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This article quotes Jensen Harris... the guy responsible for Windows 8 UI, which was a disaster.

by petilon 4y ago

bigmattystyles 4y ago
I still like the time they put the full screen win8 metro style start menu on their server OS. Pure genius!
- Haga 4y ago
- emodendroket 4y ago
  I'm still not sure I understand what made that so heretical other than being different. I can't really imagine any scenario where I'd be using the start menu and want to see something else at the same time.
  - slavik81 4y ago
    The reason why you need to open the start menu is often on screen, then you hit the Windows key and the context that should be driving your next action is hidden. All it takes is a brief moment of distraction and — if you're like me — you'll completely forget why you opened the menu in the first place. It's like walking into a room and forgetting why you had entered. At that point, maybe you return where you came from and see an unopened package. Then you remember: you were retrieving scissors. When the motivating context is in front of you, it's easier to remember what your goal is.
    - emodendroket 4y ago
      What I thought was nice about it was that, if you're primarily a search user, you got a lot more real estate for the search results. I suppose they achieved some of that in the new design and the feedback has been pretty close to unanimous, though.
      - kasabali 4y ago
        They achieved more real estate with less results, for sure.
    - jiggawatts 4y ago
      More importantly, every method for opening the start menu was difficult on a server. Hitting a 2x2 pixel magic corner when not full screen and over a 100ms latency link is simply infuriating. The special “Windows key” would similarly not make it through KVMs, iLO/DRAC, and most cloud consoles. It was an exercise in frustration topped by only by this little pop up: “Swipe here to view this notification.” Okay, I’m swiping. Still swiping. It’s going to work any minute now…
- hulitu 4y ago
  Yeah, they copied the idea in the new calculator.
ChuckNorris89 4y ago
Everyone on Twitter is a critic, thinking their opinion is the right one, and looking for their 5 minutes of fame by shitting on some low hanging fruit for clicks and likes hoping that will lift them out of their anonymity. I can't imagine a great designer like Jonny Ive (not that everything he did was perfect), sinking so low as to shit on Windows's start menu as he probably has bigger fish to fry. Great people don't need attention from shitting on other people's work because they get enough recognition from the quality of their own work. Only the has-beens with over inflated egos do that.
- Synaesthesia 4y ago
  The Windows 8 start menu is fundamental, and it alienated a lot of people, something Apple have never done, they've kept their basic design consistent.
- aemreunal 4y ago
  Honestly, I think Jonny Ive makes good industrial design (minus the far too extreme "minimalism" push with the butterfly keyboard MacBooks; they really need an "editor" like Steve Jobs) but their UI/UX design has really not been good. Alan Dye is way worse. I find modern Apple software UI/UX design to be really devoid of functionality, information density, etc. I'm not the only one with this opinion (just listen to any Accidental Tech Podcast episode where they talk about it).
- sjcsjc 4y ago
  Shitting on low hanging fruit is an unusual activity
8note 4y ago
Which was too bad, the zuneHD UI it was based on is still my favourite ever touch screen experience. It's however, really opinionated about being for listening to music and playing some games
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
amanzi 4y ago
I think he also did the Office ribbon menu, which is far better than what was before it.
- MagnumOpus 4y ago
  It is not, especially not for power users, and those who want to become power users - discoverability of keyboard shortcuts is absolutely shit now. And unlike even the Reddit devs, they made it worse and made it impossible to keep the old menu bar setup. The ribbon is part of the lamentable drift in Windows UI towards intentional dumbing down and not even allowing the power users to do what they could before -- see also the new Windows Settings menu...
- kasabali 4y ago
  Ribbon was polarizing. Start screen was unanimously bad.
- hulitu 4y ago
  The ribbon is not a menu. Is a mess. It can even show you keyboard shortcuts. Now if i could remember what Alt + 5 means. Earlier you had Alt + f for file menu and the first letter of the command. But i think that was too easy.

This article quotes Jensen Harris... the guy responsible for Windows 8 UI, which was a disaster.

bigmattystyles 4y ago

I still like the time they put the full screen win8 metro style start menu on their server OS. Pure genius!

Haga 4y ago
emodendroket 4y ago
I'm still not sure I understand what made that so heretical other than being different. I can't really imagine any scenario where I'd be using the start menu and want to see something else at the same time.
- slavik81 4y ago
  The reason why you need to open the start menu is often on screen, then you hit the Windows key and the context that should be driving your next action is hidden. All it takes is a brief moment of distraction and — if you're like me — you'll completely forget why you opened the menu in the first place. It's like walking into a room and forgetting why you had entered. At that point, maybe you return where you came from and see an unopened package. Then you remember: you were retrieving scissors. When the motivating context is in front of you, it's easier to remember what your goal is.
  - emodendroket 4y ago
    What I thought was nice about it was that, if you're primarily a search user, you got a lot more real estate for the search results. I suppose they achieved some of that in the new design and the feedback has been pretty close to unanimous, though.
    - kasabali 4y ago
      They achieved more real estate with less results, for sure.
  - jiggawatts 4y ago
    More importantly, every method for opening the start menu was difficult on a server. Hitting a 2x2 pixel magic corner when not full screen and over a 100ms latency link is simply infuriating. The special “Windows key” would similarly not make it through KVMs, iLO/DRAC, and most cloud consoles. It was an exercise in frustration topped by only by this little pop up: “Swipe here to view this notification.” Okay, I’m swiping. Still swiping. It’s going to work any minute now…
hulitu 4y ago
Yeah, they copied the idea in the new calculator.

ChuckNorris89 4y ago

Everyone on Twitter is a critic, thinking their opinion is the right one, and looking for their 5 minutes of fame by shitting on some low hanging fruit for clicks and likes hoping that will lift them out of their anonymity. I can't imagine a great designer like Jonny Ive (not that everything he did was perfect), sinking so low as to shit on Windows's start menu as he probably has bigger fish to fry. Great people don't need attention from shitting on other people's work because they get enough recognition from the quality of their own work. Only the has-beens with over inflated egos do that.

Synaesthesia 4y ago
The Windows 8 start menu is fundamental, and it alienated a lot of people, something Apple have never done, they've kept their basic design consistent.
aemreunal 4y ago
Honestly, I think Jonny Ive makes good industrial design (minus the far too extreme "minimalism" push with the butterfly keyboard MacBooks; they really need an "editor" like Steve Jobs) but their UI/UX design has really not been good. Alan Dye is way worse. I find modern Apple software UI/UX design to be really devoid of functionality, information density, etc. I'm not the only one with this opinion (just listen to any Accidental Tech Podcast episode where they talk about it).
sjcsjc 4y ago
Shitting on low hanging fruit is an unusual activity

8note 4y ago

Which was too bad, the zuneHD UI it was based on is still my favourite ever touch screen experience. It's however, really opinionated about being for listening to music and playing some games

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

amanzi 4y ago

I think he also did the Office ribbon menu, which is far better than what was before it.

MagnumOpus 4y ago
It is not, especially not for power users, and those who want to become power users - discoverability of keyboard shortcuts is absolutely shit now. And unlike even the Reddit devs, they made it worse and made it impossible to keep the old menu bar setup. The ribbon is part of the lamentable drift in Windows UI towards intentional dumbing down and not even allowing the power users to do what they could before -- see also the new Windows Settings menu...
kasabali 4y ago
Ribbon was polarizing. Start screen was unanimously bad.
hulitu 4y ago
The ribbon is not a menu. Is a mess. It can even show you keyboard shortcuts. Now if i could remember what Alt + 5 means. Earlier you had Alt + f for file menu and the first letter of the command. But i think that was too easy.