WP UI desperately needs refinement

[Josip Zeljko]

I think we can all agree that metro (mostly) looks nice, in fact it was one of the main reasons why i switched to windows phone, but some things need to be changed. I'm no designer so don't expect to see some great design suggestions but I am an average user who notices some odd stuff here and there and I wanted to share it here.

(Live tiles are excluded from this - they're fantastic)

1. Wasted space in the app list. The app list looks ridiculous on big phones.
2. Bland look of some core apps (e-mail comes to mind). Is it so hard to add some color, or give an option to turn it on? It doesn't have to be so damn black and white. Colors can be useful, especially in noticing priority e-mail. It doesn't have to be over the top -just a tiny little pinch of color.
3. When I think about it, the whole UI needs some color. Going to settings just feels so sad...
4. Some apps have too big headers which just waste space. Maybe add an option that auto hides headers? For example - go to the marketplace, search for something. I dare you - do it! After you do the search there are 3 LINES of text (store search, search query, and the category). That thing doesn't go away. Wouldn't it be nice that it hides when I'm scrolling down (or when I'm doing nothing) and comes back when i scroll up?
5. Too long titles can't be seen. Once again I will ask you to do a search in the marketplace. Go to marketplace and search for Dead Earth. Tap on the game that is shown on the list. I dare you to read the whole title, or find the complete name of the game (no binging or googling please). Metrotube resolved this problem elegantly (tapping on the name shows the complete title).
The same thing happens in the app list.
6. The OS is called WINDOWS. I really hope that W10 will have multiwindow support (they've done it so nicely in the desktop metro verson)
7. It would be nice if the resuming screen included a game, because I see it way to often. At least let me have fun while I'm waiting. Okay I'm joking about this one, but really Microsoft.... do something about this.
8. Do something about the landscape keyboard. Anything......
9. Seriously the whole UI needs some color :grin:

 

[satrus08]

Lol at the resuming game. You might be on to the next big smartphone feature there buddy

 

[Dadstar0410]

I like the idea of letting us see the long titles. This can also apply to toasts, like breaking news alerts. I often can't read the whole thing because most of it is cut off. Maybe if they auto-scrolled?

 

[BatteryLife]

Or they could show: Today from Bing, or Jokes from Bing in the loading screen.

You mentioned about adding a dash of colors, I immediately thought about the calendar app. So beautiful, yet elegant.

 

[plot_almighty]

I'm seriously in favor of multi window apps. The split screen option in Windows 8.1 would do amazing. A portrait and landscape variant. I agree too that if were going to look at resuming we should have a nicer looking option. Knowing tech media though they'll claim ineptitude and blast MS on "distracting from a problem". :/

 

[Josip Zeljko]

Or they could show: Today from Bing, or Jokes from Bing in the loading screen.

You mentioned about adding a dash of colors, I immediately thought about the calendar app. So beautiful, yet elegant.

Color can be really useful. For example - I would definitely add color coded notifications (assign by the user). It allows you to see (with a glance) is it something worth my time, or something that I will check later.

 

[Josip Zeljko]

Or they could show: Today from Bing, or Jokes from Bing in the loading screen.

You mentioned about adding a dash of colors, I immediately thought about the calendar app. So beautiful, yet elegant.

Yup. Calendar also came to my mind. Or the beautifuly designed Readit app.

 

[a5cent]

I agree with all of your points, but just wanted to mention that none of them are really related to metro/modern UI design guidelines. Those UI design guidelines discuss issues at a higher level, where you're really getting into the nitty gritty of things :wink:

W10 for mobile devices will support app snapping, like on desktop metro, as that is a necessary feature for tablets, but I don't know if the feature will be enabled on phones. I'm guessing it will be enabled on devices like the 1520, but probably not on devices below 5".

 

[ablahblah]

I definitely feel you on the color thing. I feel like Windows Phone could benefit from being, I dunno, more inviting I guess? Metro philosophy is quite effective in getting things done, just wish there were more options to spruce it up a bit. The Maestro beta for instance looks so warm compared to Mail. Mail's interface feels more business'ish, if you get what I mean.

Can we possibly make accent colors more global...? :O. maybe like if you set your accent color as Green and theme as light, Mail will open up with a white, subtly green-tinted background? Kind of Windows Aero-esque?

 

[Josip Zeljko]

I agree with all of your points, but just wanted to mention that none of them are really related to metro/modern UI design guidelines. Those UI design guidelines discuss issues at a higher level, where you're really getting into the nitty gritty of things :wink:

W10 for mobile devices will support app snapping, like on desktop metro, as that is a necessary feature for tablets, but I don't know if the feature will be enabled on phones. I'm guessing it will be enabled on devices like the 1520, but probably not on devices below 5".

Design guidelines can change, they're not written in stone.

My general point was (like someone already mentioned) is to make windows phone more inviting. When you take out the live tiles you're pretty much left with a lot of black and white.

I really believe that microsoft nailed the basics of how a mobile operating sytem should look. Now they should focus on more advanced stuff, and more complex yet simple (kinda like live tiles) design choices. Also - more tweakabilty would be nice.

 

[SammyD97]

Am I the only one who really really likes the simplicity of black and white? Honestly I think if MS allowed more than just dark and light backgrounds, it would ruin the look of the OS.
What's wrong with the landscape keyboard?

 

[TonyDedrick]

Am I the only one who really really likes the simplicity of black and white? Honestly I think if MS allowed more than just dark and light backgrounds, it would ruin the look of the OS.
What's wrong with the landscape keyboard?

IIf something like that was optional, I don't see how it hurts.

 

[a5cent]

Am I the only one who really really likes the simplicity of black and white? Honestly I think if MS allowed more than just dark and light backgrounds, it would ruin the look of the OS.
What's wrong with the landscape keyboard?

No. I like it too. You can't get better contrast, and therefore better legibility, than with black and white. Using colour for anything but decoration also comes highly unrecommended, because many people are colour blind. That is why colour should only ever be an additional tool to convey information, but never the sole tool by which that is done.

I'm fine with black, white and an accent colour, but I think in some places it might not hurt to use a little more of the accent.

Design guidelines can change, they're not written in stone.

My general point was (like someone already mentioned) is to make windows phone more inviting. When you take out the live tiles you're pretty much left with a lot of black and white.

I understood your point and agreed with it. I think you may not have understood mine.

 

[xandros9]

I disagree on the space and related things.
I like how things are given room to breathe, there isn't an attempt to cram as many buttons and text on a screen.
I like the large font headers, I like the simple and text heavy design of many apps, especially settings and email. Although some color could help, it shouldn't be added just for the sake of color. (Calendar does it nicely IMO)
Well Settings does need sorting.

And I have no issues with cut off titles since I feel it needs thought first other than cramming it in or scrolling.
I feel it needs to go a bit back-to-basics actually.

 

[spaulagain]

Am I the only one who really really likes the simplicity of black and white? Honestly I think if MS allowed more than just dark and light backgrounds, it would ruin the look of the OS.
What's wrong with the landscape keyboard?

Same here.

Metro design was heavily influenced by Swiss Design and other minimalistic principles. As a UI designer myself, I'm very impressed with Microsoft's UI principles on WP. It's fallen apart a little bit on Windows 8, but WP is very solid.

While the UI could use refinement here and there, I disagree with almost everything the OP notes. I don't want Google's Material Design. I want Metro.

 

[a5cent]

Same here.


Metro design was heavily influenced by Swiss Design and other minimalistic principles. As a UI designer myself, I'm very impressed with Microsoft's UI principles on WP. It's fallen apart a little bit on Windows 8, but WP is very solid.


While the UI could use refinement here and there, I disagree with almost everything the OP notes. I don't want Google's Material Design. I want Metro.

Gotta love those Swiss design principles!

If the OP is suggesting something like Android's material design then I'd definitely also be opposed. I took only two things from the fist post:

a) use just a tad more color, which I think is fine if it's largely the accent color.

b) allow some UI elements to be smaller on large devices like the 1520, where some elements like headers or app list entries really can get absurdly large.

That sounds reasonable to me...

 

[xjjon]

Note: I have only used Windows Phone for 3 days. (Currently Android User)

I agree with more color. I come from Android and just got my first WP over the weekend. Love the UI but some things such as color are underwhelming. I didn't have many live tiles so most of the tiles were just the same color I selected (orange). The Windows 8 on PC seems to be more colorful. Would be nice if apps had more of a variety of icons too, instead of just same color with a white outline of the image.

 

[anon8957882]

Am I the only one who really really likes the simplicity of black and white? Honestly I think if MS allowed more than just dark and light backgrounds, it would ruin the look of the OS.
What's wrong with the landscape keyboard?

I like that too, bro. The people who complain are mostly the people who have either come from Android or iOS. You know they have been there and used to something that they want it here too on Windows Phone. I have never owned an Android or iOS device but the trend that is kicking in with the Windows Phone of copying the Android and iOS (the UGLY notification+action centre and new OneDrive design), it is kind of driving me away from Windows Phone. I do not like a "mixture" design and so if this copying does not stop, then I would be more comfortable with the platform from which these cues were taken.
Google's material design looks promising. Also, if anyone wants to see "more" colours, they may choose the competition or stay there without forcing Microsoft to ruin the Windows Phone.

 

[anon8957882]

I think we can all agree that metro (mostly) looks nice, in fact it was one of the main reasons why i switched to windows phone, but some things need to be changed. I'm no designer so don't expect to see some great design suggestions but I am an average user who notices some odd stuff here and there and I wanted to share it here.

(Live tiles are excluded from this - they're fantastic)

1. Wasted space in the app list. The app list looks ridiculous on big phones.
2. Bland look of some core apps (e-mail comes to mind). Is it so hard to add some color, or give an option to turn it on? It doesn't have to be so damn black and white. Colors can be useful, especially in noticing priority e-mail. It doesn't have to be over the top -just a tiny little pinch of color.
3. When I think about it, the whole UI needs some color. Going to settings just feels so sad...
4. Some apps have too big headers which just waste space. Maybe add an option that auto hides headers? For example - go to the marketplace, search for something. I dare you - do it! After you do the search there are 3 LINES of text (store search, search query, and the category). That thing doesn't go away. Wouldn't it be nice that it hides when I'm scrolling down (or when I'm doing nothing) and comes back when i scroll up?
5. Too long titles can't be seen. Once again I will ask you to do a search in the marketplace. Go to marketplace and search for Dead Earth. Tap on the game that is shown on the list. I dare you to read the whole title, or find the complete name of the game (no binging or googling please). Metrotube resolved this problem elegantly (tapping on the name shows the complete title).
The same thing happens in the app list.
6. The OS is called WINDOWS. I really hope that W10 will have multiwindow support (they've done it so nicely in the desktop metro verson)
7. It would be nice if the resuming screen included a game, because I see it way to often. At least let me have fun while I'm waiting. Okay I'm joking about this one, but really Microsoft.... do something about this.
8. Do something about the landscape keyboard. Anything......
9. Seriously the whole UI needs some color :grin:

NONE of your suggestions makes any sense. I am not trying to be rude but the suggestions you are making are totally not practical and will totally ruin the OS. My suggestion ( I am not being rude, please) would be that you respect the already present design on WindowsPhone & choose Android 5 which seems similar to metro with more colours! Or you stay with Windows Phone and enjoy the elegance.

 

[anon(5841099)]

I think what the WP UI needs the most is better scaling options. I've been using an iPhone 5s for some testing recently (I normally use a Lumia 930). The thing you notice the most switching between those two is that despite the larger screen and higher pixel density, the Lumia 930 often displays just about the same amount of information on screen. In some cases the iPhone fits more info on it's 4" screen. For example, in Facebook messenger is shows one more recent conversation in the list, and it shows larger parts of sentences in the preview of those conversations.

This bugs me, everything starts to look too big on the Lumia 930. It makes me want to use the iPhone, despite having a real dislike for it's interface (I mean, it's like using a Windows desktop environment that's completely filled with shortcuts, next to nothing is available at a glance).