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One thing I've noticed when people complain about Windows 11 UI changes is they don't seem to use keyboard shortcuts. For example, Kliksphilip (youtuber) compla

One thing I've noticed when people complain about Windows 11 UI changes is they don't seem to use keyboard shortcuts. For example, Kliksphilip (youtuber) complained about things being difficult to rename. Considering that he seemed to do a lot of renaming it seemed baffling he didn't know the F2 shortcut. Know your tools. Admittedly it's terrible for your cursor muscle memory to have the start menu button shift around, but most keyboards have a dedicated button for opening it. Why not use it? I know I might be in the minority here, but I vastly prefer the start menu popping up in the middle of the screen instead of the corner. That way I don't need to turn my head / redirect my gaze as much. Although I get it. Most people just want to work the way they've been working and treat changes to their workflow with hostility. And of course taking choice away from users ("authotarian minimalism" as some comment here put it) is a bad thing. Many of my friends liked to have a vertical taskbar and I'd imagine they're not happy taskbar repositioning being removed from Windows 11. edit: formatting

yokoprime 5y ago
I agree with this. On macOS you're pretty much dead in the water without keyboard shortcuts.
- pindab0ter 5y ago
  How is that? Almost everything you need you can get by right clicking something and if it isn't there it's in the menus.
jeroenhd 5y ago
I personally enjoy GNOME so I can't be too critical about where the start menu does or doesn't pop up. However, "just use shortcuts" isn't a solution to bad design. People don't rename things too often, so such shortcuts are rarely picked up. F5 is the only shortcut I think most computer users know about, and I doubt they realise it'll work in explorer as well. Nobody cares about shortcuts when the problem is that the UI is unintuitive. If they did, they would've already learned and used them. At this point you might as well direct them to Powershell, because that's even more powerful. We're talking about features that people regularly used half a year ago and now can't do anymore. For young people this shouldn't be a problem, they just need to decode the new iconography, but for the elderly this change in behaviour means re-taking the entire "how to use a computer" course from the start. The continuous design overhaul Microsoft is trying to do for no apparent reason other than please designers who won't be using Windows anyway is only making everyone's life harder. If you're redesigning, people shouldn't ask where the buttons have gone. Their new location should be logical and intuitive after only a little bit of looking around. With the new context menu (and the new start menu, actually) this isn't the case. It feels to me like the design was made for an entirely new product instead of for an interaction of a product with thirty to forty years of history.

yokoprime 5y ago

I agree with this. On macOS you're pretty much dead in the water without keyboard shortcuts.

pindab0ter 5y ago
How is that? Almost everything you need you can get by right clicking something and if it isn't there it's in the menus.

jeroenhd 5y ago

I personally enjoy GNOME so I can't be too critical about where the start menu does or doesn't pop up. However, "just use shortcuts" isn't a solution to bad design. People don't rename things too often, so such shortcuts are rarely picked up. F5 is the only shortcut I think most computer users know about, and I doubt they realise it'll work in explorer as well. Nobody cares about shortcuts when the problem is that the UI is unintuitive. If they did, they would've already learned and used them. At this point you might as well direct them to Powershell, because that's even more powerful. We're talking about features that people regularly used half a year ago and now can't do anymore. For young people this shouldn't be a problem, they just need to decode the new iconography, but for the elderly this change in behaviour means re-taking the entire "how to use a computer" course from the start. The continuous design overhaul Microsoft is trying to do for no apparent reason other than please designers who won't be using Windows anyway is only making everyone's life harder. If you're redesigning, people shouldn't ask where the buttons have gone. Their new location should be logical and intuitive after only a little bit of looking around. With the new context menu (and the new start menu, actually) this isn't the case. It feels to me like the design was made for an entirely new product instead of for an interaction of a product with thirty to forty years of history.