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As everyone knows, Microsoft carried out extremely bold changes on Windows 8. In addition to the groundbreaking Metro design language, the integration of traditional desktop and tablet modes is also a major feature. However, the inconsistency in user experience between these two operating modes has also become one of the reasons why Windows 8 has been criticized by users. However, Microsoft has been moving firmly towards the goal of platform integration from beginning to end. After all the exploration, Microsoft finally presented a clearer strategic direction with the release of Windows 10 system, which is to create a core operating system for all Windows devices. Next, this article will briefly analyze the design trends of Windows 10 universal applications based on the new system features and released universal applications.
1. New features of the system
First, let’s take a look at some system features related to application design:
Universal Apps (Windows Apps)
In Microsoft's Windows 10 press conference, universal applications (now renamed from Universal Apps to Windows Apps) is a term that appears frequently. So what exactly are universal applications? In short, on Windows 10, it will be possible to create applications that can run on all platforms with as little development effort as possible. It can seamlessly transition from computers, tablets, smartphones, and even Xbox One, and maintain an overall consistent user interface and operating experience. The universal applications launched by Microsoft are different from the Metro applications that only exist in Windows 8. Metro applications only have full-screen mode, but universal applications support window mode in desktop mode. This shows that the two operating methods of touch screen and keyboard and mouse will achieve better integration.
Universal applications have the following advantages:
1. Unified UI and experience can reduce users’ learning costs across different platforms
2. Greatly reduces development costs
3. Can attract user groups from different platforms through one application
Adaptive UX
For the Windows 10 system, Microsoft specifically proposed the concept of achieving an adaptive user experience and provided a unified set of cross-device adaptive controls for universal applications. The visual elements and interactive experience of this set of controls are generally consistent. However, there will be slightly different manifestations for different operating scenarios and devices. Just like touch screens, application pop-up controls, etc., when users touch, larger area buttons will be automatically used, while when using the keyboard, the situation is exactly the opposite.
Continuum mode
Continuum mode is specially designed for hybrid devices, like Surface, which means that after turning on this mode, our device can freely switch between tablet state and laptop state. The system will determine whether to enter "tablet mode" based on whether there is a touch screen and whether there is a keyboard and mouse. For example, if a touch-enabled device unplugs the keyboard and mouse accessories, Windows 10 will prompt whether to turn on "tablet mode" and display the application in full screen. The entire interface will be slightly enlarged for touch, and the start menu will also become full screen. The two operating scenarios of touch screen and keyboard and mouse are integrated in a relatively good way, which alleviates the sense of isolation between desktop mode and tablet mode. The pictures shown show the different styles of the start menu in desktop mode and tablet mode.
2. Design trend analysis
Let’s take a look at the differences between the official applications on Windows 10 and the versions on Windows 8. Are there any differences:
App Store (Tablet)
XBOX (tablet)
Skype (tablet)
It can be seen that the application standards of Windows 10 have undergone extremely significant changes from the previous style. In my opinion, it can be summarized as the following points:
Adaptive layout (responsive design) becomes the core structure of universal applications
In order to cope with the window changes of universal applications in desktop mode, that is, shrinking and enlarging, the sizes of devices equipped with Windows 10 in the future will show a variety of situations. Therefore, flexible and efficient adaptive layout is of course the most consistent with the cross-platform and windowing characteristics of universal applications. In the picture mentioned above, we can see that both Xbox and Skype have changed to multi-column layouts.
Horizontal swiping is no longer a typical form of system browsing
We all know that one of the design languages of Metro UI is horizontal sliding browsing. However, as the screen ratio of Surface series devices has changed from 16:9 based on horizontal operation design in previous generations to 3:2 on Surface Pro 3, it seems that Microsoft is already conveying the message of adjusting the product direction. And now, we can see that in the picture above, the official Windows 10 universal application has basically abandoned horizontal sliding browsing of the entire information flow, and only adopted it under certain categories. One of the reasons that can be thought of for this change is that when used in desktop mode, it appears in window mode. Once the window size becomes narrower and smaller, it is naturally not suitable to use horizontal sliding to browse information.
Explore new navigation solutions
Although Windows 10 has decided to reduce the importance of horizontal browsing, there must be a better navigation style to replace the previous large-size horizontal sliding navigation. Most general-purpose applications have already begun to try to use the "hamburger menu", that is, the Navigation Drawer, as a unified navigation style. Although the hamburger menu has been widely used on websites, IOS and Android systems, there is still great controversy in view of its ease of use, especially on the Phone. Therefore, it is unknown whether the hamburger menu will become Microsoft's final solution before the official version is released.
More diversified design styles
On the Windows 8 operating system, whether it is for mobile phone applications or tablet applications, under the guidance of the design specifications set by the system, it has shown a state of "highly unified", so that every application almost looks like a combination of large fonts and square disks. The design concept of Metro UI that removes all decorations and only presents information is actually equivalent to stripping away the elements that can bring users emotional experience to a certain extent, which in turn makes users more and more aesthetically fatigued. Fortunately, in the new universal application design, we can see that, except for the start menu, the single Metro elements in the past have become increasingly scarce. However, the addition of linear icons, centered layouts, circles, dividing lines and many other elements have made the interface richer. It can be said that the design language of Metro UI has been gradually weakened. Microsoft has begun to encourage and give developers greater design freedom. In the future, Windows 10 will gradually become consistent with the flat style of IOS and Android platforms.
Different equipment and operating scenarios require customized design
Although from a theoretical level, developers can write once and use a set of UI to run it universally on all Windows platforms, in reality, the interface of a small-sized device is not the same as the effect of a large-sized device when the interface is reduced to a window. Designers still have to customize the design for different devices and operating scenarios, such as touch screens or keyboards and mice. It may be a challenge for designers to ensure the uniformity of application design while also taking into account the user experience of different devices.
According to different device characteristics, the difference between the same universal application running on mobile phones and tablets
Finally, based on the above trend analysis, two more tips are added:
1. Developers can take advantage of this opportunity that the design style of Windows 10 is moving closer to other platforms to more conveniently port applications from IOS and Android platforms to Windows 10, or optimize the original Metro version to ensure brand and design consistency.
2. Users will account for the vast majority. These users are PC users who have upgraded to Windows 10 for free, and the speed is very fast. Therefore, when designing for universal applications, the design should be based on the window mode keyboard and mouse experience, and the usability of the full-screen touch mode should also be ensured.
Summarize:
This time, Microsoft has once again completely subverted itself. Perhaps we have begun to see traces of other platforms on Windows 10. Perhaps the unique Metro UI in the past is about to say goodbye to us. However, as far as the current experience is concerned, I feel that Windows 10 has undoubtedly become better. However, whether this road of cross-platform unification is easy or not remains to be tested in the future. At this moment, Windows 10, which has the heavy mission of changing Microsoft's destiny, is about to set off. Bless it.
