Going back to Vista, Microsoft initially pushed the translucent window chrome with its Aero theme. The borders were increased to provide larger targets for resi

Going back to Vista, Microsoft initially pushed the translucent window chrome with its Aero theme. The borders were increased to provide larger targets for resizing, and the translucency made the window feel lighter. Even with the blurring that provided a frosted glass feel, it made everything feel busier. Windows 8 backtracked on the looks of Vista and Windows 7 by de-emphasizing the glass. This was done to make desktop apps feel more like Windows 8 apps, to reduce battery use (although they still use a 3d compositing engine, so I don't know that there is actually much of a difference in power use between glass and no glass), and to declutter the experience. iOS 7 doesn't feel de-cluttered to me. It actually seems to borrow most of the things I disliked about Windows Vista and 7 in terms of visual distraction when they use transparency. And then they flatten the UI so that elements like buttons have less visual distinction from static content. For flat UI done better, look at Windows Whistler (Windows XP betas) running the Watercolor theme. http://mirror.stisitelkom.ac.id/files/PC%20Media%20Repository/DVD%20PC%20Media%200812/Fun/Theme%20XP%20and%207/Theme%20XP%20use/WatercolorLite/WatercolorLitePromo.jpg http://mirror.stisitelkom.ac.id/files/PC%20Media%20Repositor... While some things have been improved over the past decade, it's interesting to see UI design return to some of the visual feel of this abandoned theme, but with more clutter. I'm not going to say that Watercolor is perfect, but its strength was clarity, something that seems abandoned in most "modern" designs. It appears that I'm not the only one who sees the similarity... http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/046/9/d/windows_phone_whistler_by_dvoracc-d39katl.png http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/046/9/d/windows_phone...