Detailed changes to the Win10 preview interface: flat icons + narrower borders + new start menu

What changes and new features does Microsoft's next-generation Windows 10 bring? I believe this is a concern of many PC users. In addition to the remarkable features of the Start Menu and Virtual Desktop, Windows 10 has a number of subtle changes that have changed the look and feel of the system. The technology website Digital Trends has compared and introduced these changes.

Flat Icons

Windows8 has added a different style of start screen, but in addition to the start menu was removed, the system's desktop mode has not changed, basically maintaining Windows The style of Vista is also called the Aero Glass design. Although this transparent aesthetic style looked great at the time, it is now somewhat outdated.

While Windows 10 made major changes to the system's desktop, elements including desktop icons, network settings, home groups, and some folders were affected. The new icon has a flatter style, which is what Android and iOS today admire.

This design is also significantly different from the Metro style of Windows 8. On mobile devices, the minimalist Metro brings an elegant and intuitive aesthetic, but on the PC, many users complain that it's too simple. Both desktops and laptops have large-size displays, so why waste a lot of screen space, just fill the solid color of the large pieces?

In Windows 10, the desktop icon has become flat and provides more information, which also makes the most of the screen space. The original white space is now occupied by smaller, more complex projects, which are still conspicuous and easy to read, but more elaborate than the tiles that occupy Windows 8.

Blue seems to be Microsoft's new darling. This is the color theme they used at the press conference, and it is also reflected in many new icons. Although this is reminiscent of Mac OS X, which also has many blue icons, the difference between the two systems is limited to this.

In addition to color, the icons for these two operating systems look very different. Microsoft's pursuit of flattening is more radical, completely giving up the gradient effect. Simplicity and the use of a lot of blue reminds us of the previous Windows 95/98, but the fineness and contrast are higher.

But the flattening process has not been completed. The folder, disk, and library icons are the same as before, with no changes. In the taskbar, the new Home folder looks very different from the other folders. In addition, the search and task views also show a flat style. Obviously, the former Aero icon will eventually be completely replaced.

Narrower borders

In every windowed application, Microsoft brings a subtle but unified change: the borders of all windows in the system except the title bar It’s gone.

This is actually part of the evolution of the years. Windows 8 maintains the Aero-style icons for Windows Vista and Windows 7, but replaces the transparent look with flattening.

Strictly speaking, these windows are not completely borderless, but under the banner of the title bar, these slim borders can be almost completely ignored, which also makes Windows10 look and Windows8 More refined than it seems.

New Start Menu

Microsoft's aesthetic design style on Windows 10 is already obvious: flat, blue main color. But if you open the start menu, things become a bit confusing.

Windows10's new start menu is like a shrunken Windows 8 start screen, which is where the problem lies: the Metro design elements and Windows 10's more elaborate desktop mode are not in tune. In the new Windows environment, the gap between the two looks a bit too big.

Adding a dynamic tile to the Start menu will only magnify the difference between the two parts of Windows 10, which is of little help to usability. But if you completely give up the Metro element, it is equivalent to acknowledging that Windows 8 is not useful at all for non-touch devices.

And even if you ignore the dynamic tile, the start menu still looks wrong. By default, its color will vary depending on the system theme, but it is also the only menu in Windows 10 that will adapt to the system theme. Compare it directly with Windows 7 and you'll see that the latter is not only easier to read, but also more compact.

After opening “All Apps", there will be a thick scroll bar appearing, and the search function of the start menu itself will be in conflict with the search button in the lower right corner of the menu. These questions all indicate that from a design perspective, Microsoft has not completely decided what it wants to make the start menu look like.

The former element

The feeling of using Windows 10 for the first time is very different from that of Windows 8. The addition of the start menu and the ability to bring search functionality back to the desktop eliminates the need for most users to use the Metro interface.

But Windows 8 has not completely disappeared in the new system. For example, the Wi-Fi menu does not return to its previous state, or it ushers in a new flattened look. In addition, Windows 8's Metro app features dominate the desktop search results, even if there are other desktop menus or apps with the same features in the system. Microsoft needs to solve this problem before Windows 10 is officially released, because it will be very confusing for beginners.

Aero has not completely disappeared. The taskbar still maintains the appearance of frosted glass, and the new mission view is also heavily used in a transparent style. We hope that the task view will be adjusted before the system is released, because the current design looks like a strange mix of Windows Vista, 8 and 10.

Conclusion

Microsoft said that the Windows 10 Technology Preview is a fairly early version, and it is true. Although we didn't see too many bugs, the operating system is obviously not finished yet. However, we can still see that Windows 10 wants to distinguish itself from the previous version.

While Windows 10 pays more attention to the desktop experience, Microsoft is not just reversing the changes brought about by Windows 8. Instead, Microsoft has put together the success of Windows Vista/7 and Windows 8/8.1, which will help us determine if Windows 10 is a system version with significant advances.

The above is the Win10 preview version of the interface changes, I hope to help everyone, please continue to pay attention to this, we will try to share more excellent articles.