Bring back the gutter

[EvilFiek]

I guess you don't know what you are missing until it's gone. But looking at the screenshots from WP8, it just looks so much like a cluttered mess. In comparison, on WP7.5 it's almost like the tiles have "room to breathe", all thanks to the blank space on the right while with WP8 it looks like the phone is about to explode with live tiles. I don't want a ticking live tile bomb! So I sincerely hope that Microsoft is either going to make it possible to arrange tiles in such a way to leave a comparable amount of space blank on the right side or simply make the gutter a show/don't show option somewhere in the settings.
I absolutely love what they are doing with the start screen. In my opinion the resizeable tiles beat folders hands down. But especially with a OS so focussed on having a clean and nice to look at UI, getting the negative space back is important.

 

[psiu_glen]

I just feel like the "design" team has been reassigned or ignored going forward with this.

 

[AwesomeAndy]

I agree, making the gutter optional would be great. My WP8 startscreen would probably look quite similar to what i have now on 7.5 (minus the gutter), some of these screenshots are quite the mess, not really clean & metro-esque.

 

[inteller]

FOOK NO! Banish the gutter to Zuneville! dumbest artifact EVAR!

Really, you buy a 4.3" screen and you only get to use 4" of it half the time, that's BS. Those of us carrying Titans will LOVE using all of our screen real estate now. IMO, removing the gutter gives me pause to think about supporting a 5.3" phone as much as I hate them, because I could definitely squeeze everything I need ON ONE SCREEN.

 

[AngryNil]

Option please. The new start screen was definitely not "designed" - it was some guy listening to feedback and slapping the changes on.

FOOK NO! Banish the gutter to Zuneville! dumbest artifact EVAR!

Thanks mate, great to know you think that your viewpoint is the only one valid. Information density is not the only thing you consider when creating an interface, and Windows Phone in general is low information density and more visual balance.

 

[foosball]

Optional is the way to go. What I don't get is why simple things like this aren't optional in WP. Its like they are more interested in limiting options and controlling the experience than providing basic flexibility.

 

[Mike20PR]

Actually I hate the new start screen, its a clusterf#*k IMO. What I really wanted is the background options (like windows 8) where you can add a bit of color to the start screen, and the tiles to be multicolor as well just like W8, it makes it more alive and dynamic imo

basically a vertical W8 start screen with app grouping by tiles. Is that so hard to do?

 

[Banstyle]

I don't know why people are up in arms about the removal of a black empty space on their phones that did nothing but waste screenspace. What's it good for? It makes no sense to me.

 

[inteller]

Option please. The new start screen was definitely not "designed" - it was some guy listening to feedback and slapping the changes on.



Thanks mate, great to know you think that your viewpoint is the only one valid. Information density is not the only thing you consider when creating an interface, and Windows Phone in general is low information density and more visual balance.

well dude, I can tell you it is better than some of the mock up crap I've seen on the internet. They managed to resist folders, which would have been the biggest sell out. They are also giving us the ability to create "notification areas" via groups of little tiles as opposed to having some separate notification center. All the important notification apps for me will just be on my start screen. They didn't bust up the design of Metro, they evolved it.

 

[selfcreation]

wow .....

like having a gutter on the side made it that much less * cluttered *

you relies that the UI is now 100% customizable in size and placement.... so if its cluttered it means one thing..

your a cluttered individual for setting it in such a way thats its cluttered....

you could have 5 tiles taking up the WHOLE screen if you wanted to .. is that cluttered? i dont think so!

:dry

 

[AzD]

I don't know why people are up in arms about the removal of a black empty space on their phones that did nothing but waste screenspace. What's it good for? It makes no sense to me.

It was part of the Metro design that gave you a mental hint that there was something more available to you if you swipe to the left.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2

 

[mase123987]

I like gutter. I think having some blank area does make the screen look a lot less busy and overfilled. I can't imagine what Windows 8 would look like if they filled the entire screen with Metro apps!

 

[selfcreation]

I just find it very funny how people complained about that GUTTER being useless and taking up room for nothing on WP7/7.5

and now MS listen to us by taking it out .. and now we get complaints of people wanting it back...

you can never please every one.....

 

[mase123987]

I just find it very funny how people complained about that GUTTER being useless and taking up room for nothing on WP7/7.5

and now MS listen to us by taking it out .. and now we get complaints of people wanting it back...

you can never please every one.....

This is true! Though I never complained about the gutter. I did like the idea someone had in the past where you could provide some type of notification icons in that area. Not ones that would provide the actually info but that would just remind you app "a" wants to tell you something. On any smart device I have used, I always have extra space somewhere on the screen.

 

[deadwrong03]

im happy with it gone makes it feel more like the tablets I just hope u can still slide the home screen to the right to see all your apps in a list and hopefully slide to the right for a notification tray/menu

 

[jimski]

Tiles are still square (except the double wide) so taking out the gutter increases their size by maybe 15-20%, which makes the 1/4 size tiles more usable, especially on 3.5-3.8" screens. Why is this so hard to understand. You can't have one (mini tiles) without the other (more screen real estate). Get used to it.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express Pro

 

[trazer]

I'm fine with it gone, it really seemed to throw people off when playing with the phones and they did not understand it.

That said, the mockups are much too cluttered for my personal taste, but I'll love being able to get four small tiles with my email, phone, messaging, and people tiles all in the space of four tiles on my current phone. Brilliant. The rest will likely be the same size as before. I'll set them up in a square so they look like a more normal tile to me, I like that more personally.

Then again, lower down having four small set aside for my most used games would be cool too. Just off the top so it is cleaner on the opening screen when I unlock it. I think in the end losing the gutter is the right move for most people and will only attract more people.

 

[ejb222]

I'm sick of being nice. People want to come on hear and just rant about the new customizable start screen. DONT INSTALL IT. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. Guess you'll have to make the decision when it's time for a WP8 phone if you want it or not. But dude seriously it's and ARROW icon and a quarter inch of space that was doing nothing but creating an asymetrical asthetic. So my suggestion to you is to either dont install it and quitcha*****in or figure out a way to customize your own screen to fit your asthetic needs. Your whining is seriously killing our mojo. Dude can you sleep at night without complaining about this?! Seriously get over it! Then maybe you will see the advantages and why 75% of us like it.

 

[dkp23]

I can not believe why people are *****ing about how the screen looks cluttered. USE THE MEDIUM SIZED TILES! CLUTTER IS GONE. IT WILL LOOK ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE WP7!

People are essentially complaining about 1/5 of an inch of less black space. Shows that people ***** and whine about anything.

 

[foosball]

This looks like an issue about the gutter. Its not. Its about flexibility. More options, more choice, less MS bullsh#t.

Falls into the same category as screen shots or anything else.Just build the damn OS and let us make the f'n decisions.