The metro UI
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I've been using it on my phone for over a year now and absolutely love it. I've been running the Windows 8 preview off and on for a while now and like it on the PC too, though I know it would be better on a touchscreen PC. I'm a serious fan of the Metro UI.
I was lucky enough to be given a touch screen with Win 8 on it, and can confirm it's pretty darned good once you get used to it. My only gripe is having the Shutdown option on something labelled Settings - that doesn't sit too well. Apart from that, excellent.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
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Like most tech, there are good and downright wretched parts to it. Does it make sense on a phone? Absolutely. Big targets for touchscreen use. Normal behavior you expect for mobile apps. Does it make sense on a tablet? Yep, though there are flaws if they really intend you to use the tablet for both tablet and PC use cases. The desktop mode on a tablet is fairly useless. Normal Windows UI elements are just not designed or intended for our fat fingers. They need to have versions of Explorer, Task Manager, and other classic desktop apps that are designed for Metro. I'm sick of trying to touch/click on a Listview entry in Task Manager so I can close an app Microsoft is too shortsighted to let me close with a built-in Close/Quit button. To their credit, they are doing a good job with trying to create a consistent UI "language" or set of idioms you use to get around. In the same way that we're used to right-clicks and double-clicks, you swipe the left side to tab between apps, you swipe the right to get to the global settings and charms, and you swipe the top or bottom to get to app-specific features. There are also the usual scrolling and pinch-to-zoom gestures. That all seems to work pretty smoothly. Does it make sense on a console (XBox 360)? In theory maybe, but in practice it sucks unless you have a Kinect. With the new dashboard, I have this big wall of tiles that give me no info and take more controller movements to navigate. If you have a Kinect, I'm guessing it works a lot better. If you only use a controller, it's like navigating the on-screen keyboard all the time. In other words, a clunky nightmare. It feels like it takes an order of magnitude more controller inputs to get around now. Does it make sense on a desktop? Not really, at least for what most of us do on a desktop or laptop. Too many things on a desktop require precision navigation and action. I'm not doing word-processing or document creation or CAD drawing on a touch-interface like a phone or tablet. The granularity of the user's input is not small enough to match the granularity required by the activity. If I'm editing a word in a document and my finger or thumb covers the entire word, how am I supposed to get the cursor where I want it to be? I would need a screen the size of a table so I could get my finger or hand at the exact spot I want. Ok, so if I'm not needing tablet-style "casual" apps or games on my desktop, what does Metro give me? Not much I think. Navigation around the Metro UI with a mouse and keyb
Kythen wrote:
If I'm editing a word in a document and my finger or thumb covers the entire word, how am I supposed to get the cursor where I want it to be? I would need a screen the size of a table so I could get my finger or hand at the exact spot I want.
Well, if it winds up working like Windows Phone, you would touch and hold until the I-beam cursor appears above the touch point and then drag to where you want it and release when you get there. Not that much different from using a mouse where you move the I-beam cursor to where you want it and click when you get there.
Kythen wrote:
Navigation around the Metro UI with a mouse and keyboard is rough.
A little, but I believe that it will improve. I've been running the developer preview on a laptop (with no external mouse) and have been able to get around fine.
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I was lucky enough to be given a touch screen with Win 8 on it, and can confirm it's pretty darned good once you get used to it. My only gripe is having the Shutdown option on something labelled Settings - that doesn't sit too well. Apart from that, excellent.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
I was lucky enough to be given a touch screen with Win 8 on it
Sweet! Lucky dog.
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
My only gripe is having the Shutdown option on something labelled Settings
I agree. The first couple of times I went looking for it, I think I wound up logging out and shutting down from the resulting login screen. I hope that they improve that UI aspect as they move along.
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Chris Maunder wrote:
Am I the only one who cringes when he sees the metro UI being used outside of a phone?
Amen. "Metro" is the new word for "retarded." Marc
Haha, I knew you would write that Marc :P
- Anders
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The Live Tile style start screen is great, in my opinion. And as has already been said, Metro apps aren't going to replace desktops entirely. Plus, keep in mind how many people out there "use" one app at a time. Obviously that's not how we developers work, but for many people, they may start some music and then push their music player to the background while they browse the web or read email. For them, a full-screen app model works well.
Marc A. Brown wrote:
Plus, keep in mind how many people out there "use" one app at a time
Fewer and fewer rather than more and more, I'd say. Facebook, email, uTube all at once is common amongst the kiddiewinks today. And that's in class, so they probably also have Excel or something open.
MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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Then don't upgrade. Nobody is going to hold a gun against your head and force you to.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
"Mind bleach! Send me mind bleach!" - Nagy Vilmos
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
In the long run they will when W8 is all you can get.
MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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PIEBALDconsult wrote:
once you get used to a UI you should be able to use that UI indefinitely
I think yours is the honest answer here: people don't like change. It's not that X sucks. It's that people don't like change, particularly those who have been in this industry for a long time.
PIEBALDconsult wrote:
[I do not want to be] forced to "upgrade" to the latest and greatest against my will.
Agreed. Now if only Microsoft would stop coming to our houses and forcing us to upgrade at gun point! ;) Look, technology evolves. That's the industry we've chosen. You can stick with old tech if you like -- say, Windows 95 -- and be 'happy.' You just have to understand that the world won't stop for you. Apps, frameworks, hardware will all evolve, and you'll be left with your old tech. That's your tradeoff. No one's making you upgrade to Windows 8. (Or Windows 7, Vista, XP, ME, 98SE, 98, or Mac for that matter.) Tech evolves. We evolve with it. Sucks we have to learn new stuff every year. But, then again, maybe learning keeps the mind sharp and our skillset relevant and our paychecks coming. So maybe it's not so bad.
My Messianic Jewish blog: Kineti L'Tziyon My software blog: Debugger.Break() Judah Himango
So I can make my XBox and Netflix go back to the way they were last week? Cool. How?
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So I can make my XBox and Netflix go back to the way they were last week? Cool. How?
Ha, good point. While PCs aren't forced to upgrade, services connected to the cloud and all websites and web apps are forced to upgrade. I see this same kind of thing when Facebook changes it's UI. It's totally this: Angry, for a time[^] It'll be like that for you, most likely. You'll get used to the new interface, and all will be well with the world. Until you're forced to upgrade again. ;)
My Messianic Jewish blog: Kineti L'Tziyon My software blog: Debugger.Break() Judah Himango
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Marc A. Brown wrote:
Plus, keep in mind how many people out there "use" one app at a time
Fewer and fewer rather than more and more, I'd say. Facebook, email, uTube all at once is common amongst the kiddiewinks today. And that's in class, so they probably also have Excel or something open.
MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
But you're kind of proving my point (at least until you threw excel in there). Facebook and YouTube are browser based. Which means a single app (the web browser) or even better, Facebook becomes a small Metro app that pops notifications when something interesting happens and stays out of the way otherwise. Email doesn't need to run continuously if you have a notification system to let you know that new messages have arrived. YouTube doesn't work in the Metro browser at this point because it requires Flash, but once it goes all html 5, that problem goes away. Excel then becomes the only problem in your example. And in that case, you run it as a desktop app unless and until MS turns Office into Metro apps too. The thing is, if you need to go to the desktop, it is there, but if you don't, it's not. Exciting new world coming up.
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But you're kind of proving my point (at least until you threw excel in there). Facebook and YouTube are browser based. Which means a single app (the web browser) or even better, Facebook becomes a small Metro app that pops notifications when something interesting happens and stays out of the way otherwise. Email doesn't need to run continuously if you have a notification system to let you know that new messages have arrived. YouTube doesn't work in the Metro browser at this point because it requires Flash, but once it goes all html 5, that problem goes away. Excel then becomes the only problem in your example. And in that case, you run it as a desktop app unless and until MS turns Office into Metro apps too. The thing is, if you need to go to the desktop, it is there, but if you don't, it's not. Exciting new world coming up.
Don't plop me in the Metro nay-sayers. I have only used it for about three minutes (couldn't find out how to get back to it after going to the legacy desktop, and time too short to play) My point was that people are (in my experience) using multiple windows simultaneously more and not less. Now if I can swipe with my mouse to move across applications, or still run applications not maximised to he screen, I figure all will be well. If I am limited to having a single application filling the whole screen, then it is, as they say in grade 9, fucked up the ass.
MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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Don't plop me in the Metro nay-sayers. I have only used it for about three minutes (couldn't find out how to get back to it after going to the legacy desktop, and time too short to play) My point was that people are (in my experience) using multiple windows simultaneously more and not less. Now if I can swipe with my mouse to move across applications, or still run applications not maximised to he screen, I figure all will be well. If I am limited to having a single application filling the whole screen, then it is, as they say in grade 9, fucked up the ass.
MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
_Maxxx_ wrote:
Don't plop me in the Metro nay-sayers.
Duly noted. :-D I believe that switching between Metro apps, at least with a mouse, means moving to the left edge of the screen and using the scroll wheel. I haven't verified this, since I don't use a mouse with my laptop. Also, you can dock a second Metro app to the left side of the screen. The second app winds up being a strip that's taller than it is wide. The interesting thing is that you can flip to the desktop and the second app will still be docked, which means that your desktop runs in the space that's left on the screen. Kind of strange the first time you see it, but it works.
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Check out the Building Windows 8 blog (I don't have the link handy and am too lazy to Bing/Google it) where they talk about the reasons for the moves they've made. Then use it for a while. It will be awesome on a touchscreen PC and is very nice on a regular PC, though the developer preview is pretty sparse. Plus, unless you're using Metro apps, you're going to spend most of your time in the desktop anyway, only seeing the Live Tiles when you hit the Start button.
Marc A. Brown wrote:
It will be awesome on a touchscreen PC
A what? You mean someone will actually use a touch screen on their desktop? Just sit there all day with their arms stretched out in front of them like a sleepwalker or a zombie?
So I rounded up my camel Just to ask him for a smoke He handed me a Lucky, I said "Hey, you missed the joke." My Mu[sic] My Films My Windows Programs, etc.
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Marc A. Brown wrote:
It will be awesome on a touchscreen PC
A what? You mean someone will actually use a touch screen on their desktop? Just sit there all day with their arms stretched out in front of them like a sleepwalker or a zombie?
So I rounded up my camel Just to ask him for a smoke He handed me a Lucky, I said "Hey, you missed the joke." My Mu[sic] My Films My Windows Programs, etc.
Um... no. But what's wrong with using a touch interface in place of (or even in addition to) a mouse? If I'm sitting at my desk, I could definitely see using a touchscreen for most or all "mousing" activities while using an attached keyboard (instead of onscreen keyboard) for keyboarding. Besides, PC may not simply mean a traditional desktop but a notebook or tablet, since we're talking about a full Windows experience.
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Um... no. But what's wrong with using a touch interface in place of (or even in addition to) a mouse? If I'm sitting at my desk, I could definitely see using a touchscreen for most or all "mousing" activities while using an attached keyboard (instead of onscreen keyboard) for keyboarding. Besides, PC may not simply mean a traditional desktop but a notebook or tablet, since we're talking about a full Windows experience.
Marc A. Brown wrote:
If I'm sitting at my desk, I could definitely see using a touchscreen for most or all "mousing" activities while using . . .
If you can touch your screen from where you're sitting and still see what it is you're touching, you're much too close.
So I rounded up my camel Just to ask him for a smoke He handed me a Lucky, I said "Hey, you missed the joke." My Mu[sic] My Films My Windows Programs, etc.
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Agreed, but it is still better than seeing something designed by a Comic Sans fan.
I wasn't, now I am, then I won't be anymore.
What do you mean by that?
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Marc A. Brown wrote:
If I'm sitting at my desk, I could definitely see using a touchscreen for most or all "mousing" activities while using . . .
If you can touch your screen from where you're sitting and still see what it is you're touching, you're much too close.
So I rounded up my camel Just to ask him for a smoke He handed me a Lucky, I said "Hey, you missed the joke." My Mu[sic] My Films My Windows Programs, etc.
Well now you're just being silly. :laugh: Seriously though, I'm sitting in front of my (non-touch) display. It's at the back of my desk and I'm at the front. I can reach out and touch the display from where I sit (though I don't, since doing so would do no good!). If I had a touchscreen, I would probably move it slightly closer for a more comfortable reach, but doing so wouldn't be a bad thing. When I'm at home (or on the go in my personal time), my laptop screen is generally closer to me than the display I'm in front of now, whether it's on a desk or a table or my lap. It would be quite comfortable to use as a touch interface.
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Am I the only one who cringes when he sees the metro UI being used outside of a phone? Actually - I cringe when I see it on a phone too.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
Metro: Good for tablets. Not good for the desktop. Compared to the Android UI (Google's Linux implementation?) on tablets it does not look as slick. And what am I supposed to do with all the icons on my desktop? Actually with a few tweaks our Console Express (free download at WindigoSystems.com) would be a better alternative for business users.
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exactly - it flicks between the two modes like crazy! I hate it! metro is fine for phones/tablets but I'd prefer to keep it well clear of my desktop
-- The Obliterator
I don't understand, a lot of people is in love with Apple iOS and MacOS, but when Microsoft tries to make a change to give the design and animation to its systems to make it "pretty" like Apple do, is doing wrong? I can't understand what does people want? I think this is a good movement, like the Xbox, I used new dashboard, is like Metro, and works fine, easy and the technoogy is behind, a lot of tools and programming skills used.
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Am I the only one who cringes when he sees the metro UI being used outside of a phone? Actually - I cringe when I see it on a phone too.
cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP
I'm gonna wait and see. I am old enough to remember saying out loud how stupid and inefficient the WIMP interface was compared to command-line tools and keyboard shortcuts. I was way wrong about that, though I do like my keyboard shortcuts still. I wanna see Excell in Metro, to see if it's better. It won't be for 2500 line monster spreadsheets, but maybe for those little charts and graphs it will be. I want to see what new things you can do and show and work with in metro. I'm betting it will be pretty useful, and I way like the visual simplicity of it.
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Chris Maunder wrote:
Am I the only one who cringes when he sees the metro UI
No, you are not.
Just along for the ride. "the meat from that butcher is just the dogs danglies, absolutely amazing cuts of beef." - DaveAuld (2011)
"No, that is just the earthly manifestation of the Great God Retardon." - Nagy Vilmos (2011) "It is the celestial scrotum of good luck!" - Nagy Vilmos (2011)Agreed.
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