Microsoft Tries Another Icon Theme For Windows 10

jones_supa writes: Back in February, users decried the new icon look in Windows 10. In response to that feedback, Microsoft has implemented a new icon pack in build 10125, which was leaked early but expected to arrive soon for Technical Preview testers. Screenshots show what the final version of the OS could look like when it goes live this summer. The new icons go all-in on a flat approach, following the same design cues as the rest of the operating system, but the "pixel art" style has been abandoned. Once again, Softpedia asked for user experiences, and this time the comments have been mostly positive.

Comments

Screenshots?

[ArcadeMan]

Those "screenshots" are only 600x375. They're more on the side of being huge thumbnails than actual screenshots.

Unless of course you're still using a 640x480 display, in which case you're seeing an article from the future. Hello from the future! Buy these things called "Bitcoins", they'll be worth hundreds of dollars some day!

flat as a pancake: invasion pending

[etash]

I (genuinely) don't understand this tendency with flat buttons and interfaces, they do look slight of "90-sh revamped". Generally speaking through the years, changes in the UI have been positive and IMHO they were at their peak with Windows 7.

What's the sudden (the last year or two) appeal with the super flat GUIs all over the place ?

Change for the sake of .. UX experts...I apologize, for the sake of change ?

Re:flat as a pancake: invasion pending

[itzly]

No, we'll end up with beautiful icons that are hard to use.

Re:flat as a pancake: invasion pending

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, let me know when that happens... you idiot.

'Flat' design means 'designers' are attempting to design user interfaces, when they clearly have NO CLUE on how to design a user interface, let alone improve the current one we have. Windows 7 was perfection, but some idiot at Microsoft is actually paying people to RUIN their own company - hello? Jensen Harris anyone? 'The Ribbon'? Metro? Microsoft lost hundreds of millions of dollars because they couldn't admit they were wrong, and they couldn't leave things as they were - because some assholes' jobs depended on changing everything.

What is 'intuitive and user friendly' about buttons that no longer look like buttons, so the user has to GUESS what is and isn't a button, by mousing over every bit of text in the program?

Re:flat as a pancake: invasion pending

[ArchieBunker]

Change for the sake of change. Programmers can't grasp the fact that maybe there is an ultimate end design. A hammer made today still looks like a hammer from a century ago. There is a reason for that.

Re:flat as a pancake: invasion pending

[gstoddart]

We may end up with intuitive and user-friendly software, oh no!

You know, if people are actually doing proper user interface design, that might be true.

But having seen Metro on a Windows 8.1 box ... that's not what is happening.

Graphic designers focusing on pretty, but with no understanding of functional are producing shitty interfaces which, while they might be fine for a tablet or a handheld, are complete garbage for a desktop machine with no touch screen and operated with a keyboard and mouse.

So, I don't care which shade of pastel and crayons the useless interface is. I want to turn off the useless interface entirely, because it provides nothing in the way of utility.

Windows 8.1 is fast and stable, and has nice features. But it's only usable as a desktop once you install something like Classic Shell and turn off the crap that these "designers" have put in.

They're spending all the time tweaking the wrong things.

Re:flat as a pancake: invasion pending

[Gadget_Guy]

We may end up with intuitive and user-friendly software, oh no!

But the problem is that you don't get an intuitive and user-friendly system. You might get a clean system without clutter, but then have to figure out and dragging from the top of the screen to the bottom is the way to close a program. Or that clicking in the space that used to have a design element (but is now just blank) was the way to bring up the start screen. Or that things that look like they are just decoration are actually active buttons, but you only know this (and what function they perform) by blindly clicking, dragging, swiping over every part of the screen.

Even when you do this, you still have to face the final insult when you find that the function you are looking for was removed from the software because it was deemed too advanced for modern users - even though Windows has been able to perform that function for decades up until now.

Modern user interfaces have absolutely nothing to do with intuitiveness. I looked at some really old software recently and found it so pleasant because I could tell exactly what functions were available and how to perform them simply because they used textual buttons and menus. It was so much better than being faced with a bunch of similar-looking graphics with no mouse-over pop-ups to explain what they were for.

Re:flat as a pancake: invasion pending

[Anonymous Coward]

Please explain the presence of Metro on Windows Server 2012.

Make a new windows 7

[CrAlt]

You know what would make the most people happy?
Just make a new version of Windows7. Why would I want to re-learn how to do everything...again?

Going from Win95->Win98->Win2K->XP->Win7 was easy. People stuck with windows because they knew how to use it. Companies stuck with it because re-training was easy. It kept people from jumping ship to OSX/Linux/ChromeOS.

Going from Windows 7 to Linux Mint is easier then going from Windows 7 to 8.

Microsoft spent 20 years teaching people how to use their UI then just throws that all out for no reason at all.

Re:They were better before

[mister_playboy]

Because the concept of "choice" is anathema to UI designers circa 2015.

Re:They were better before

[sootman]

The other motto is "hide everything, because we don't understand the difference between 'actually making something simple to use' and merely hiding complexity."

Dear Mozilla (and everyone else), fuck you. This shit is RETARDED. "Look everyone! We got rid of all those confusing menus! Now there's just one button! ... Which spawns a bunch of menus.

Oh, and the regular menus also all still exist.

Oh, and we have TWO buttons like that, because we are in full-on shithead mode. Why hide everything behind one button, when you can force user to FIRST choose from one of TWO buttons! Mwa ha ha ha ha! One looks like a fox, the other looks like a hamburger. NEITHER has ANYTHING to do with what lies underneath! Hey, "New Private Window" is pretty important... put it in BOTH! But only put "new tab" in one. But make "new tab" a menu, and put "new window" underneath it. Got all that? Good. I need another drink. It's almost 10am!

Seriously -- I couldn't make this shit up. There's a special spot in hell waiting for you douchebags. You are collectively wasting YEARS of people's lives with this monkey shit.