Another Future Windows concept by me

[Debapriyo Sarkar]

Here's another new Windows concept I worked on. What do you think?

 

[Dick Montage]

Dude,

 

Have you ever studied any design theory or interface usability?

 

PLEASE - stop throwing these terrible mockups together - "IE 16???" It's just a fanboy's dream mixed with absolutely inconsistent design ideas.  Go learn something about how people use interfaces, how design patterns work and then try again - you should come up with something a bit better :)

[Debapriyo Sarkar]

Nik L

 

Have you ever studied any design theory or interface usability?

 

Yes I have. I have even worked with a group of people to create a new Linux distro

 

IE 16???

 

It's because its just a concept and in the future

 

 

I understand you didn't like the idea but can you elaborate on how I messed this rather than just saying 'Go do better' :)

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I must say, this one is worse than the first design.

Your start menu and taskbar seem separated. Why? The start menu is now longer than it appears to need to be, and the taskbar holding the open applications is too easy to miss.

Do the desktop buttons just sit there all the time?

Curved corners and straight corners on the same application? For some design aspects that may be fine, but you're talking about an application. Curved corners don't have any place there, in my mind.

Would it always say, "hi <user>"? That seems unnecessary, I know who I am when I log on to my machine.

I see you made a comment to Nik L. about how you worked on Linux distributions before. To be honest, it shows in the design of these concepts - although considering I'm running Linux I again don't consider that to be good or bad, it's just not Windows.

[Dick Montage]

Have you ever studied any design theory or interface usability?

Yes I have. I have even worked with a group of people to create a new Linux distro

 

 

Studied and applied?  Sorry but this is a mess.  None of the ideas hold together well at all.  They are taken from various different inspirations and thrown in the mix.  Please post a screenshot of this Linux distro and what were your contibutions?

 

I understand you didn't like the idea but can you elaborate on how I messed this rather than just saying 'Go do better'

Yes.  Go and study.  Read some Jakob Nielsen, go and read the reasons and rationale behind some of the words better performing GUIs.  Don't just pick and choose elements from a random distro, a mac, object dock and photoshop them together.

 

Most designs start with a theory. A working document on how to apply the design consistently and what the interaction will mean to the user.

[xrobwx71]

It reminds me of a rainlendar theme.

[Debapriyo Sarkar]

@Nick H.

 

Your start menu and taskbar seem separated. Why?

 

Yes I deliberately separated them. That way users can pin more shortcuts on their panel which has the start button. Also if users hide the panel, they still have the taskbar

 

Do the desktop buttons just sit there all the time?

 

Which buttons are you talking about? Are you talking about the application shortcuts in desktop? They are not buttons. They are shortcuts to applications which also allows the user to add a handy note to the shortcut like 'Need to send mail to Jimmy in evening'

 

 

Curved corners and straight corners on the same application?

 

Yes this design feature has been used in multiple operating systems including Mac OS. See link below

 

http://csongi.deviantart.com/art/Mac-OS-X-Leopard-Msstyle-75408623

 

 

Would it always say, "hi <user>"? That seems unnecessary, I know who I am when I log on to my machine.

 

Welcoming the user after a successful login is a standard practice for a lot of user interfaces be it Web or OS. Check Windows Live, Gmail, Yahoo. Do you expect an user interface to show 'Login successful and you already know your damn name'

 

 

I see you made a comment to Nik L. about how you worked on Linux distributions before. To be honest, it shows in the design of these concepts - although considering I'm running Linux I again don't consider that to be good or bad, it's just not Windows. 

 

Linux and Windows are both Operating Systems which present the user with a desktop environment. And yes I like Linux and all variations of it's Desktop environment (Gnome, Xfce, Lxde, Cinnamon) are far more superior when compared to Windows Metro UI and Windows needs to evolve beyond just being Windows to survive. The Windows 8 idea of one OS that fits in both tablets and PC was itself taken from Ubuntu. Windows Vista was heavily inspired by Mac

 

But thanks for your feedback anyways :)

[Debapriyo Sarkar]

 

+Nik L

 

Yes.  Go and study.  Read some Jakob Nielsen, go and read the reasons and rationale behind some of the words better performing GUIs.  Don't just pick and choose elements from a random distro, a mac, object dock and photoshop them together.

 

LOL, You basicaly said the same thing again. And no they are not just taken from various different inspirations and thrown in the mix. See my reply to Nick H

[neo1911]

The close minimise buttons are outdated design.

Excessive usage of transparency.

Design has lost the very essence of being Windows. Maybe it can pass off as some obscure Linux distro. But that is definitely not windows.

Sorry to shred your design to pieces. But start from current Windows 8.1 flat style and build up on that. That's where Microsoft is heading.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I deliberately separated them. That way users can pin more shortcuts on their panel which has the start button. Also if users hide the panel, they still have the taskbar.

While I don't agree with the reasoning I can slightly understand it. However, that still leaves you with the problem that now your start menu is covering a wide area of your screen while only being one button on the far left and the time on the far right. It's a bad use of space, unless there is something that would go inbetween. Even then though, a bar above a bar seems inconvenient.

 

Which buttons are you talking about? Are you talking about the application shortcuts in desktop? They are not buttons. They are shortcuts to applications which also allows the user to add a handy note to the shortcut like 'Need to send mail to Jimmy in evening'

I was referring to the buttons that say, "desktop 1, desktop 2" etc. Again, if they are always going to sit there then they're taking up too much screen space. 

 

Yes this design feature has been used in multiple operating systems including Mac OS. See link below

 

http://csongi.deviantart.com/art/Mac-OS-X-Leopard-Msstyle-75408623

The glaring difference between your concept above and the one that you linked to is that OS X's curved corners are so small as to almost be pointed. Your corners mean that once again you're not using the screen space appropriately. If you were to put applications side by side, you'd have holes all over the screen where the desktop would poke through.

 

 

Welcoming the user after a successful login is a standard practice for a lot of user interfaces be it Web or OS. Check Windows Live, Gmail, Yahoo. Do you expect an user interface to show 'Login successful and you already know your damn name'

After a successful login, fine. That was why I asked if it was always going to remain on the screen, or perhaps fade away after a moment. In the case of Hotmail and Gmail, they're located in the top right hand corners, not 1/6th of the way up your screen like in your design above.

 

 

Linux and Windows are both Operating Systems which present the user with a desktop environment. And yes I like Linux and all variations of it's Desktop environment (Gnome, Xfce, Lxde, Cinnamon) are far more superior when compared to Windows Metro UI and Windows needs to evolve beyond just being Windows to survive. The Windows 8 idea of one OS that fits in both tablets and PC was itself taken from Ubuntu. Windows Vista was heavily inspired by Mac

Well that's a matter of opinion. I don't have a preference over any workspace, but there is something distinctly Windows about Windows - whether that be Windows 95 or Windows 8 - and the design above looks distinctly like Linux. If that's the route you want to go then fine, but be aware that this means that your design is less, "what I think Windows will look like" and more "what I wish Windows would look like."

[zhangm Supervisor]

Perhaps you could consider the top five most easily accessible points on a user's screen and consider placing important UI elements in some of those locations. I see that you've arranged the interface to allow users to overshoot said elements such as the desktop switcher or the Start button - you have not exploited the fact that not all areas of the screen are equal in accessibility and users of this design will suffer as a result.

[Dot Matrix]

I hate to say it, but you took the worst design elements from XP, Vista, 7, and Linux, and threw them together in a mashup that I can't make heads or tails of. There's way too much 3D in this.

[Dutchie64]

Well....  You asked for a honest opinion... ;-)

 

It is a jumbled mess. I have no idea how the Linux distro looks like, but if this is any example to it, I petty the users.

Seriously, have a good look at the current design directions, and try to build upon that.

 

I have seen some really good Windows UI mockup on deviantART and such, I suggest you have a look at those.

 

This is just way too much a 'stepping away' from the dektop as it is. And you saw what happended with -JUST- the start screen ;-)

 

 

edit: This one is nice : http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/24/2822891/windows-desktop-ui-concept

edit : And there are some exxamples here: http://www.deviantart.com/?q=windows+UI

[Crisp]

I like drizzle.

[COKid]

Wow, tough crowd. :(

[Duffydemon]

Honest opinion:

That looks like a mess! Outdated and that gloss is awful. Everything is out of proportion.

Keep practising, look at some other concepts on deviant art. You will get better at it.

[simonlang]

wow some answers here ...  :huh:  :rolleyes:

 

as a kde user i like the plasma-like tile-backgrounds and those on the desktop switcher (another linux feature nicked  :) )

i think the font-sizes need some improvement, desktopswitcher fonts are way too big, others are rather too small.

 

i dont like the minimize, maximize, close buttons. they might look better without colors. 

[gohpep]

Here's what I found wrong about your concept:

Shortcuts:

Why are you highlighting the version at the top, and next to the icon? This will confuse users and disconnects design phrasing, since people want to associate an icon with an application name.

Reminders:

Why are there separated reminders for apps? Why not a reminder app to remind you to send mail to Jimmy.

Start:

Looks too complicated, and very XP style. We have a start orb now, and we're not going back.

Welcome:

What does the welcome, adam do other than tell the user his name?

Taskbar:

Welcome to Windows 95 - -!

Desktop switcher:

A scroll bar would work better than arrows, and perhaps instead of text, maybe a preview of the desktop would be good? And that 3D perspective look is horrid.

Title bar:

Transparency? No app icon? App title is not centered? Why do the window action button look like the produce of legos and fisher price?

Windows:

Why is the window transparent? That would be annoying on Internet Explorer.

Weather:

Too plain. Live tiles ftw.

Clock:

No, just no.

Speaker thing:

why did you place it there, out of context.

 

Problems:

Where are the status icons? What happens with multiple windows? How many shortcuts can you even fit on the desktop? What does the start menu look like? (don't show me, I'll probably hate on that too)

[tmcclelland455]

It's not that bad. Not the most user friendly, but it works.

[primexx]

this is awful.

[Ian W]

No offense . . . but I wouldn't use it. It looks like a bunch of ideas were thrown around with no focus on the end result.

Edit: My response was probably a little harsh. It was not my intention to offend or upset you. I realize that the most important criticism is constructive criticism. With that said, please see this post by Dutchie64, this post by Simrat, and this post by Mastercoms.

Don't get discouraged!