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I do like that some Windows programs are now converting menus into searchable hierarchies, e.g. Visual Studio and VS Code. But those are just programs, and they
by sdegutis 7y ago
I do like that some Windows programs are now converting menus into searchable hierarchies, e.g. Visual Studio and VS Code. But those are just programs, and they're only power-user programs. Searchable grouped functions are a genuine innovation on top of hierarchical menus. The "Start Menu" improved on that front and it is generally good.
- maxxxxx 7y agoI think the problem now is that some programs make improvements but the OS is stagnating. With Windows 95 the OS provided all the widgets like toolbars, menus and help system so most applications were pretty consistent. The first break was when Office introduced the ribbon but everybody else was forced to code their own ribbon because it wasn't integrated in the OS. Now with UWP and Win32 there is no consistency anymore. Searchable menus could easily have been integrated as standard for all apps if anybody had cared.
- sdegutis 7y agoSame thing for rearrangeable tabs with close buttons. I think Firefox introduced that concept (maybe it was Chrome), but it never got an official API, either on Mac OS X or Windows, which is strange because it's been such a fundamental part of certain programs for 15-20 years now. Lately macOS kind of has this, by allowing automatic grouping of documents for you, but it just feels hacked on compared to giving us this as an actual GUI component.