Control Panel or PC Settings?

By Ian W
in Microsoft (Windows)

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Which do you prefer?  

100 members have voted

  1. 1. Control Panel or PC Settings?


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Grand Master

Ian W

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Posted

This poll is stupid.

I hope that you're not expecting an apology.

The same content should be accessible from each depending on the device.  Its not an or question.

I agree that both interfaces should have the same settings (something that I mentioned in my previous post), but this poll is about a user's preferred method of interaction, so even if the options provided in Control Panel and PC Settings were consistent, it would still be a valid poll.

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+Asmodai MVC

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It really isn't an either or thing.  At the end of the day all most control panel apps do is set registry settings in a nice gui centered on one type of thing (This app is for display settings...).  PC Settings is the same.  PC Settings is for touch users so it needs big hit targets for inaccurate and large (compared to mouse pointers) fingers as a result it also shows less per page because there is only so much room for large hit targets and is more likely to be run fullscreen.  On the other hand the Control Panel should remain mouse oriented and focus on smaller more precise mouse interaction and being smaller it can have more information on the screen at once and/or a much smaller windowed UI.

 

Control Panel certainly needs to be cleaned up though because it DOES have some really old things that haven't been updated in forever.  Just because it needs some love though doesn't mean it should be replaced by the touch oriented UI of PC Settings.

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

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Both should have every possible option adequate for the device. I don't understand why I have to use a mobile app to configure my desktop PC.

 

Why is PC settings, of all things, considered a "mobile app"?  I don't get this thinking, just because it's touch friendly doesn't mean it's a mobile app.

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Experienced

ParadiseLost

Posted
Posted

Why is PC settings, of all things, considered a "mobile app"?  I don't get this thinking, just because it's touch friendly doesn't mean it's a mobile app.

 

I prefer to see it the other way around. Just because it runs on a window now doesn't mean it's a desktop app.

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
Posted

Both should have every possible option adequate for the device. I don't understand why I have to use a mobile app to configure my desktop PC.

PC Settings isn't a mobile app.

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link6155

Posted
Posted

I would like to use PC Settings only, but there are just some things I can't do that Control Panel can. I like how things are layed out in PC Settings, it's very straightforward and makes it easier to find things. In Control Panel, you do have categories, but sometimes I feel like I have to dig through more stuff than necessary, even with the search.

Grand Master

PGHammer

Posted
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Why is PC settings, of all things, considered a "mobile app"?  I don't get this thinking, just because it's touch friendly doesn't mean it's a mobile app.

That is the thinking displayed by the anti-touch zealots - that anything that supports touch (whether or not it also supports mice) must be for mobile users, despite the sheer numbers of notebooks and desktops supporting touch, some of which go back to Vista, if not XP.

 

Come to think of it, I can't think of so much as ONE part of ModernUI that doesn't support mice.

 

One of my Technical Preview bare-metal installs is on one of these Old School notebooks - the HP Pavilion dv9000; this one originally shipped with Vista x64 Ultimate.

 

Like most notebooks (of today, and especially of its era), it ships with a trackpad.  The average user is so uncomfortable with a trackpad, that the first thing they do is attach a (usually wireless) mouse to it via USB.  (That is not an OS issue - ask MacBook users, Android users, iOS users that went conventional, etc.)  Had I been using Windows Vista or 7, I likely would have done the same thing, as both OSes are almost actively-hostile to trackpads - the bias in favor of mice is THAT obvious.

 

Windows 8 and 8.1 are better with trackpads - rather shockingly, the Technical Preview is even better in terms of trackpad support.  The trackpad support is such that I will never need to pack a mouse when taking the notebook on the road.  (Yes - I said never.)  Not having to pack a mouse means less weight (or bulge) in the case - even though I don't fly currently, I still take the bus - who WANTS to subject their hands or shoulders to extra weight if avoidable? I take only the charger brick - I need nothing else.  The improvement for the trackpad support is entirely due to ModernUI and those larger landing targets - so much for touch-only.

 

Therefore, ModernUI - even outside of desktops - is actually a bigger winner, despite no touch support.

Grand Master

Dashel

Posted
Posted

I agree that both interfaces should have the same settings (something that I mentioned in my previous post), but this poll is about a user's preferred method of interaction, so even if the options provided in Control Panel and PC Settings were consistent, it would still be a valid poll.

 

Its invalid because it doesn't provide any conception of input device to the question.  On low-def inputs and resolutions - PC Settings, on HD - Control Panel.  Stop trying to put the Modern shoe on everything.

 

I don't see how calling touch first apps 'mobile' is that misleading when you are talking purely about the MS ecosystem.  If you have a big problem with that, go rant in the iOS and Droid forums.

Grand Master

PGHammer

Posted
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I prefer to see it the other way around. Just because it runs on a window now doesn't mean it's a desktop app.

I see it as just another application - the difference is that "legacy" applications have no support for the larger landing points that ModernUI applications do.

 

I have not only no trouble using ModernUI with a mouse, I actually have less trouble using ModernUI with a trackpad than I do "legacy" applications with a mouse - and I am normally NOT a trackpad fan.

 

How many portable (notebook and laptop users) pack a mouse?  The unlikely combo of HP Pavilion dv9000 and Technical Preview lets me use my trackpad as is - I don't need to pack a mouse at all.

 

Less weight in the notebook case means less clutter when I unpack said notebook and get busy - who would mind less clutter?

 

That is yet another reason why I said it IS about "bias" - Windows 7 and earlier decidedly kissed up to mice - not merely against touch, but even against trackpad users.

 

8 and 8.1 didn't kiss up - however, they also lacked adjustability.

 

The Technical Preview is user-adjustable.  It's not perfect - however, no previous version of Windows had any, and none before 8 even had choices.

 

You can have different settings for your desktop and your notebook - simply set each the way you like it and don't merge them.  (Because I don't use them the same way, I have different settings for them.)

 

Adjustability FTW.

Grand Master

Ian W

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Its invalid because it doesn't provide any conception of input device to the question.  On low-def inputs and resolutions - PC Settings, on HD - Control Panel.  Stop trying to put the Modern shoe on everything.

I don't understand how you got that from the poll. I specifically stated in my first post that PC Settings is both touch and mouse friendly.

 

I don't see how calling touch first apps 'mobile' is that misleading when you are talking purely about the MS ecosystem.  If you have a big problem with that, go rant in the iOS and Droid forums.

PC Settings may be optimized for touch, but I would certainly not consider it 'touch first' as it works just as well with a mouse.

Grand Master

PGHammer

Posted
Posted

Windows Update and Store App Update and Microsoft update should be combined to PC Update

Windows Update and Microsoft Update ARE combined - they have been combined since 7 RTM and Windows Vista Service Pack 2. (Starting with Windows 8, you can opt-in to MU via a setting in WU, before installing a single Microsoft application.  Some applications - such as Office, prompt for the opt-in upon installation.  The Store auto-updates when you log in - this is default behavior ;the MAS and iTunes do the same.)

Grand Master

Dashel

Posted
Posted

I don't understand how you got that from the poll. I specifically stated in my first post that PC Settings is both touch and mouse friendly.

 

PC Settings may be optimized for touch, but I would certainly not consider it 'touch first' as it works just as well with a mouse.

Then you don't understand the terminology.

Grand Master

Ian W

Posted
  • Author
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Then you clearly don't understand the terminology.

Do you say that because I am not in agreement with your views? I am starting to wonder if you've even read the poll. Why even participate in the discussion if you think the poll is "stupid" and "invalid"?

Veteran

+mram Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

Should be a response for "don't care."

 

And I don't care, as long as either one of them has all of the options.  I really dislike that you can do some things in both places, but only a few things in one place.  It's yet another example of something that was poorly designed at inception, except to replace "control panel" for tablets, but wasn't fully thought out.

 

The simplest thing to do would be to drop PC Settings and make control panel more touch-friendly, since the vast legacy .CPL plugins would still work that way.  And literally everyone on the planet knows "Control Panel" so you wouldn't have to re-train.

Experienced

ParadiseLost

Posted
Posted

PC Settings isn't a mobile app.

 

And yet, if it were to be a mobile app, it'd be exactly the same as it is now. If it looks a duck and walks like a duck, it is a duck. Every setting on it relevant to a desktop PC should be replicated in the desktop Control Panel. It's ridiculous that you can't create a new user account from there anymore.

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
Posted

And yet, if it were to be a mobile app, it'd be exactly the same as it is now. If it looks a duck and walks like a duck, it is a duck. Every setting on it relevant to a desktop PC should be replicated in the desktop Control Panel. It's ridiculous that you can't create a new user account from there anymore.

It's not a mobile app. It's part of the freakin' OS.

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