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Windows 8 Designer Explains Why It Annoys You

posted by LaminatorX on Wednesday February 19 2014, @08:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the you-had-one-job-ONE-JOB dept.
stmuk writes:

"BGR reflects on recent comments by a Metro designer. 'Metro is a content consumption space,' Microsoft UX designer Jacob Miller explains, 'It is designed for casual users who only want to check Facebook, view some photos, and maybe post a selfie to Instagram. It's designed for your computer illiterate little sister, for grandpas who don't know how to use that computer dofangle thingy, and for mom who just wants to look up apple pie recipes. It's simple, clear, and does one thing (and only one thing) relatively easily. That is what Metro is. It is the antithesis of a power user.'"

 
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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by number6 on Wednesday February 19 2014, @01:54PM

    by number6 (1831) on Wednesday February 19 2014, @01:54PM (#2447) Journal

    If application or system software was designed correctly then userland would never have to argue about choice of graphic user interface or which 'Window Manager' is the best.

    How do you make EXPLORER.EXE in Windows NT6 look and act EXACTLY like the one seen in NT5 XP ??? ....YOU CAN'T.
    How do you make THE DESKTOP(+Taskbar+StartMenu) in Windows NT6 look and act EXACTLY like the one seen in NT5 XP ??? ....YOU CAN'T.

    BUT .... if graphic user interfaces were totally modular and hot-swappable like plugins; if every single GUI element was a selectable component officially allowing you to 'ShowIt | HideIt | RemoveIt | EnableIt | DisableIt | AddtoIt | SubtractFromIt | EnhanceIt | ReplaceItWithOtherModulesOfSameClass | ReplaceItsOwnObjects | CustomizeItsOwnObjects | etc', then this level of customization would be possible. It requires insightful planning, engineering and design from the host software manufacturer right from the get-go. At the moment, Microsoft do not have such an 'insightfully designed' operating system.

    IMHO, the Windows audio player 'foobar2000' is an example of an 'insightfully designed' application software----it allows userland to be the UX Designer !

    If the Microsoft Windows design team could take the design paradigm of foobar2000 and apply it to an operating system then userland would NEVER AGAIN have to argue about their visual preferences.

    I think what I am saying is especially relevant in today's world, where we have multiple graphical paradigms, with mobile phones and tablets appearing on the scene.....

    Now throw into that mix the conservative business user who does not want to change his Windows XP GUI one little bit....so he buys a newer NT6 Windows 8 machine and skins it to look and act EXACTLY like NT5 Windows XP......BUT THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE AS WE SPEAK, because Microsoft has not created an 'insightfully designed' operating system.

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  • (Score: 1) by joshuajon on Wednesday February 19 2014, @05:53PM

    by joshuajon (807) on Wednesday February 19 2014, @05:53PM (#2667)
    You keep using that phrase [wikipedia.org], but I don't think it means what you think it means.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2014, @06:20PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 19 2014, @06:20PM (#2690)

      Please explain, what are you inferring? What has that Wikipedia article got to do with what he is saying?