Don't you think the WP UI overuses/underuses space too often?

Calidude

New member
Dec 8, 2011
26
0
0
Visit site
The major issues I have with Windows Phone besides the obvious detriments that come with being a "new kid on the block" is that Windows Phone's UI tends to use the space on the screen in a yet-to-be-optimized manner.

For example:

-The long, unused space under the arrow on the home screen seems like a waste of potential design choices.
-The titles of every screen seem too large, too overzoomed to make sense if you were emulating a Metro station's signs.
-Messaging notifications have a lot of space above the message and next to the time that is ALWAYS empty. Why not put the person's name up there next to the time and have the message scroll by under like a stock ticker (or not if you need privacy.)
-Transition screens such as the "Send from" screen have very small text compared to the rest of the vast screen space, again not doing justice to the idea of a Metro station sign.
-Live Tiles, considering how BIG they ALL are, could definitely be more informative. Perhaps less informative ones could be made smaller? Custom sized like widgets?
-The media playback buttons when you play a video are HUGE. WHY?
-Context buttons at the bottom of every screen are too closely spaced together and you get the feeling more buttons should be added.
-Artist/Album/Track lists in the Zune section have WAY too big a font.
-The IE9 toolbar is kinda wide for the little information it shows. I like that its at the bottom, but does it have to be so big?

There's probably more I missed, but does anybody get the same feeling I do? I know this is something that can be tightened up over time, but these are my thoughts so far.
 
Last edited:

jeremyshaw

New member
Oct 21, 2011
602
1
0
Visit site
IMO, MS knows it has to changes the UI ever so slightly. the 800x480's ~16:9.5 ratio is going out, and moving forward, 16:9 is the (sadly) standard (well, all except Apple, whom uses a massive 16:11 ratio on the iPhone/iPod touch - which I like), so the GUI will need to be tweaked (or MS has to move to softkeys...), and hopefully, that tweaking will bring along other UI changes, too.
 

Pronk

New member
Jun 22, 2011
745
3
0
Visit site
I think you need a third option - that in some cases more use could be made of space, but to overdo it would make the UI far too "busy" and take away from what makes it different.

For example - a few toggle switches for wifi, data etc. underneath the start screen arrow a la the charms on Windows 8? Yes please - would be a very useful addition and not detrimental to the style. But I think e.g. live tiles have to stay how they are. Smaller, and they just become icons and the larger ones effectively become widgets, and the look is broken - you then effectively have a mishmash like Android and it's awful, inconsistent widget/icon soup.
 

HeyCori

Mod Emeritus
Mar 1, 2011
6,860
67
48
Visit site
I personally love the setup the way it is - everything is perfectly distanced and spaced out in my eyes.

Agreed. I could nitpick a few centimeters here and there but the amount of additional information I'd see on the screen would be minimal. Right now everything looks bold and beautiful. The UI is easy to see and understand. I'd hate it if the UI became a cluttered mess because of information overload.
 

selfcreation

New member
Dec 16, 2010
3,287
9
0
Visit site
Sounds to me like MS left room for features in a future updates. but I like the clean look.. If they fill that space I think it would be to "clutter"

I agree for keyboard in landscape doh.. That should take up the screen


Sent from my SGH-i917R using Board Express
 

bear_lx

New member
Jun 28, 2011
816
1
0
Visit site
i personally love the way it looks... although the only two things i would change would be a full keyboard in ls, and add some toggle switches under the arrow, make so the slide out when not using them , but when you touch the area the slide back in, just like the signal and battery up top... that would be perfect!
 

canesfan625

New member
Mar 31, 2011
489
2
0
Visit site
The major issues I have with Windows Phone besides the obvious detriments that come with being a "new kid on the block" is that Windows Phone's UI tends to use the space on the screen in a yet-to-be-optimized manner.

For example:

-The long, unused space under the arrow on the home screen seems like a waste of potential design choices.

Like what?

-The titles of every screen seem too large, too overzoomed to make sense if you were emulating a Metro station's signs.

Not sure what you mean. On the home screen or the app list?

-Messaging notifications have a lot of space above the message and next to the time that is ALWAYS empty. Why not put the person's name up there next to the time and have the message scroll by under like a stock ticker (or not if you need privacy.)

App design, not UI

-Live Tiles, considering how BIG they ALL are, could definitely be more informative. Perhaps less informative ones could be made smaller? Custom sized like widgets?

How big they are? they are 173x173. I remember seeing a homebrew app before that would let you make custom tiles though.

-The media playback buttons when you play a video are HUGE. WHY?
good question. I bet this will be changing in one of the tangos.

-Artist/Album/Track lists in the Zune section have WAY too big a font.

Its Zune. Exactly the same on the Zune devices.
 

IamVortigaunt

New member
May 20, 2011
81
0
0
Visit site
@Big Supes

I believe what he means is that it should use the full horizontal space. Currently, in landscape mode there are gaps on both sides of the keyboard.
 

Big Supes

New member
Sep 1, 2011
1,698
0
0
Visit site
Oh, I see. Thanks.

Well, IMO, you need the space either side to cater for switching/Bing Voice/Attachments/Send + Time/Battery/Wifi/Signal. Also, you don't want to be typing too close to the handset buttons.
 

jeremyshaw

New member
Oct 21, 2011
602
1
0
Visit site
Yeah, I like it spaced out, especially if the device has capacitive buttons. Maybe not as much as it is right now, but still...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

jmerrey

New member
Dec 9, 2010
1,790
2
0
Visit site
I agree with the keyboard in landscape mode, but otherwise the appearance of the interface is perfect to me. If I wanted cluttered I'd go with android.

Sent from my SGH-i937 using Board Express
 

Reflexx

New member
Dec 30, 2010
4,484
4
0
Visit site
I really like the design. We have clarity without clutter.

I think a thing to keep in mind is that the design needs to work on a variety of screen sizes. So what may seem like a lot of space on large screens may not seem like that much space on smaller screens.

In design, you learn that space is important. It doesn't always need to be filled. Sometimes the best use of space is to just leave it as space.

With that said, I'm sure there are going to be small tweaks here and there as time goes on. There's always going to be the challenge of form vs function. We want it attractive, but we also want to cram in as much information as we can. And those two things are hard to gel together.
 

bigkevbosky

New member
Nov 22, 2011
496
0
0
Visit site
I do think some space is wasted, but not much. The whole point of WP7 is minimalism and putting a bunch of toggles and icons in the unused space would just make it look cluttered.

I do agree the tiles should take up more of the screen and the arrow should be gone. I think at this point its almost common sense to swipe right to get to your app list. In fact, I'd prefer it they just got rid of the arrow and app list altogether and make the app list a tile, one that can't be deleted.
 

jfa1

New member
Dec 15, 2007
2,567
1
0
Visit site
I didn't realize the keyboard wasn't fully extended in Landscape. That's a major oversight.

I dont think it was an oversight by MS I think it was most likely intentional on the part of MS. You are most certainly entitled to your opinion!
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
322,906
Messages
2,242,872
Members
428,004
Latest member
hetb