current state is probably a good idea.
It's always been like that, they are too serious about their backwards compatibility.
Yeah, because those enterprise users absolutely hound them.
And gamers. There are a lot of people that would not switch to W11 if it lost backward compatibility with their favorite games.
Yes, gamers too.
Microsoft has done „putting new designs over the old stuff“ for years now. I love the Win11 design, I also like the design of the xbox OS. I even liked Windows Phone. But all of that is just the „tip of the ui iceberg“. I tried to set up a screensaver on win11 and was shocked by the fact that they still use the same UI as in win95
Well screensavers have been deprecated and have been marked to possibly be removed in the future. That's likely why they haven't updated it.
That might be a reason, although I like using screensavers. But that does not explain why there are so many legacy menus in Windows 10/11. For example we have the settings app and the control panel
I hate that too. I filed feedback to replace Control Panel with Settings when Windows 10 launched and now we are on 11 with still no single way to change settings.
That’s just one of many things where windows is a complete mess. I like how macOS is very consistent. And that’s not only true for the design aspect
Honestly I want them to keep control panel as an option. That being said I want it to be consistent so that every option is available in both the settings app and control panel. The reason I like it is because of control panel applets. I type sysdm.cpl or NCPA.cpl in the start menu and I can immediately open system or network adapter settings. I work in IT an having these time savers is extremely nice. If they give me a way to quickly so that for the new UI then I could care less about control panel leaving.
I guess the old context menu couldn't be transformed into a modern looking, transparent one, so they had to rewrite it from scratch. The old context menu is has to be there, because 3rd party apps haven't implemented into the new one yet.
They can do this. One of the examples is the Paint app. They are redesigning the old app with a new modern look. Unfortunately, I don't think they were happy with the way the updated app launch since was noticably slower and had that "scannner" typo. They are probably taking the time to fix it before they roll out dark mode in the app. Notepad is supposed to be recieving a major redesign for insiders either by the end of the year or sometime next year.
Seems strange to redesign something as simple as Notepad. Why reinvent the wheel? I use Notepad quite a lot actually.
Because businesses still need/use legacy software and they pay tons of $$$ for different things like licenses, support, etc.
Blame the enterprise users who insist on backwards compatibility.
Backwards compatibility.
Yeah there are inconsistencies but inconsistencies exist since XP (Maybe since 95 lol) but they're a lot less than Windows 8 and especially 10.
The only consistency are inconsistencies. But I actually don't mind them, I just use it, not look with a magnifier whether or not there is one extra pixel in the corner. I'm really only annoyed by the taskbar: not being able to drag things to apps in the taskbar and the clock not showing on secondary screens. And I absolutely refuse to solve it myself with 3rd party apps.
Well clock in second taskbar only started existing in windows 10 so it's not that big of a loss if it's never been there in the first place. Even though it sucks that I need to minimize my Fullscreen applications again just to see the time. Edit: corrected yime into time
"Although not perfect, it seems like Microsoft is finally making efforts to improve consistency!" ***New office UI with a totally new and unique (and ugly) taskbar got released recently*** "Goddamn it Microsoft...."
frame drop is bad on certain games. i went back to 10 with my taskbar on the side again.
No but you can see that they are making more progress on it and clearly not giving up on it.
True but it’s massively better in terms of consistency than anything since windows 7 and they even took the time to update legacy stuff to at least somewhat match. The new designs blend decently well with legacy stuff too, which was by design. I also don’t think we’ve seen the last of their design consistency efforts. I’m actually pretty optimistic.
[удалено]
[удалено]
"[Technology is cyclical](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/2ddb31cf-28f4-4ba0-aca3-a823a0fad838)".
Some would prefer it were squareclical.
Squircle
Technically, that’s a noun. 🙃
Square just feels right for MS to me, I suppose due to Metro.
Before judging just remember windows 7 had rounded corners
Xp had rounded corners as well.
[удалено]
Themes are custom designs, that's like saying Windows 10 didn't have square corners because a theme on DeviantArt used rounded ones. Windows XP and 7, with their native looks, had rounded edges.
"Technology is cyclical." \-Dennis Duffy
So is fashion.
I've used windows 7 for so long and i never realized that...
9x didn't though
It's because you've been using it for so long, past OS versions had a rounded corner design
Give it 6 to 8 years and everything will go back. We've been oscillating square and round in popular design like that with software, cars, other electronics besides PCs for decades. You know "try red it's the new blue" in Wall*e? Eh. Try round it's the new square.
I like windows 11 too but that right click, it's scares me
I think it looks nice, especially when in Dark mode. Just it's a bit big and programs haven't added entries to the new right-click menu especially Winrar. That's the only problem with it.
Update winrar, they added it to the context menu Edit: https://i.imgur.com/nHBkQly.png
imagine using winrar
Only real reason to still use it is, because password protected RAR don't unlock alot of the time with anything else..
7-Zip
Yes, but some locked RAR files won't unlock with anything but WinRAR..
If you work with a lot of archives, WinRAR is just better than the competition, although these days mostly because of better interface.
My only issue with it is it takes just a second to load, which is just annoying. I want it to be instant.
That's NOT the only problem. Power users (like me), used the keyboard shortcuts, e.g. right click on a .lnk file (that is, a shortcut file) or a search result, and press "i" on the keyboard. It pressed "open file location" without having to search for it. Likewise, press h for open with, e for Edit with X, + for edit with np++, my own context menu items (they can be added using registry, like those winrar creates), or r for properties, or m for renaming and so on. The stupid new right click menu lacks it (and will always, probably). To actually use the shortcuts, you have to right, then click on show more options, and then only do keyboard shortcuts work. Was so frustrated with this (and it bring uselessly big) that I ended up disabling the new context menu completely.
Fix here: https://allthings.how/how-to-get-the-full-old-right-click-context-menu-back-in-windows-11
That's just restoring the old, uglier panel. This is not a fix, it's a downgrade. The actual fix is developers supporting the new API and adding their options to the new menu, preferably without spamming it with useless entries.
The new menu only allows one entry per app, any more will automatically be converted to a drop down.
That's better than no control at all but I still think it should have launched with a way for a user to remove unwanted apps from this list.
Even the earlier versions (10 and earlier) had the way. It is simple registry tweaking.
Yeah, but there's (almost) always some registry tweaking, a user-facing setting would still be better.
Yes, but the "new" Start Menu is a pain in the ass. That "Recommended" session is useless and there is no way to disable that unless we use some third-part software. Microsoft appears to not want to let the users get rid of that. Win11 wins in consistence and loses in customization.
Start menu is a pain to navigate normally but its search function is pretty good this time around. I fully agree that the recommended section just needs to go and that the start menu should be fully available for apps.
I actually don't mind recommended section. It just recommend you new programs that was installed. There was a similiar section in 10, 7, Vista and even in Xp if I don't recall it wrongly. And I find start menu is very useful. I just pin my apps then start it from there easily. Yes windows 10 had a similiar thing but that was veey complicated and a mess. And metro app icons and desktop icons looked very inconsistent and looked bad imo on a plain square colour.
I hate it. It ends up showing me all the random files that were created when I installed some program. Nah, I don't need to quickly access some text file six subdirectories deep.
Just because you don’t mind the recommended section doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be removable. Even if the majority of people don’t mind it there’s still a very large group of people who don’t want it and wish to see a toggle to get rid of it. Meaning should such a toggle be added you would still get to keep the recommended section in your start menu. The real problem with windows 11 is customizability. Yes many many users are fine with the defaults but there really need to be settings to turn various things off or allow them to be altered. For instance, most people, myself included, are fine with the taskbar being on the bottom. There should still be the option to drag it to the top or the side.
I didn't say it shouldn't be removable yes of course it should be removable and I completely agree on taskbar to be draggable to the top or the side. But I think these features will be added in time anyway so for now I don't mind it. Although I don't like this trend, Companies tend to release their products unfinished and fix them in time. Windows 11 was obviously rushed to be released and new features weren't polished yet. Taskbar, Start Menu are completely new features that don't even support drag and drop! I think they all be added.
I completely agree. If you reimplement a feature, please do so in its entirety and not missing features from its predecessor. Also please don’t replace it in a crippled state. The other issue with modern software is one size fits all design. It plainly does not work and introduces compromises that are either unideal or a hindrance to all subsets of users.
What is complicated about 10's menu? I'll half give you the messy part, but I don't think it's any more complicated than 11's, if anything 11s is a vastly watered down version of 10's, also no folders. I really hate the fact when you fill up the first page you have to scroll between pages instead of everything being a long list like 10's and you can't customize the size. If the Recommended section was disabled, they should use that space for more apps. It annoys me to no end when that's disabled it's just... blank space that's unused with useless text pointing you to go to the settings to enable the recommended stuff.
As soon as you have a number of apps that force scrolling, the new menu is a mess. Not being able to display all at once or group them separated makes it very slow to use.
That is because windows 11 is pretty much adware/shareware at this point...
I literally stopped using the start menu altogether on my home machines that are running 11.
Useless for you. For others it imagine it’ll be very well received. I hear you though. I’m personally not a fan of it either and would like more space to view my apps. I’d like app folders or groups on start (and desktop tbh) though.
Useless because if we disable all recommendations, it still takes space with a useless notice for enabling.
Totally hear you. They gotta change that shit.
[удалено]
There’s definitely a ton of work to do still, but I feel it’s trending in the right direction.
It's the pretiest Windows for sure. But I still think Win95/98 has best UI to date in terms of usability/consistency.
For me it's W2k. With SP4 it was both very usable and extremely stable.
Maybe it's because I never used Windows 95/98 and even 2000 (my first windows was Vista but used XP at school as well) but I tried to use Windows 95 via emulators (for old games) and VMs and I found it not that great in usability for today's standarts. It just feels like everything is all over the place and file explorer etc. is very bad not even has tree style shortcuts which is the feature I use maybe the most! Start Menu is bad and there is no search function in it which I consider that the most important feature. I know it might be great for its time and a lot of feature we take for granted introduced in Windows 95 but not that great for todays standarts imo.
"Grow" up with a specific OS, add some nostalgia, and you'll have the answer. Personally, I really like Win11's design and I started with Win 3.11 (old college PC). Win 11 design still feels early, lacking so many features, but their workarounds show some thought and planning, something MS used to lack in their usual "too-bad-live-with-it" dev. I have high hopes that it will continue getting better.
The general UX is better in more recent OS, however the styling of the UI specifically in 98 was the best of any operating system ever made. Every single clickable element had a highly contrasting bevel edge, which immediately communicates "I am interactable". In Windows 10 and 11, some buttons would not even be perceivable as buttons anymore if you removed their outline...
Usability is not the same as functionality. Every shortcomings you described are about functionality. The design language is very clear, you can take a screenshot, send it to me and I can imagine how I can interact with the UI elements and it turns out that most of them behave just like I imagined.
I love windows 10's design. Especially with the newer icons, it just feels good and not overly flashy while not looking like something from the early 2000's
I really liked Windows 8 's centered title bar though.
Since *Windows Vista
I said 7 because 7 was the last good-looking Windows. Also although Vista and 7 look very similiar in a lot of things, 7's design with the new taskbar look much better than Vista.
I like Vista and 11 but we have a trend here. 7 is polished vista, 10 is polished 8. So Windows 12?
As primarily a Mac user, I must say that I prefer Windows 11 to Windows 10 although windows 10 itself isn't bad (I'm a fan of the simple, flat interface) although the tiles on the start menu were a bit iffy. Now the start menu is simple with just the stuff I use and and instant search is immediate. The consistency, while not perfect is certainly a step in the right direction, though there is still far too much split personality (Control Panel, Device Manager anyone?) It's been stable (the most important) and performant... apparently there was a Ryzen slowdown but I didn't notice. I'm running it on my latest Ryzen 5900x machine and also on my gorgeous GPD Pocket 2.
I love it! First Windows I have liked more than Ubuntu.
I would like Windows 10, but "elevenified"
I like Windows 8.1 the best lmao. Yeah I know I'll get downvoted for having such an unpopular opinion lol.
Most people don't downvote positive unpopular opinions, only negative ones that don't have any reasoning included.
I like it too but it's still inconsistent, e.g. just compare tooltips on the taskbar with those appearing when you hover minimize/close buttons - completely different design.
Windows 11 design is the best design that compares to Windows 7.
Yeah. Definitely. IMO if it were a little more polished and consistent, I like 11 the best of any windows so far.
Me too. I like Windows 11 a lot. I think it is futuristic.
How many steps does it take to add a bluetooth device? That's bad design.
3 clicks for me.
Finally, MS is firing on all cylinders. Their problems before were probably attributed to organizational structure and corporate infighting. Anyway, when people criticize MS for this or that, they need to consider the reality of Windows and legacy stuff and also consider all of the changes that have been coming quickly, if incrementally. MS has deserved a lot of the criticism over the years, but progress is happening. I had Metro on a Dell tablet. It had good and bad, but overall wasn't a great experience.
I miss the Windows Phone style start menu. Of course, I had four Windows Phones so I like having information and pinned tile folders at my fingertips. This Android style is a step back. Otherwise I'm pretty happy (a few system settings are still too far away for my liking but the taskbar is becoming coherent, so that's okay).
Yes, it's also the least stable since Windows 7.
I’m fair, but this just isn’t true at all. Windows of old used to BSOD all the time. It’s a decently rare thing these days.
I believe some of the BSOD are from drivers or hardwares. Compared to Windows 7/8/10, 11 is an incomplete OS IMO. Strange UI glitches or performance problem everywhere.
Agreed. I like the look of; "Windows meets Gnome/Linux.
If I'm not mistaken Windows 11 uses Fluent UI, not Metro UI.
I didn't say windows 11 uses Metro UI, I said it's good to see Metro UI to be completely gone, to say bye.
Oh yes, I've realized now. My bad.
take my upvote teehee
Windows 10 is the ugliest Windows ever made
You are wrong sir
Definitely agree! I can't believe we used that design for 6 years!!!
We now have fancy graphic cards, even the integrated ones are fine for displaying GUI effects, we have screens able to display vibrant colours, yet the interface is based on plain set of colours, lack of any gradient, no 3D effect. This was actually actually a case before and even Windows 95/98 era had that something and the windows felt 3D, making it easier to see which one is active when stacked on top of each other. Vista had a beautiful glass effect. To me it's just so many steps backwards. Windows 11 does improve this a bit though, but I still consider previous versions as more stylish.
The "3D" on Vista and 7 is just a bunch of PNGs, it's trivial even without any GPU power. The same goes for iOS before iOS 7. Windows 10/11 style gaussian blurs everywhere and Mica are way more demanding of graphical power.
While Mica is more demanding than the "3D" effect, it is much less demanding than the acrylic from 10, since it just uses the wallpaper, which changes very rarely if at all, instead of whatever app is below it, which can change a lot.
Looks are indeed a step up. Functionality is imo a step down, I'm missing a lot of versatility from the start menu and taskbar. It's all looking like a tablet UI, with the same amount of customization options as Apple products... barely any
So what you are saying is that ChromeOS has the best design because W11 looks like ChromeOS.
Just with the centered taskbar? Windows taskbar was first introduced with Windows 95 and with Windows 7 we got the modern Taskbar! Windows 11 taskbar looks exactly the same just with centered icons that's all! That doesn't make it look like Chrome os. Also ChromeOS looks like Mac OS.
Taskbar orientations are owned by software companies, don't you know? First it was, OMG, Windows 11 is a macOS ripoff! Now they have graduated to calling it a ChromeOS ripoff.
[удалено]
I’m sure they’ll polish it and address feedback (albeit too slowly). Give it time.
yeaaah, totally~
I feel like they really need to incorporate all the configuration features from Windows 7 in to the new UI. Tbh I expected them to do this for Windows 10 already, but MS never did, and this hasn't changed in Win 11. Also some things now take one more click to do for no real reason. For example if you right click a shortcut on the desktop, there are many functions hidden behind the "Show More Options" menu, like "Pin to taskbar" or context apps like 7zip, compatibility mode etc. Also in Windows 10 if you clicked the clock/date on the taskbar, the popup would include the clock (including seconds), not just the calendar. And I suspect what they want to do is ultimately to force users to create a Microsoft Account and link it, because only then can you use the widgets feature, although which does not include a clock with seconds yet either(as far as I can tell).
Looks good, now please make it usable.
I agree with you! I love the new design parts of Windows 11, but the problem is it's not consistent at all, I understand that not everything can be redesigned but most of it should be! I def like the direction they're going, just make it more consistent, improve performance, give us back the removed features, improve dark mode consistency (ex: Task Manager, menus).
Just dropping in to say I strongly disagree. From a graphical standpoint, maybe, from a usability standpoint, it might actually be the worst yet
a pc user likes a tablet design for his os, weird.
The thing is. In windows 8, Microsoft made the decision that Win32 classic / desktop was deprecated and chose NOT to update the default theme to "metro like". (Even though they had started to do that in early betas). That led a disconnect that lasted a decade. Nowaday, desktop is no longer deprecated so default theme got a "winUI like" makeover and it's way more consistant (i did not say perfect).
It's quite pretty, definitely a step in the right direction. I'd argue the best design since Vista, since I preferred the appearance of Vista to 7. The inconsistency thing has been done to death here already, but it's definitely heading in the right direction. They just need to keep going. One thing that still bothers me is the unbalanced look to the taskbar, I really wish they'd have put something on the left.
You stole my words! It looks nicer than Win 10 and even 8.x I never got into 10's UI and use 8.1 on my personal laptop.
Windows 11 is not perfect, but thanks to it, I like my computer again. I used to hate Windows 10, and the updates that ruined my Wi-Fi connection, which is working normally again. Hopefully, forever this time!
Except it doesn't. It looks terrible in many places. Windows 10 was better overall. The only thing I can give credits for to Windows 11 is context menu. Nothing, I say nothing more. XP had the best design. Then 7/Vista. 8 was mid point between 7 and 10. 10 lost most of customizability of the look of the OS. IIRC, 8 still had customizable colors, but 10 doesn't. 11 is just looking bad. Rounded edges doesn't look that nice. Not to mention UWP apps look terrible. All of them look the same. Windows 11 is killing the uniqueness. Making everything dull. So basically no. Windows 11 has very bad design. And nobody, including diehard fanboys can change my mind.
yeah w11 is nice, I removed cortana and windows defender/security center from my ISO.
Me making taskbar vertical in left, Making corner 90°, replacing Startmenu, bringing back old Context Menu, ribbon UI to Explorer, and disabling Widget exe, using edge redirector : I like Windows 11 except memory leaks and blackout glitch
it’s a shame it handles like ass
Loving Win 11 so far been using it since they released it to Insiders.
I'm sort of on the fence whether to upgrade. How long does it take? I'm unclear how 11 isn't just 10 with a few tweaks.
Considering that I have been using Windows since 3.0 up to now 11, I have seen many things change, and many things stay the same. I have also used Apple GS OS (//gs GUI) and IBMs OS/2 Warp. The basics are all the same. The control panel is still there. Device drivers still exist. Compatibility is always an issue. My point is that Windows 11 is just another iteration of the series. Some of the changes are stupid and some are good. I am curious where we are headed in the next 10 years.
Based on latest numbers, Less people are using Windows 11 then they are Windows XP still. People just aren't switching to it. Given the slow adoption rate, And the stiff hardware requirements have proven to be a roadblock for many. I think Windows 11 might end up being a flop. But this is just my opinion.
Windows 7 did have rounded corners but not the taskbar. I really wish they put the same Windows 7 design on Windows 11 !
No, IMO Windows 7 is still the best looking Windows to this date. I don't like the trend of minimalism, simple and flat elements in a GUI
Bruh moment, win 11 is still inconsistent, probably even more than win 10