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from the tigers-never-change-their-stripes dept.
Windows 11 Is Making It Absurdly Difficult to Change Browsers
In a page ripped right out of the '90s, Microsoft reminds us that it's still engaging in the browser wars.
[....] there have been plenty of chances to dive into the OS to see what's next from Microsoft. And there's evidence of the same old story. Namely, Microsoft wants to make it hard for you to use a browser that isn't Edge.
The Verge reports on how convoluted the new process is to change the default browser in Windows 11. Like in Windows 10, you'll get a prompt when you click on a web link asking you to choose an app. But unless you specifically tell the system that you'd like to switch browsers, it will assume you're okay with Microsoft Edge as the default.
[....] It gets worse: if you don't remember on the initial pop-up, you'll have to dig into the settings to change the default app for every specific file type. This can get tedious! It means you'll have to tell Windows which app should open an HTM, HTML, PDF, SVG, and XHTML file—and that's only a sampling of the file types that a browser can open. Additional screenshots show Windows 11 still nags the user to try Microsoft Edge when switching browsers.
From the same people who brought us IE 6, the bane of web developers everywhere, now comes Edge — the browser with the swirl toilet flushing icon.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Saturday August 21 2021, @07:56AM
A large part of the problem is self preservation. If a UI "just works" and is "easy to understand" you would hope that they would leave it as is. Unfortunately, if they do not peddle the idea of change they will end up with nothing to do (eventually) and out of work.
Sometimes it is not the choice of the developer... A marketing rep or CxO comes by and says... see that big area wasted by a menu? We need to make it smaller (or completely remove it) so that we have more space to sell ads.
As an aside to this point... I remember one project meeting years ago with the user reps... We were discussing a pretty important web-based form with instructions on the page. All the instructions were important so of course, they were all designed to be colored red, (iirc, there was not anything left to be a normal dialog color.) And ofc, a few parts were really important, so they were bold. The designers came up with a screen mock up and the users basically liked it but complained that a few of the extra important instructions did not stand out. In reality, they should have toned down some of the less important instructions to let the others stand out more... but I mad a dry joke of "we can make those lines flash" expecting people to groan at me, but instead the users loved the idea and it made it all the way to the final implementation and is likely still flashing on the page today. (So yes, that one is my fault.)
And of course there is the designers own opinion which changes everything from the past on a whim. This includes the "Oh, I don't like high contrast text; lets make it fade into the background;" and the "Well, I don't use that button so lets get rid of it, who cares if others find it useful." Of course the self-engrossed pretentious a-holes that think that everyone else has horrible designs and only theirs have any value tend to make things a lot worse. They are the ones that remove anything useful from a design to make it pretty and "get rid of clutter" by hiding all menus and dialogs behind a little dot or two that is impossible to find on a screen. Of course these are people that are fascinated with their own rose scented feces; and only care about the perceived beauty; they are not the ones that provide end user support to people that can't find a button that allows them to get the actual work done.
Until UI/UX starts to include actual usefulness to end users instead of just it looks pretty, this will continue non-stop. Note... UX used to mean this long ago but it seems to be forgotten by most right now.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P