More info about it here: https://www.ghacks.net/2024/08/13/windows-11-start-menu-is-getting-a-new-layout-to-organize-your-apps/
I love how microsoft never learns their lessons.
Oh for fucks sake, auto categorization is one of the thing I dreaded the most on iOS because it’s almost always incorrect and it doesn’t fit my usage at all. Hopefully it will be possible to disable this crap.
Agreed. I miss live tiles, but I want full control over that menu.
Every update with these new UI changes seems to increase empty wasted space each time
And create more steps to get places.
how else are they supposed to get you to use their AI for everything
I’m really enjoying my Mint 22 experience, the only downside is that I have to switch to windows to play Once Human.
why? protondb says it works fine.
Yes, i saw that, I was troubleshooting it for a while and when I got it to run the performance was ass but today I tired again and basically the problem is that the game must absolutely not be run from an HDD. It’s running fine on linux now.
I disagree. Microsoft is learning its lesson. It’s just that the vast majority of people are teaching Microsoft that its actions are perfectly acceptable, or, at the very least, not totally unacceptable… so it continues.
Uggggh fucking whhhhhy.
I don’t even use Windows and I have to put up with this shit. My parents are going to call and ask how and why they have to use this new thing.
What was gained from this exercise in self-lobotomization? Pick a design language and stick to it.
Stirring the pot like this is driving away even enterprise users. My last org only approved Macs and Chromebooks because we didn’t want to deal with the headaches that windows brought. Imagine saying that statement 10 years ago!
If there aren’t any visible changes then the lusers won’t upgrade. “Why did I have to switch to Windows 11 if nothing changed??” etc.
By shuffling the look and feel of the product constantly they can give an impression of actual upgrades being made. The system looks different after your update, after all.
Microsoft already knows that anyone with technical knowledge is looking to dodge this update, they don’t need to make the regular users want to dodge it too.
Clearly they learned nothing from windows 8…
Looks like someone at Microsoft saw someone’s iPad and went “That’s what we need! Icons in boxes that need an extra click to be used!” and their MBA boss figures they’ll get a bonus for “increasing user engagement” by making everything take two actions instead of one now.
Sigh.
200%+ engagement ratio
Llol, it’s funny but also probably true. God I hate statistics and MBAs.
From the linked article:
One interesting thing about it is that clicking on an icon instantly launches the app, without opening the folder.
Isn’t that what start menu icons do already?
Yeah but soon they’ll be automatically grouped together into something that looks like folders
Not sure when it started, but I’ve already noticed some Start Menu fuckery with just the ‘Sign Out’ portion. I believe you previously just clicked on your profile picture/name and the options for signing out were right there. They’ve “helpfully” hidden those options now beneath a ••• menu for no apparent reason. I was a little aggravated when I first noticed it because it seemingly changed out of nowhere. Not a huge change, but it requires one more click to do now.
Right click the start menu should be easier to get to iirc
the changes in windows since 7 are a master class in UX design, as long as you remember it’s a negative.
bunch of fucking interface designers so deep into their shit that they’re forcing everyone to chase the UX meta and play ranked competitive UI when 90% of everyone is just trying to be casuals and play what they’re accustomed to so they can unwind at the end of the day
“yes well you see moving every interface element on your computer to a totally new location results in a 0.0001% improvement in the average user’s workflow, therefore: bite the pillow, changes are coming, we’re the experts you dumb schlubs!”
When was it ever about improving it for the end user? From the picture, it’s absolutely terrible. You have what, four folders taking up the whole menu? Yeah, Windows XP had a more efficient workflow than that.
When was it ever about improving it for the end user?
back in the day when it was about building the best interface you could to last the product lifespan, maybe.
that’s not profitable for the designers tho - chasing the current design meta is their version of planned obsolescence for interfaces. “oh that interface looks old so it doesn’t work anymore” - statements dreamed up by the deranged and greedy.
I genuinely in 2024 I don’t see why would anyone want to use any Microsoft product. They (alongside with Google) present themselves as malicious companies that only care about user data and providing user notorious ads.
unfortunately they are like the only two competitive corporate email providers. all the business tools integrate with gmail or outlook and almost never anything else. shit is annoying af
Ugh, I just had to get an organization outlook and they’ve been screwing with backend server protocol support, which kills most third-party apps. For E-MAIL! Nothing about this need a new standard!
That looks pretty ugly. I’m not really a fan of trying to make computers look more like phones but I think I’m in the minority there. Oh well, I never use the start menu anyways, I only have a few programs and they’re all pinned to my taskbar.
What the fuck is the point of the start button in the middle? Like, did they forget why the space to the right of it even exists.
It’s actually ideal with an ultra wide I have come to realise.
Yeah, I moved that back the minute I upgraded to 11. It’s much better in the bottom left.
That change was absolutely idiotic. It reminds me of that time Apple changed the scroll direction. Who ever asked for any of this?
I’ve used StartAllBack to get the start menu exactly how I want it.
I dread having to upgrade at work, I set the group policy to deny the upgrade for the moment. They won’t allow me to use ASB.
Aw that sucks. My biggest issue is the thickness of the new bar. Wastes so much space
Oh god yes, you can modify it in the registry (or you used to be able to) but then the date/time gets fucked up. I hate W11 so much
I like w11, i just hate the taskbar
I couldn’t get past the Taskbar long enough to not hate it unfortunately. I also missed quicklinks, which I use a lot.
i keep forgetting it’s in the middle by default. first thing i did was change the setting to put it back on the left corner.
well they essentially copied the Mac dock for no reason. The icons will still go to the right of start but overall the elements will be centered.
What goes to the left of the center start button?
That’s the septic tank to store the waste from enshitification.
Enshittification is when minor UI changes break my boomer brain
In this case the person you were responding to was right. It is where they put their news and weather widget. Which only exists to push people onto Bing. It is annoying, and by default pops up on rollover, not click, so it is trivially easy to accidentally pull up, pumping those Bing engagement numbers.
I don’t see how centering it changes that. They could just as easily leave the start menu left aligned and put the widgets button next to it
I actually use it like that. I dont really see the reason pepole hate it so much. Geniuenly a better place for it (mind you im only talking about placement. The design itself is something else ). Since generaly if you use start menu you focus on it to launch something so it might as well be in tge middle of your screen.
I guess that’s fair, but then keep the button on the left.
I actually prefer it in the middle, it’s easier to get to.
But it changes position depending on the amount of apps open
I don’t have enough apps open at any given time for that to be a noticeable inconvenience ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Weird, but I’m glad it works for you.
Makes sense on ultrawides.
Also, a start menu that opens in the centre is technically the best. It’s in the most prominent part of the screen, and your mouse typically isn’t far from there.
The start button is harder to hit than simply flinging it into the corner though, definitely.
If you’re the kind of person who opens the start menu with the Windows key, a centre start menu is only an upgrade IMO.
Never thought about ultrawide screens, that makes sense. Other than that I see no improvement whatsoever. Corner space is way easier to hit with a mouse, but even when using keyboard shortcuts having it in the middle is just an additional adjustment from what it used to be.
An OS should get out of my way and let me do what I do. Changing design language forces me to relearn what I had already had a flow for. In other words it’s utterly useless.
And I just know I’m gonna hate that automatic categorisation of apps, just as I hate web searches from start menu. Alphabetical order is predictable, but this I’d have to relearn.
even when using keyboard shortcuts having it in the middle is just an additional adjustment from what it used to be.
How? It’s closer to where your mouse will be, and to where your eyes naturally gravitate.
An OS should get out of my way and let me do what I do.
Yeah. Windows moved from that path a long time ago.
It’s an easier click target when it’s in the corner. Moving cursor from the middle to the corner is negligible for me since I can reach the whole screen with relatively minor mouse movement.
In the end it’s a muscle memory thing for me. Having the button in the middle just means I have to look for it in a different location than I’ve used to over the years.
Yeah that’s why I said corner is superior if you open it with a mouse, and centre is superior for if you do it with your keyboard.
I wouldn’t consider it superior, just different, in case of a keyboard shortcut.
Makes sense on ultrawides.
In which case, the question becomes: what percentage of users are actually using ultrawides? If it isn’t >50%, then the default should be the setting most appropriate to non-ultrawides. Unless you’re going to autodetect screen resolution and set the button’s location appropriately.
This is not rocket science, but Windows has been blowing it for quite some time now.
I DON’T LIKE CHANGE
I don’t like when a megacorp forces change on me for no good reason.
In Linux world, this would be an opt in new feature.
I see you aren’t familiar with our good friends at Gnome.
Ah yes, the Apple “we know design better than you do” of the Linux world.
I am familiar with them, but I use KDE btw.
Another shitty clone of the KDE launcher
the kde launcher is very nice
Indeed it is! And customizable
“Another shitty clone of the KDE launcher”, not “Another clone of the shitty KDE launcher” 😜
We’ve come full circle. KDE imitating Windows, and now Windows trying to catch up with KDE.
