Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

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• RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

  WOW. Take one look at the best designed apps on WP7 and its clear that the Metro UI lends itself to beautiful apps that are equally functional. The bigger screen space that comes with desktops/tablets is really going to resonate well with end users and help push MS's new UI and give it a house hold name.

  

  timotim

  26 August, 2011 02:35

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• RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

  The USA Today's app is a very slavish Metro implementation. It basically a copycat of the Windows 8 (Preview) Start Screen, with those wild colors etc. The first Windows Phone 7 3rd party apps were similar - all the same and thus boring.
  
  But now, the 1st class WP apps are generaly nicer than iOS 1st class apps, and much much nicer than Adroid's. They just use Metro with a creative freedom and discovered its potential.

  

  Oslik

  26 August, 2011 02:46

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  • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

    @Oslik From a User Interface design point of view, making a 3rd party app look similar to the W8 start screen is good design, it significantly reduces the learning curve of the app and makes the user more productive at the same time

    

    PriMinister

    26 August, 2011 04:08

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    • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

      @PriMinister
      
      Exactly
      
      While it should uniquely represent the brand in an appropriate way, the UI and functionality should be very similar so that the flow between apps and OS and seamless from a usability perspective.

      

      spaulagain

      26 August, 2011 10:12

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• RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

  Those don't look like apps. They look like bad web pages.

  

  Techknowledgie

  26 August, 2011 08:58

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  • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

    @Techknowledgie ABSOLUTELY! They put a UI like this on a desktop and I will run away, FAST. Microsoft? I am SICK of the eye candy! Give me speed, stability and functionality!

    

    thombone

    26 August, 2011 09:49

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    • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

      @thombone It never ceases to suprise me how clueless some people are. If you have been reading any of the previews or watching the videos, you would see that Windows 8 is far faster then Windows 7. Sure they haven't said much about functionality, but what they have said and shown shows that they are looking very closely at it. A whole new application development model, power user tools on windows explorer, heavy focus on USB 3, improved copy paste and file collision, etc. <br><br>As for the UI, its been redesigned to work better for today's touch centric hardware. It also looks a heck of a lot better then current Windows. At least, the grand majority of people agree.

      

      tedmcdo

      26 August, 2011 12:34

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    • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

      @thombone so what do you want to see? just curious

      

      vieya

      26 August, 2011 12:45

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    • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

      I want to see a choice... a tablet/phone version that is optimized and doesn't chew up so much screen real estate, and a desktop UI that gets out of my way and gives me the most bang for the buck with the apps I want to run in terms of memory, power, stability and screen real estate. <br><br>I do not want large windows cluttering everything up. I do not want my things cut off into "tiles" that I have to expand all of the time, and I do not want apps to have to be "full screen" just to use them. <br><br>I want to be able to run multiple apps to create my workflow, and then arrange them however I like across my one or two monitors, and decide for myself how I want the apps to position themselves. <br><br>I do not want to be forced into a "generic" workflow and I do not want to have to "switch" applications just to be able to see what is going on with more than one of them concurrently.<br><br>I'd rather decide for myself how I want my UI to look and act, and I do NOT want the UI itself taking up anything but the very minimal amount of screen real estate. Or I at least want the choice.<br><br>I want my OS to be application centric, not OS eye candy "cloud" (whatever that is but there's no way I'm trusting a corporation with the storage of my personal data, NO WAY) centric. Nor do I want my computer constantly sucking data across my internet connection even at idle.<br><br>If I ever do want that sort of thing, I also want the choice to not want it, too. <br><br>In other words, I want an OS that I can control as I see fit, that gives me what I want when I want it, doesn't force anything on me that I don't want, offers me whatever "Push data" I want when I want it, but that can also get out of my way when I want to get some real work done. <br><br>I also do not want an OS that constantly interrupts my thought process, workflow, focus, concentration and "alpha state" with constant dialogs, popups, updates and notifications (and probably ads). <br><br>At the very least, I want to be able to choose what I turn on and what I turn off. All I am saying is that a great OS should get out of my way and be transparent to me as a user. <br><br>It should not be interrupting me, nor should it be telling me how to do what I want to do on my own machine, or forcing me to do anything a certain way. <br><br>I find that to be inefficient. <br><br>I think that with all of the extra eye candy, screen real-estate gobbling internet and windows "live" crap being tacked on, and oh man, tiles, being added that it's going to wreck the windows experience for people that actually want to use windows for more than just media and internet consumption. In short, I want it to be fast, but I also want it to be stable. I want it to get out of my way unless I choose to let it push things at me. I want a clean interface that if I so choose is at a bare minimum so that my applications can breathe.<br><br>Microsoft has been trying to force this stuff on us ever since IE4 and "Live Desktop" in Windows 95. It didn't work then, it won't work now.<br><br>Windows 8 should be the DESKTOP OS. It needs to be mean, LEAN and it needs to scream.<br><br>They can make a tablet version, fine, with this UI and it will probably be great. But force this UI or anything like it onto my desktop? <br><br>NO WAY.

      

      thombone

      26 August, 2011 20:23

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    • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

      Metro UI is for touch.
      
      Haven't you been paying attention?
      
      Besides, all the things you want... you know this won't have them how? Are you part of the group that is testing it?

      

      Michael Alan Goff

      26 August, 2011 20:29

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    • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

      @thombone The Windows 8 UI is actually a step [b]towards[/b] speed, stability, and functionality.
      
      The old UI has to keep track of a lot of windows, widgets, bars, and menus. It's a lot to juggle, and the more you juggle the more complex and bug-prone the code is going to be.
      
      This new UI is simpler, cleaner, and should be less complex and less prone to bugs than the old UI. And the richness of the underlying platform should be enough for lots of functionality. It's actually a big step towards all of those things.

      

      CobraA1

      27 August, 2011 00:37

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    • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

      @thombone "I want to be able to run multiple apps to create my workflow, and then arrange them however I like across my one or two monitors, and decide for myself how I want the apps to position themselves."
      
      Sounds reasonable, especially for a workflow as you have described. For that kind of stuff, yes there will still be an Aero desktop as an option - that isn't going away.
      
      From what I've seen, it may also be possible to have two applications open at a time on a single monitor, with a divider in the center. I don't know how it handles dual monitors, however, as they haven't demoed how that works.
      
      "I want my OS to be application centric, not OS eye candy 'cloud' (whatever that is but there's no way I'm trusting a corporation with the storage of my personal data, NO WAY) centric."
      
      From what I can tell, each tile is an application, and from what I can tell, the developer can certainly choose to make it local, online, or a hybrid of both.
      
      "I also do not want an OS that constantly interrupts my thought process, workflow, focus, concentration and 'alpha state' with constant dialogs, popups, updates and notifications (and probably ads). "
      
      Heavens, no, I hope not. Microsoft is certainly not putting ads into their OS. Notifications may be handled differently, but do keep in mind that Windows already has a notification system for applications that currently use the tray. I imagine you'll still be able to control which apps can push notifications to you and which can't.
      
      Dialogs and popups just don't seem to fit this style of UI - I don't see them being used a lot with it.
      
      "I'd rather decide for myself how I want my UI to look and act, and I do NOT want the UI itself taking up anything but the very minimal amount of screen real estate. "
      
      Agreed, and I certainly hope they allow the user to adjust the colors and background.
      
      And yeah - the whole idea of full screen apps is that the OS moves out of the way when using an app, giving the app all of the pixels on the screen. It appears to support 2 apps on the screen at a time, and I'd guess that dual screens may allow as many as four apps.
      
      If you need more, then you'll likely want to switch to the Aero desktop, which from what I've heard is still available.

      

      CobraA1

      27 August, 2011 01:02

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    • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

      @thombone
      
      Another clueless kid. Don't worry on the desktop platform you will be able to to switch from the MetroUI to the ClassicUI as u wish.
      
      As for speed stability and functionality i suggest u read the whole windows 8 developpers blog.
      
      http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08.aspx

      

      SylvainT

      30 August, 2011 16:29

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  • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

    @Techknowledgie dont be jealous apple troll. Just because windows 8 will blow away apple again. Bye bye steve jobs it great you resigned early. :)

    

    ipadsucks

    26 August, 2011 10:50

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    • Message has been deleted.

      

      Cellus

      28 August, 2011 12:58

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    • I agree

      @ipadsucks +1

      

      Cellus

      28 August, 2011 12:58

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• RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

  Does anybody do any real work anymore? Or does everybody spend all their time looking at pretty pictures and reading news and other websites? I don't see anything productive there. I ask out of genuine curiosity. It seems like everyone is spending the last few months raving over entertainment and information consumption, and not over production.
  
  I like my eReader apps and movies and news sites and all that stuff as much as the next guy, but that stuff isn't truly important. Has there been any progress in productivity? Or is everyone focusing attention on how to kill time with more and more consumption?

  

  JohnGault@...

  26 August, 2011 09:51

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  • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

    @JohnGault@...
    
    Umm, these are information consumption apps they are showing, so from that perspective, they are great. We haven't seen a product app yet. So hold your pants on and stop freaking out.
    
    People are so ridiculous in their reaction to what hasn't been shown yet rather than what has been shown. Just chill, its already a million times better than any Windows UI from the past, and makes Apple look dated. So I would hope that any production based apps will be equally better.

    

    spaulagain

    26 August, 2011 10:19

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    • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

      @spaulagain You can't be serious. All this does is gobble up screen real estate with stupid loudly colored boxes. It's lame, very lame.

      

      thombone

      26 August, 2011 10:59

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    • RE: Windows 8 Application and UI Gallery

      So you're against live tiles because they take up space and give you a lot of info on your tablet/touch PC? What? You assumed this was the default for everything?
      
      Also, yeah, most of the people who have used Metro have liked it. So I think he is serious.

      

      Michael Alan Goff

      26 August, 2011 20:30

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