3 ms·

Can you post a screenshot (or a link) to a similar page from an OS that doesn't look tired to you? Not criticizing you -- just want to know what you think.

untog 15y ago
Can't speak for the OP, but the WP7 interface does not look tired to me: http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/images/windows-phone-7.jpg http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/images/windows-phone... That home screen is the perfect mix of iPhone (structured, but with minimal ability to display info) and Android (stacked with widgets, but a mess layout-wise). The UI in WP7 is incredibly person-centric- I look up their entry in the phone book, it shows me their updates on various social networks, as well as a "history" tab that aggregates all our chats, e-mails and text messages into one list. It's very slick.
- Gormo 15y ago
  That shot of WP7 also looks a lot less functional than the above one of iOS. Apple's interface is well-organized; the purpose of each screen element and the results a user should expect from manipulating it are fairly clear and unambiguous. The WP7 UI seems to be following Microsoft's recent "haphazard grid of inconsistent elements" approach, which works about as well as the ribbon.
  - untog 15y ago
    How do you figure that? The WP7 tile list is a list of apps, just the same as iOS icons. Except that apps can push a hell of a lot more information onto their tiles than iOS apps can to their icons. I struggle to see how that is less functional.
    - Gormo 15y ago
      With the exception of the single number-bubble, iOS icons don't include dynamic information on them, and therefore aren't regularly changing in appearance. The icon to run the photo viewer in WP7 appears to consist entirely of a thumbnail of an image from your photo album. That means that every time you take a new photo, the image changes. Your contact list application itself contains a grid of thumbnails of contact photos, which is a superfluous feature, and may cause a lot of confusion if other applications also contain a grid of content thumbnails. Pushing information onto tiles is itself one of the key usability problems with WP7. The controls that you interact with to invoke functions should not do double-duty as general-purpose info delivery systems. Apple gets this right; the ability of controls to convey information is limited to conveying state information that indicates whether/when you need to interact with the control itself, and the shape, placement, coloring, and imagery of the control don't change for trivial reasons. I understand the visual appeal of the Metro UI, but ultimately, this is supposed to be a functional user interface, not a Mondrian print.
recoiledsnake 15y ago
A video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locNEna0of4&hd=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locNEna0of4&hd=1 Every other mobile OS presents you with a "sea of icons" as the home screen which is pretty boring by now and is essentially a rehash of this http://images.yourdictionary.com/images/computer/_PROGMAN.GIF http://images.yourdictionary.com/images/computer/_PROGMAN.GI...
- adolph 15y ago
  Screens simulated. Sequences shortened. Live tiles look like an interesting way to see a limited view of the data or activity available within an application. They seem to reduce the number of application targets to 8 (or fewer if the application wants more than one square).
MatthewPhillips 15y ago
What do you mean by a similar page? A settings page? Settings pages aren't usually visually attractive, they are utilitarian; but this one is (at least to me) offensively ugly. For example, I count 6 different shades of blue used on this page, including a wallpaper design... to me this has a very old look to it.

untog 15y ago

Can't speak for the OP, but the WP7 interface does not look tired to me: http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/images/windows-phone-7.jpg http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/images/windows-phone... That home screen is the perfect mix of iPhone (structured, but with minimal ability to display info) and Android (stacked with widgets, but a mess layout-wise). The UI in WP7 is incredibly person-centric- I look up their entry in the phone book, it shows me their updates on various social networks, as well as a "history" tab that aggregates all our chats, e-mails and text messages into one list. It's very slick.

Gormo 15y ago
That shot of WP7 also looks a lot less functional than the above one of iOS. Apple's interface is well-organized; the purpose of each screen element and the results a user should expect from manipulating it are fairly clear and unambiguous. The WP7 UI seems to be following Microsoft's recent "haphazard grid of inconsistent elements" approach, which works about as well as the ribbon.
- untog 15y ago
  How do you figure that? The WP7 tile list is a list of apps, just the same as iOS icons. Except that apps can push a hell of a lot more information onto their tiles than iOS apps can to their icons. I struggle to see how that is less functional.
  - Gormo 15y ago
    With the exception of the single number-bubble, iOS icons don't include dynamic information on them, and therefore aren't regularly changing in appearance. The icon to run the photo viewer in WP7 appears to consist entirely of a thumbnail of an image from your photo album. That means that every time you take a new photo, the image changes. Your contact list application itself contains a grid of thumbnails of contact photos, which is a superfluous feature, and may cause a lot of confusion if other applications also contain a grid of content thumbnails. Pushing information onto tiles is itself one of the key usability problems with WP7. The controls that you interact with to invoke functions should not do double-duty as general-purpose info delivery systems. Apple gets this right; the ability of controls to convey information is limited to conveying state information that indicates whether/when you need to interact with the control itself, and the shape, placement, coloring, and imagery of the control don't change for trivial reasons. I understand the visual appeal of the Metro UI, but ultimately, this is supposed to be a functional user interface, not a Mondrian print.

recoiledsnake 15y ago

A video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locNEna0of4&hd=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=locNEna0of4&hd=1 Every other mobile OS presents you with a "sea of icons" as the home screen which is pretty boring by now and is essentially a rehash of this http://images.yourdictionary.com/images/computer/_PROGMAN.GIF http://images.yourdictionary.com/images/computer/_PROGMAN.GI...

adolph 15y ago
Screens simulated. Sequences shortened. Live tiles look like an interesting way to see a limited view of the data or activity available within an application. They seem to reduce the number of application targets to 8 (or fewer if the application wants more than one square).

MatthewPhillips 15y ago

What do you mean by a similar page? A settings page? Settings pages aren't usually visually attractive, they are utilitarian; but this one is (at least to me) offensively ugly. For example, I count 6 different shades of blue used on this page, including a wallpaper design... to me this has a very old look to it.