Interesting Windows Desktop UI Concept

nchlswu 14 years ago |

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 the best trend to follow - at least not to the extremes. I see a design that's somewhat flat and we may perceive differently if the background was a solid colour.

robszumski 14 years ago | |

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.

kellishaver 14 years ago | | |

Usability issues aside, the UI is so flat and, in places, so low-contrast, there's a large segment of the population that wouldn't be able to see it, let alone use it.

DrStalker 14 years ago | | |

That won't be a major problem provided there is an easy way to change to e theme that gives better contrast/readability.

They don't need the default UI to acceptably cover 100% of their market if it can do a better job for 95% of people with a switch that does a better job for the other 5%.

nchlswu 14 years ago | | |

>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.

100% agree. I love looking at these visual designs, but most of the time they weren't done with real usability concerns in mind.

When it comes to commenters saying the author should be hired by Microsoft, something like that would definitely almost never happen in this industry but it seems like some shops really embrace the handing off the design reigns to graphic designers. Google and RIM have both shifted the direction of their UI approach to departments with visual design backgrounds and less usability, human factors or research driven design backgrounds. There's been a lot of attention directed at Google and I'm curious of RIM's choices pan out, as The Astonishing Tribe appears to have full reigns of RIM's BB UI.

encoderer 14 years ago | | |

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.

dhx 14 years ago | | |

I don't quite understand the benefit of a transfer speed vs. progress percentage plot. Transfer speed should be viewed as a function of time.

spindritf 14 years ago | |

> am I missing something? This strikes me as primarily being a visual design or what some people call a theme.

Looks like it's a little more than a theme, maybe a theme for a shell replacement? Like what desktop modders used to do with LiteStep* back in the day.

Very attractive, I would add -- minimalistic, clean, perhaps a little soulless. I'd use it, though, as others commented, the lack of contrast might get a little taxing in the long run, hard to say.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiteStep

droctopu5 14 years ago | |

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

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

51Cards 14 years ago |

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.

kamechan 14 years ago |

reminds me of the current google design paradigms. wish the creator would make this into a gnome3 theme (and possibly a dark version)? i would totally use it.

tikhonj 14 years ago | |

Yeah, it would be really nice to see some Linux themes inspired more by the core ideas of Metro and less by Apple's software design (which I find lacking).

Also, I can't help thinking that this sort of design is very good for tiling window managers :).

lbotos 14 years ago | | |

How hard is it to theme "linux"(KDE/GNOME/ETC)? I've never done it as I don't use the Linux Desktop (I need Photoshop) but I've always wanted to try and help improve the linux desktop experience. Is anyone working on a theme actively or know someone to put me in touch with?

pbhjpbhj 14 years ago | | |

KDE-look.org might be a good place to start, http://kde-look.org/index.php?xsortmode=high&page=0&..., if for nothing else then it can put you in touch with current theme designers.

rbanffy 14 years ago | | |

You can also check the GTK theming tutorial (for Gnome 2 and 3):

http://live.gnome.org/GnomeArt/Tutorials/GtkThemes

or get in touch with the design team at Canonical:

http://design.canonical.com/

rbanffy 14 years ago | | |

I'm not sure it would work well with tiling windows. Tiled UIs must adapt to very different window sizes and, probably, switch layouts accordingly.

nagisa 14 years ago | |

There's a similar theme already called Elegant_brit. It doesn't look exactly same, but there's resemblance.

Also in this concept window manager takes really much screen estate. Even tough it looks great while looking at non-maximized windows, it would start itching really quick when working in day-to-day basis. Also I wonder how concept author would replace lost functionality of menu bar...

Finally, what bugs me most is that scroll bars are a rip-off from Ubuntu-like scroll bars. (I don't say that Ubuntu didn't ripped them off tho.)

Shank 14 years ago | |

I'd be happy with a theme for that as well. Even some Windows theme fiddling could get that to work.

pbhjpbhj 14 years ago |

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 coloured like those of the browser window?

Aside: Which leads me on to wonder as cloud storage and web apps grow ever more the focus will we move back to the earlier concept behind IE [and Konqueror and the like] of browsing local and web-based content through a single interface.

Couple of other questions on the UI - why is the top padding inconsistent, and so large (it's massive isn't it?!); where is the limit of the scrollbar and why don't the scrollbars start a consistent distance from the top of the window.

I can see why it's loved by those being vocal about it; but it's not for me.

Groxx 14 years ago | |

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?

sek 14 years ago |

Is there any good resource to learn how to use colors in design, the stuff i make always looks like crap because i only take standard ones.

I envy this guy for this ability, incredible good taste in unobtrusive colors.

Havoc 14 years ago |

Looks like Windows with a thick layer of gmail paint.

jeffchuber 14 years ago |

Agree with other's comments. Looks a ton like new Google. And why all the backlash against structure? People like structure.

dmix 14 years ago | |

Google is "wanting to move away from explicit box structures and to use type and spacing more to indicate structure."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGIU2JX1U5Y

remmers 14 years ago |

I really enjoy the lack of rounded corners. It's very crisp. I've been annoyed that older browsers don't support CSS rounded corners, but now I realize I can do without.

pooriaazimi 14 years ago |

Though I'm not a Windows user (and won't be in the foreseeable future), but I really liked it. This one was particularly nice and novel: http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/4174/explorer3.jpg

planckscnst 14 years ago |

This reminds me of one of my favorite GTK themes: Elegant Brit (http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/?content=74553).

joenathan 14 years ago | |

It's all just a play on the Zune desktop software. http://i.minus.com/iDQRFmra9Ayqs.PNG

Shank 14 years ago |

That's really a great re-design concept. It looks really good without lacking functionality--I'd love to use that over Metro any day (especially after having used it in Windows 8 developer preview).

joering2 14 years ago | |

its interesting to see how we going back to basics. from windows 3.11 where there was like 256 colors through windows 95/XP more blurry, shadows, rounded stuff, through new windows design that just look "cleaner" and uses better matched color palette, but not much different from initials.

lbotos 14 years ago | | |

The funny thing is we do this everywhere. The most important thing I learned durning my time at art school was that the art world (And the world by extension) moves in cycles. Everything is a reaction to what was prior.

v0cab 14 years ago | | |

I've said for several years that Windows should abandon the 3D-style UI elements, and stop overwhelming users with color.

Imagine if you went to a website, and all the UI elements were pseudo-3D. It would look a mess.

DanBC 14 years ago |

I look at the Explorer window...

(http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/5892/explorer1o.jpg)

...and I see that the columns are titled:

    120 items,detail view     date     type

So you can sort by date, or type, but not name? And you can't adjust the column width?

I gave up then.

rhengles 14 years ago |

IMO, the taskbar is what caught my attention the most - the best use of a chromeless design that i've seen.

pbreit 14 years ago |

Since this will never make its way onto Windows, maybe some Linux distro or UI manager could pick it up? Is this more than the typical skinning/theming capabilities can support?

I also always wished the BeOS UI was more available now than just the Haiku project.

rbanffy 14 years ago | |

Oh no... I hate the small tabs on top of Windows. By making them variable size, you always had to hunt the functions on the right part of the tab.

But I agree it was beautiful. Back then I made a BeOS theme for my Windows NT 4 box.

jakeonthemove 14 years ago |

Zune inspired - pretty damn good!

neilparikh 14 years ago |

A lot of these look like the Basecamp Next UI (ex. the colors, the rectangles and squares etc.). I especially liked the Skype UI. Anyway, well done!

richardlblair 14 years ago |

I would say it's more zune/wp7 inspired than gmail inspired.

Both are minimalistic, but the icons, colors, shapes and white space feels very much like zune/wp7.

zobzu 14 years ago |

This reminds me of one of the E17 themes. Cause yeah, on free software, you can actually make your mockup a reality :-)

shimon_e 14 years ago |

There are some good UI ideas. Wish the Linux desktop designers would implement some of them.

kalyan02 14 years ago |

Seems to be heavily inspired from Gmail and all the latest Google's new design hoopla!

Awesome nevertheless!

tar 14 years ago |

I just wish this actually gets implemented.

ksec 14 years ago |

Well at least it is some great idea to look into. Although M$ has a habit of copying other people's idea and make it WORST.

Another day to go before Windows 8 CP.

jaequery 14 years ago |

if ubuntu had this, game over MS/Apple!

no-espam 14 years ago |

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.

mark_story 14 years ago | |

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.

pilsetnieks 14 years ago | |

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

Raphael 14 years ago | | |

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

shriphani 14 years ago | | |

There still is. It is the default way to sync Zune HDs and WP7 devices.

pilsetnieks 14 years ago | | |

Something similar will probably surface for Windows 8 Metro interface.