Microsoft Reveals a New Design for the Windows 10 Start Menu

[Porthos]

Microsoft has unveiled its vision of a new Windows 10 Start Menu that utilizes a transparent background to showcase the new Fluent-based colorful icons.

In the latest "#WindowsInsider Webcast", Microsoft shared slides illustrating the changes they are exploring to the Windows 10 Start Menu.

These changes include the new Windows 10 Fluent-based system icons that have begun to roll out to Windows users and a transparent background for the Start Menu program tiles to help the icons stand out.

Currently, the Windows 10 Start Menu tiles include icons with a colored background as shown below in the dark and light themes.

Current Windows 10 Start Menu Tiles
With the new vision of the Start Menu, Microsoft is exploring the idea of using a transparent background and the new Fluent-based icons to "visually unify the start menu from somewhat chaotic color to something that is more uniform."

New Vision of the Windows 10 Start Menu
It has also been widely reported this week that the Windows 10 Live Tiles are being removed from the Start Menu.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...s-a-new-design-for-the-windows-10-start-menu/

 

[timeshifter]

The icons on the new one look much better. Not all squared off by a blue background.

 

[Sky-Knight]

And... we're back to icons again...

 

[britechguy]

And... we're back to icons again...

When were we ever not? It's a change in style of icon.

I'd be happy to see live tiles disappear, but I'm sure there are just as many, if not more, who will decry that change.

I like the new look better than the existing one.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I do too, higher contrast easier to read.

 

[seashore]

I'll stick with my OpenShell.

 

[britechguy]

I'll stick with my OpenShell.

To each his or her own. I find "shelling" any OS's native interface to make it look like that of another to be problematic. Given that I tutor I've seen an awful lot of folks who do this who are then like a deer in the headlights when they actually have to use the native UI on another machine. That may not describe you, but as a general rule it's best to learn the native UI of the OS you've chosen to use.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Yeah, keep things default. It saves so many problems, and there is no way to get along in the world as it is without knowing the stock Win10 UI, and for that matter OSX, iOS, and a few flavors of Android.

Installing OpenShell and the like is akin to trying to baby proof the world... it doesn't work.

 

[britechguy]

Yeah, keep things default.

Or, at the very least, customize only as the native UI allows you to do so.

Even I will admit to breaking the above recommendation by using 3rd party tools (Winaero Tweaker, in this specific instance) to allow me to change a couple of things that the native Windows 10 UI has taken away that were configurable in earlier Windows settings, but they're few and far between and mostly focused on fonts used for various things.

But were any average Win10 user to plop down in front of my computer they'd almost certainly not even notice the kinds of tweaks I make (mostly because it's easier for me to read or I like the look of an alternate font).

 

[Sky-Knight]

There's a huge gulf between a user customizing their own platform to meet their needs, and an IT professional doing it for the user. The former means the user knows what's different, how, and why, and therefore enhances their ability to interface with their own stuff while also not taking anything away from their ability to interface with normal stuff.

Doing it for them negates all of that understanding, and you wind up with an even more poorly trained user. This path leads to nothing but tears. Except perhaps for the tech, if he's charismatic enough to get his clients to think he's not ripping them off, he gets to profit from the endless services calls his customizations generate.

 

[britechguy]

There's a huge gulf between a user customizing their own platform to meet their needs, and an IT professional doing it for the user. The former means the user knows what's different, how, and why, and therefore enhances their ability to interface with their own stuff while also not taking anything away from their ability to interface with normal stuff.

That is a very, very unsafe presumption - and I have to believe you actually know that.

Even as an IT professional, I can and have forgotten how I've done certain customizations on my own systems over time. That's because most of them are one-time "set it and forget it" affairs.

I never count on an end user remembering how they did anything because I know how frequently I've had to go back and do research for myself when I've forgotten how I did certain things.

It also depends entirely on the customization(s) being done and the customers themselves. I'm all for educating customers, but some customers want to learn more while others tell me, explicitly, they don't want that but know that they want this thing and that thing changed "like it was before" or because something has changed (e.g., their vision). I act according to the customers wishes after having a brief discussion about whether or not they want to watch and have notes about how to DIY or unDIY afterward.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I don't miss working residential... I remember the whines about making it look "like it used to".

I'm in the business world now and I have little patience for it. The platform works how it works, the user can either learn how to tweak it themselves, or deal with the new defaults. Each company I service has their own look and feel that's extended enterprise wide, that's all I'm willing or able to support.

Though you're right about remembering things... That's why I resist nuke and pave on my own gear so much, it takes AGES to get my primary desktop back to where I'm comfortable with it. Mostly because there's 100 little utilities I use without even thinking about them.