Windows 10 New Start Button redesign

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Remember back when Microsoft decided it would be a good idea to remove the Start button from Windows in Windows 8? Well, the company is considering new design changes for that iconic element of the Windows UI, but thankfully the button isn’t going anywhere anytime this time around.

As you can see in the images below, Microsoft is working on a simplified Start button for Windows 10 that’s a lot easier on the eyes. Also, the Live Tiles in the Start menu are gone in favor of simpler app icons. Moreover, the button redesign that’s currently in testing internally looks a lot more tablet-friendly. This might play well with Microsoft’s rumored plans to launch future foldable Surface devices with dual screens.

That’s just speculation for the time being, but the following screenshot does suggest that the Start button changes are being made with touch devices in mind. Then again, tablet mode should work on any Windows 10 device that can be used as a tablet:

The leak comes from a Windows 10 build that was distributed by mistake to Windows Insider testers using 32-bit devices, The Verge reports. Also interesting is that build 18947 is meant for internal Xbox development, so Insiders shouldn’t have received the update in the first place.

If for some reason you installed this Windows 10 release, you should know that Microsoft is looking into it.




https://bgr.com/2019/07/24/windows-10-update-leaks-reveals-major-start-menu-button-redesign/

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*Sigh* I truly wish people would properly explain what they are talking about. This has all of nothing to do with the start button and everything to do with the start menu. Also, I doubt that this new experimental start menu is the ONLY option available. As I have said in the past, having more options is a good thing and to be honest, some folks will like those options. I do hope they keep the tile options though, because I have my start menu set a full screen and organized just the way I like.
 
Looksl like Windows 3.1 :D

The Windows menu system was at its best in 3.1. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than the start menu introduced in 95, which got progressively worse (IMO) each version change until Windows 10. Now this is not just my personal opinion, but based on what I have observed on computers for the last 25 years. Look at any ordinary user's desktop - it is cluttered with icons. People don't want to use the start menu, they want it right there in their face ready to be seen and used. I see this on Windows computers and on Macs. All current smart phones are using a menu system to launch programs similar to what was found in Windows 3.1. It is really a human intuitive system, and moving back towards that (as Windows has been doing since 8) is a good thing.
 
that looks more like a tablet style start menu.. i wouldn't be surprised if that was an optional layout if you enable tablet mode or some crap..

It's a move in the right direction I guess. Still the Win7 start menu is the best to date from Microsoft.

to be honest after using windows 10 since it released i much prefer the current start menu over windows 7.. i pretty much have everything i use daily including all my games setup for quick launch and even have them separated into different sections so i don't have to search for the icons.
 
Start Button looks exactly the same...I don't like the new app layout design, it looks like the Settings/Control Panel in your Start Menu...I've gotten used to the way it looks now...as long as I can still customize it to my liking it's fine
 
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It's a huge step backwards IMO. A bunch of free open-source looking black and white icons? Looks like it was designed for a phone from 10 years ago. Give me some color, some high resolution images, and maybe even some animation. We have PCs with boatloads of horsepower, why should the newer start menus look worse than the one from Windows 7?
 
Microsoft invents the start button with Windows 95 and then takes it away with Windows 8. Microsoft reintroduced the start button with Windows 10 and now ruins it yet again. What's with Microsoft? Don't they use their own products?
 
Sorry but that looks dull and horrible, the current Windows 10 Start Menu looks ok from what it is, no need to make useless "improvements" like this one.
 
Microsoft invents the start button with Windows 95 and then takes it away with Windows 8. Microsoft reintroduced the start button with Windows 10 and now ruins it yet again. What's with Microsoft? Don't they use their own products?
It's all about what their test audience feedback says... Who the hell is testing windows these days anyway?

Honestly, I'm just using Open Shell and it is wonderful. This new interface looks like a scary piece of ass.
 
Looks like I'll be sticking with Startisback for a long time to come.

Windows 10 has so far never had a decent start menu, and that certainly isn't one. I don't know why Microsoft are doing anything with the start menu at all because it was far ahead in visual design, efficiency, and functionality in Windows 7 than all the Windows 10 iterations.

It's a good thing 3rd-party start menu replacements exist.
 
Microsoft invents the start button with Windows 95 and then takes it away with Windows 8. Microsoft reintroduced the start button with Windows 10 and now ruins it yet again. What's with Microsoft? Don't they use their own products?
Its that they have children coding this crap.
All about 'clean' , modern ui bull, that only means phone like and regression in ui made for the limits of a 486 in the 90s... Its also about Forgetting all about user interface visual 'hints' and visual prompts for what is operational/active.
Its just bad ui made by children that live in their phones more than anything else, plain and simple.. we just live with their crap.
 
Its that they have children coding this crap.
All about 'clean' , modern ui bull, that only means phone like and regression in ui made for the limits of a 486 in the 90s... Its also about Forgetting all about user interface visual 'hints' and visual prompts for what is operational/active.
Its just bad ui made by children that live in their phones more than anything else, plain and simple.. we just live with their crap.

Well, I guess we just have differing opinions then. I find the Windows 10 user interface to be perfectly fine just the way it is. A good interface, back in the day, however, was the Amiga OS 2.04 Workbench with a button bar added all the way around the screen.
 
looks like ass. bring back the win7 start menu or give us the option to use it instead of that gigantic pile of garbage where you still have to type to find stuff, unless you pin a(nother) tile to that ever growing eyesore of a "start menu" i have going on. it can't be that hard to give us back a "classic" start menu, heck, charge us if you have to.?!
 
Wow. I truly thought the start menu couldn't get any worse. And still no "This PC" or control panel as default suggestions.

The live tiles were actually the only good thing about the start menu. They shouldn't allow apps to be pinned by default though and because of edge you can't even create a GPO to have a blank start menu.

It's the folder management of the start menu that's the main issue. You can' even shift + right click in the start menu.. Have to open file location so it opens in regular explorer where everything works.

Really hope this is an optional change like if you enable tablet mode
 
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How is it perfectly fine? A good UI is not supposed to make it harder to perform tasks.

I dare you to try and open the sound control panel, printer menu, device management, computer management and tell me how straightforward that is.

The minimum number of clicks and menus to go through is outright retarded, considering it took one or two clicks (even in earlier versions of Windows 10 it was better).

The more they integrate into the settings app the worse it gets from a UI perspective.


Well, I guess we just have differing opinions then. I find the Windows 10 user interface to be perfectly fine just the way it is.
 
How is it perfectly fine? A good UI is not supposed to make it harder to perform tasks.

I dare you to try and open the sound control panel, printer menu, device management, computer management and tell me how straightforward that is.

The minimum number of clicks and menus to go through is outright retarded, considering it took one or two clicks (even in earlier versions of Windows 10 it was better).

The more they integrate into the settings app the worse it gets from a UI perspective.

Not going to debate this, I already made my point clear. Windows 10 start menu is perfectly fine in its present form. This supposed multi clicking stuff has been debunked in the past.

As for using the search function, I have been using that since Windows Vista. Those fly out menus where usually a mess.
 
How is it perfectly fine? A good UI is not supposed to make it harder to perform tasks.

I dare you to try and open the sound control panel, printer menu, device management, computer management and tell me how straightforward that is.

The minimum number of clicks and menus to go through is outright retarded, considering it took one or two clicks (even in earlier versions of Windows 10 it was better).

The more they integrate into the settings app the worse it gets from a UI perspective.

MS lost the mobile market. Their fix for that is to make Windows 10 their mobile OS and claim, wrongly, they won the mobile market back. Welcome to your new desktop...Phone...Tablet...Clunky UI Thingy.
 
Is this the thread about something that actually matters? Apparently not :barefoot:
 
How is it perfectly fine? A good UI is not supposed to make it harder to perform tasks.

I dare you to try and open the sound control panel, printer menu, device management, computer management and tell me how straightforward that is.

The minimum number of clicks and menus to go through is outright retarded, considering it took one or two clicks (even in earlier versions of Windows 10 it was better).

The more they integrate into the settings app the worse it gets from a UI perspective.

I agree with you, but that isn't really the fault of the Windows 10 start menu. That's a far bigger problem of MS trying to move some functionality to the new UWP interface but leaving huge chunks behind. The fact that 1/2 my settings are in the control panel and 1/2 are in the new settings section is absolutely absurd, and no amount of searching can fix that.

I'm still bothered by how much of a step back this interface is visually either way. I miss when MS was copying Apple's improved desktop visuals with high res icons, animation, etc.
 
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I agree with you, but that isn't really the fault of the Windows 10 start menu. That's a far bigger problem of MS trying to move some functionality to the new UWP interface but leaving huge chunks behind. The fact that 1/2 my settings are in the control panel and 1/2 are in the new settings section is absolutely absurd, and no amount of searching can fix that.

I'm still bothered by how much of a step back this interface is visually either way. I miss when MS was copying Apple's improved desktop visuals with high res icons, animation, etc.

Honestly, the Vista Interface looked really good visually and performed really well, with the correct hardware. Windows 7 was boring and plain, Windows 8 and 8.1 at least tried something new and to be honest, the interface was quite fast and Windows 10 is pretty much just fine. The Pre Windows Vista demo's were probably some of the best but, they never came to fruition.
 
Why don't they just open source the start menu. Then people can use what they want
 
Honestly, the Vista Interface looked really good visually and performed really well, with the correct hardware. Windows 7 was boring and plain, Windows 8 and 8.1 at least tried something new and to be honest, the interface was quite fast and Windows 10 is pretty much just fine. The Pre Windows Vista demo's were probably some of the best but, they never came to fruition.

Yeah, I liked the Vista look. It was more of what I expect from a desktop solution. I get the move to a more universal look with 8 and 10 since it was for mobile devices, too. Yet that's not really the case anymore. The devices that are running Window 10 can all do the same type of visual things Vista and MacOS were doing 12 years ago. Give us something that looks good rather than rudimentary. Why settle for an open source flat calculator icon when you can have a hi-res color one that is actually animating?
 
linux as a desktop is still complete shit but this is why xfce spins make me attempt the switch at least yearly- this glorious simplicity. why cant they just make this? or give us a full XP theme.
screenshot-xfce.jpg
 
Pay a nice guy $4 and you get your Windows 7 Start Menu back forever. Perfect tool and has been installed on hundreds of Win10 boxes to 'ease the transition' from the clunky, ever-changing Windows 10 Start Menu.

http://startisback.com/
 
Aside from the lack of live tiles, the icon/button looks very similar but still perhaps a good little change. As others have said, the W10 start menu can be modified either manually or via addons (ie Start10, StartIsBack, OpenShell etc... some of which are open source). It all depends on what aesthetic and functionality you value. Generally, I don't find a huge problem with W10's start menu, but I think that Linux (in many desktop environments) have more powerful and aesthetic options, allowing you to craft your UI as you wish with relatively little work (ie Rarely do you need to go to the CLI, many features are built in to each DE suite and you just enable what you wish and theme it) - yet another reason for Linux on the desktop.

Still, I guess we'll see how much actual progress is made in W10's update with its full launch - if its an improvement, so much the better.
 
that looks more like a tablet style start menu.. i wouldn't be surprised if that was an optional layout if you enable tablet mode or some crap..



to be honest after using windows 10 since it released i much prefer the current start menu over windows 7.. i pretty much have everything i use daily including all my games setup for quick launch and even have them separated into different sections so i don't have to search for the icons.


I want a start menu that is hierarchical in nature like in XP or Win 7. I only use 'legacy' applications on my computers so all the 'associated' applications/documents that come with the main application will be in the same directory. I also like to be able to curate my start menu.

Even though I have a start menu, I still have icons on the quick launch tool bar (after re-enabling it!) and on the desktop. Quick launch stuff is the stuff I use daily, the desktop stuff is used weekly and the start menu stuff is used somewhat infrequently.
 
Aside from the lack of live tiles.
But that's already an 1000% improvement. They were that pointless and reviled.

Unfortunately this whole thing is what Microsoft is claiming as a screwup in leaking an "internal 32bit build not meant for public release". How Dona Sarkar is still employed there is baffling.
 
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