Windows 8 New UI
Microsoft Windows 8 New UI (Metro UI)
On its own, the new interface is just the frivolous front-end to an upgrade of
the Windows 7 operating system. What makes the Windows 8 Metro-style
interface compulsive
are the
hundreds of Apps produced by scores of developers; as a result there will be
little programs to suit every interest.
The combination of the Metro-style design
and the clever tiled applets will soon hook you onto this new way of interacting with
computer information.
Windows 8 User Interface
♦
Once Windows 8 initializes and you logon, what you see is a new Start screen with a montage of
icons, which are now called
tiles. This is a radical development, which replaces the
Windows shortcuts of previous Microsoft desktops, with information-rich
Apps.
If you swipe the screen from right to left an overlay appears
which enables you to select an App. Although the technique is fluid
and
intuitive, it requires us to replace the old click and scroll mind-set, with
a hand-grab technique. However, you can bring the scroll-wheel into
play, for example, flicking through the start screen tiles.
We're moving in a great direction in terms of a common and coherent
design language and user interface across phone, slate, PC and TV." Steve Ballmer (Microsoft SEO)
While this new Metro display layout is ideal for tablets, the tiles have
been designed to work
on bigger screens because they respond to a mouse click almost as easily as
a finger. Indeed, this format is scalable from an 8-inch screen all
the way up to wall-displays. A back-handed compliment is that users
complain that the Metro UI is just like a tablet, but with Windows.
Another feature for tablets is adaptive brightness. This is a
classic example of hardware and software developing in tandem. Tablet
screens can change their brightness based on light conditions. Windows
8 provides the software to sense and change automatically.
Windows 8 Start Button
The biggest news in Windows 8 is the disappearance of the Start Orb.
For those who bemoan this loss I say: 'Think of the whole Metro UI as
one massive start button'. Voila! there are your icons; and if you
want to 'Search' - just start typing! See more on the
Windows 8 desktop v metro-UI debate.
A program's tile has more space than the corresponding icon, thus it can
display up-to-date information, for example the latest weather, or a traffic
report.
Furthermore, each tile is
'chromeless' thus the program can use the whole screen since there is no need for
scroll-bars. You manipulate the Windows 8 controls from the sides
with your thumbs, while you can swipe the application's own
controls from the top and bottom with your fore-finger. The golden
rule is that all Apps controls have the same look and feel.
Change of Mind-set
When users switch from Windows 7
they need to change their mind-sets and think of flicking through a grid of tiles,
and not be worrying about, 'Where's my shortcut gone?' Those who are
used to Smart Phones will find it easy to abandon thoughts of the old Taskbar and Desktop and
begin to thumb through the Metro UI's mosaic of tiled Apps.
Opinion is divided whether users can indeed switch from 'touch first' Windows 8
at home to the traditional Windows 7 in the workplace. For these
people, one way of
looking at the old style desktop is as just another app which you can launch
from Metro UI.
Guy Recommends: The Mobile IT Administration App
How cool is correcting a minor problem on a server with a couple of
taps on your smartphone? Thanks to the Solarwinds Mobile IT Admin
App, you can carryout routine tasks with a flick of your fingers on a phone screen.
- Operate your iPhone to unlock an Active Directory account.
- Use your iPad to check Windows Updates on your server.
- Try Solarwinds Mobile IT Administration App now.
Download your
fully functional 30 day trial of this Mobile IT App
One surprise with the Metro UI is the way that you can semantically zoom
the icons. A pleasant side-effect is that you can name the columns.
- Hover the mouse over the bottom right corner so that a tiny
magnifier with four icons appears.
- Click on the magnifier.
- Right-click one of the groups of icons (key point).
- 'Name group' should appear at the bottom left, see screenshot.
- Click on Name group; in the dialog box type your choice of title.
- Press WinKey to return to the Metro UI and see your name.
- See more on how to name a
Metro group of tiles.
Luddites v Whizz-kids
I supported Vista users who wanted to revert to XP's Quick Launch, and I
still hanker back to the days when you could customise the Office Ribbon /
Toolbar easily. But with the Metro UI -v- Windows 7 interface debate
there's no contest, the intelligent touch orientated tiles are the way to
go.
Still, people are being polarized; on the one hand there are those with a touch screen, and an
interest in
the many apps, who love Windows 8. On the other hand, there are
Luddites with an old monitor,
an inflexible mind-set and only
business applications. If you gave them Windows 8 they would seek ways of reverting to the
traditional Windows 7 style start menu.
 Windows 8 Touch Language for
New UI
To recap: the top and bottom of the screen are for the Apps controls, while the sides are
consistently for the system buttons such as the 5 'Charms'.
Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings, (See screenshot to the left).
Interestingly, people always use two hands for tablet. That's why App Bar
controls are at the sides where you would place your thumb. Where ever
possible apps are designed to work with a mouse click just as they operate
with finger touch. Incidentally, if you get stuck with the mouse,
right-click is your contextual saviour.
The new UI began with Microsoft's mobile operating
system Windows Phone 7. A specially made version of Microsoft's Segoe
font family, Segoe WP, is used as the main font family for all typographical
elements of the new UI.
| 
