Is W10P entering a pure features battle and losing its distinct design identity?

[bschiav]

that's right

I guess that's what I'm challenging...why do I have to have pivots for keyboard and mouse use just becaue they're in my phone app? Windows 10 already toggles between desktop and tablet mode. That same toggle in desktop mode could take the pivot title content and make them buttons in the UI instead of a pivot (like the current UI proposed).

I don't think it's crazy to expect that some elements of the UX will be unique to a device where it makes sense...you can still tie the experiences together for visual consistency.

 

[user4545]

You could almost never swipe yourself in to settings in an app, had to press the ... dots in the lower right corner to get to settings. So not much difference there. Yes swiping between app functions as in Instagram is great, but lets face it, Microsoft is in no position do dictate how developers should design apps. If this can bring more apps and more important, quality apps from Android and iOS developers then it's a small tradeoff. Developers should be able to design their apps to their liking. Spotify is a good example which now looks the same on all platforms and works great.

 

[Alain_A]

I guess MS want everything to look the same no matter what you are picking up. so you know where everything is

 

[TheCudder]

Still though, it would be cool if they could implement kind of an 'adaptive UI', where there would be a standard way to collapse a pivot menu into a delicious hamburger menu depending on screen size. That way developers would code once, we would get our pivots, and laptop users would get their hamburgers. But maybe this is tricky to get right.

Edit: ah, this is basically exactly what bvone21 said.

This goes against the UX consistency. Now you've introduced an app that may have the same colors and icon design, but it works differently than your tablet or desktop. I really think the pivot menu is over rated. As someone mentioned, it works great to swipe through menu's in an app like Instagram , and at the same time these 4 screen's have" tapable" icons that go directly to them. However, pivoting in apps like Mint, Rhapsody or MSN Money drive me crazy --- some times the pivot swipe becomes endless, you don't realize that you've passed the section you want, some of the pivot screens have ADDITIONAL sub-menu's within them & sometimes it's just way too much with the "metro" text headers & blank space (the Rhapsody app in specific has this issue) --- it can be come inefficient easily. It'd be so much easier to launch the hamburger icon and see a full list of menu with more complex apps.

 

[white_Shadoww]

This goes against the UX consistency. Now you've introduced an app that may have the same colors and icon design, but it works differently than your tablet or desktop. I really think the pivot menu is over rated. As someone mentioned, it works great to swipe through menu's in an app like Instagram , and at the same time these 4 screen's have" tapable" icons that go directly to them. However, pivoting in apps like Mint, Rhapsody or MSN Money drive me crazy --- some times the pivot swipe becomes endless, you don't realize that you've passed the section you want, some of the pivot screens have ADDITIONAL sub-menu's within them & sometimes it's just way too much with the "metro" text headers & blank space (the Rhapsody app in specific has this issue) --- it can be come inefficient easily. It'd be so much easier to launch the hamburger icon and see a full list of menu with more complex apps.

Speaking about consistency across devices, I don't think that is a good idea. Every device has it's own usage scenario. On phones and tablet you are using touch screen, while on a desktop you are using mouse and keyboard. Touch screen and mouse and keyboard work differently, so one UI across all devices can't be done without sacrificing UI either on phones or on desktops. Windows 8 sacrificed desktop UI and Windows 10 is sacrificing touch phone UI.



Microsoft should be worried about giving same features across devices and not the UI. For ex, the Photos app, collecting all the photos from all the devices through OneDrive, this 'feature' is great. Having same UI on both, not so great. Solution would be, some code added to universal apps, that makes the menus pivot if detected a phone or tablet, and makes the menus inside a hamburger if detected a desktop (which is what some people suggested here, thanks for this great idea).



Or maybe, if hamburger is really necessary to keep the one experience, move it to the right side. And enable swipe gesture for it. It will work just like charms on phones and tablets, and on a desktop, the app will have the hamburger indicating there is a menu (erasing all the confusion which the charms bar led to in Windows 8 because of lack of indication). Keep the animation just like charms, bouncy, and we are good to go with hamburgers. This will make it Metro enough and will be familiar to desktop and Android or iOS users, if they picked up a Windows Phone and will lure them into owning one.

 

[fatclue_98]

Windows Mobile had the drop down menus and people loathed them. WP7 came along and introduced the Metro UI, but nobody bought it. Now they bring the menus back and call them Hamburgers or Sloppy Joes, whatever. Let's face it, this is what the majority wants. Personally, I prefer the Enyo sliding panels design of webOS but we all know how that ended up.

 

[Nick Garza]

I don't see why adding features means you have to back away from the unique design. The design isn't and never has been the issue with wp, its the perception and the lack of apps. That hasn't changed and it probably won't.

Posted via Windows Phone Central App

 

[Nick Garza]

Current TP 10 is a real mix of UI design. A lot of the new PC style is coming to the phone with a theme applied.

I'm sure it will evolve, but it does currently feel like it has 2 or 3 heads. Hopefully that will settle down quickly.

Mimicking the PC style on windows phone is just ******* silly. It doesn't work most of the time, at least not as well as windows phone 7/8 did. Navigating and using it was a breeze, and came very naturally for devices as small as phones. Slapping the PC ui makes me think of people publishing web apps as actually apps I'm the store.

Posted via Windows Phone Central App

 

[regi7]

I rather like the hamburger design. With only the three dots, sometimes my hand misses it completely. You've gotta balance design with features because no one will switch over if every other phone does twice as much - especially if they have many times more apps.

 

[Nick Garza]

I think ux consistency between smartphones and PCs is a joke and a terrible idea. There is a reason iOS is completely different than OSX ( and yet they work perfectly together now ). A universal app like the calendar, calculator or messaging isn't going to fix any of the issues with windows phone.

Posted via Windows Phone Central App

 

[tgp]

Speaking about consistency across devices, I don't think that is a good idea.

I think ux consistency between smartphones and PCs is a joke and a terrible idea.

Agreed. As much as I think it would be cool, I don't see it working well either. No matter what a revolution brings, there are physical logistical aspects to the difference between 5" devices and 23" devices, and how we interact with them. I don't see consistency between them resulting in a good experience for both, at least in the current paradigm.

 

[TheCudder]

Speaking about consistency across devices, I don't think that is a good idea. Every device has it's own usage scenario. On phones and tablet you are using touch screen, while on a desktop you are using mouse and keyboard. Touch screen and mouse and keyboard work differently, so one UI across all devices can't be done without sacrificing UI either on phones or on desktops. Windows 8 sacrificed desktop UI and Windows 10 is sacrificing touch phone UI.

That's the thing, the UI's aren't even identical and they do cater to the device, that's the purpose of a small amount of the "universal" code actually being different on universal apps---so that the UI caters to the device it's on. Phone vs. Tablet-Desktop. Look up images for the Windows 10 Outlook, People & XBOX apps (one's that show them on tablet, PC, & phone). Yes, they share the same feel (colors, icons, menu icon), but they are unique to the device & screen size when it comes to the collapsed menu list, icon placement, what's displayed by default, etc. Most of the negative feedback here is solely based on the lack of the Pivot menu's --- any solution that isn't pivoting menu's is an issue to some it seems. So no pivot = terrible, bad, confusing, awful...that is what I've taken away from that feedback.

 

[colinkiama]

Imo, they should use the hamburger button and keep the pivots so everyone is happy. For example the OneDrive app. The pivots and 3 dots are for main functions and the Hamburger button is for additional functions like switching between business and normal accounts. It would work perfectly in my opinion

 

[rockstarzzz]

You could almost never swipe yourself in to settings in an app, had to press the ... dots in the lower right corner to get to settings. So not much difference there. Yes swiping between app functions as in Instagram is great, but lets face it, Microsoft is in no position do dictate how developers should design apps. If this can bring more apps and more important, quality apps from Android and iOS developers then it's a small tradeoff. Developers should be able to design their apps to their liking. Spotify is a good example which now looks the same on all platforms and works great.

You dont press ..., you swipe up.

See this is what I meant, people hardly knowing how well thought out the design was for WP

 

[rockstarzzz]

Imo, they should use the hamburger button and keep the pivots so everyone is happy. For example the OneDrive app. The pivots and 3 dots are for main functions and the Hamburger button is for additional functions like switching between business and normal accounts. It would work perfectly in my opinion

That hamburger still will make me use my second hand on a 5 inch device and open with a jerky motion. Whereas pivots in People hub are so east that I can swipe with one hand even on 1520 and still be able to add or remove contacts etc with one hand. That is how useful and NATURAL pivots are.

 

[colinkiama]

You dont press ..., you swipe up.

See this is what I meant, people hardly knowing how well thought out the design was for WP

You can do both. What's call is that you cam even press/slide on the left side that has no dots and it still works. Try it now

 

[rockstarzzz]

You can do both. What's call is that you cam even press/slide on the left side that has no dots and it still works. Try it now

Yeah but if you can slide, would you rather adjust your hand and press? No.

 

[colinkiama]

That hamburger still will make me use my second hand on a 5 inch device and open with a jerky motion. Whereas pivots in People hub are so east that I can swipe with one hand even on 1520 and still be able to add or remove contacts etc with one hand. That is how useful and NATURAL pivots are.

I just realised. Why don't Microsoft make the layout of the 3 dot menu customisable. For example tapping/swiping it can show a full screen menu, half screen, screen coming from the side. Anywhere really. And developers can have full control over the look yet we can still keep pivots and one-handibility. How about that?

 

[colinkiama]

Yeah but if you can slide, would you rather adjust your hand and press? No.

That's a good point actually. I never realised how smart the WP team was with the UX

 

[Alain_A]

That hamburger still will make me use my second hand on a 5 inch device and open with a jerky motion. Whereas pivots in People hub are so east that I can swipe with one hand even on 1520 and still be able to add or remove contacts etc with one hand. That is how useful and NATURAL pivots are.

how many occasion one uses one hand on their phone...if I am not driving then I still used 2 hand to work on my phone....