Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
Summary: "Tiles" seem to be the new design metaphor -- or at least the buzzword du jour -- all across Microsoft as of late.
"Tiles" seem to be the new design metaphor -- or at least the buzzword du jour -- all across Microsoft as of late.
Windows Phone 7 has made extensive use of the tiles/Live tiles concept. The automatically updating tiles on WP7 devices are key to Microsoft's design and its advertising strategy for the devices.
But it seems "tiles" also are coming to Bing, as first noted by Liveside.Net. Microsoft is in the midst of adding authority/reputation tiles to Bing to help users wade through search results to find the most accurate and trusted results. There will be close to 50 Bing tiles to start,with more to be added in the future. The Bing tiles are not sponsored/paid links and won't affect "organic" search results, Microsoft execs told LiveSide.
There also was a report this week that the Windows 8 user interface for slate/tablet devices (referred to by some by its codename "MoSH," for Modern Shell) may rely on the tile metaphor. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer hinted this might be the case last year, as some may recall, when he hinted that Windows slates could make use of the "Big Buttons" concepts from Windows Media Center. Media Center is considered the first Microsoft offering to have used the typography-centric "Metro" interface that later made it onto the Zune HD and Windows Phone 7.
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Talkback
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
You mean their new Microsoft.com preview site. Yes, that looks fantastic and not busy.
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
Surely it's more that
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
Sadly Richard, that's just projection on your part.
Another poor UI design..
So why?
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
@WinPhone7Users Yes! You're using screen widgets people!!! It isn't special, it isn't unique. Android and iPhone can have active updating content too.
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
Android widgets vary widely in size, shape, and all compete visually for your attention. It's like looking into a sea of lightbulbs and picking out the right one.
"They don't look good" is subjective-- and you're wrong ;)
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
And they must just be lying to save my feelings when they all say they'll be buying one as soon as their iToy and Android contract's run out. In fact, some of them have already done it ;-)
Keep staring at your crowded desktop UI with static icons Ron, you obviously don't appreciate change.
It makes sense for tablet U.I
Thus i will not be surprised if Windows 8 Tablet U.I use tiles. Though i expect that those tiles will be significantly more eye candy than those of WP7.
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
I'll take a dynamic start screen of a screen of static icons anyday.
hahahahahaha
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
I love you,
You love me,
We're a tiled family
With a retard color scheme and a bricked update pushed to you
We want you to own a Windows phone too
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
Ron you're lame,
But I guess you're not to blame,
Jobs pays you well
To try and sell
His fruity phones
To rich boy clones.
RE: Tiles gone wild at Microsoft
I do too.
The only children involved are the ones who designed Apple and Android's UI. I say "designed" but they just copied their own crowded desktop.