Above: The trio of keys featured on Windows Phones
Above: Clock and status icons.
When building a new Windows 10 Start experience, I decided to start with the Windows Phone buttons Back, Start and Search. That will line the bottom of the new Start screen. The Back button is contextual, so it works with all Store apps. The Start key of course moves users back to Start, and the Search key will exist to access Cortana.
Next, I took the clock and status icons from the top. That will line the top of the new Start screen.
Lastly, I took the largest area in the center from Windows 8, the Start screen, and I had a good place to begin (below).
Imagine the above being a rough sketch of what the Windows 10 Start screen would look like for PC. Looks like crap right now, but with some finessing, it could look like this:
Each of the aforementioned areas should be somehow affected by mobile UX paradigms. Evolving Windows towards a more sensible blend of desktop and mobile conventions is key for a modern PC experience that Windows 8 failed to achieve.
The Start screen above is in fact the desktop, but just under a different name. This is for the sake of consistent terminology between PC and mobile. This iteration of the Start screen is better than the desktop, and Microsoft's messaging to consumers should clearly explain the benefits of the new Windows 10 Start screen over the aging desktop, which will be explained below.
Above: Windows 10 viewing the deskt...errr... Start screen in List mode.
Mobile-first is mission critical for Windows 10. It's one of the two part "Mobile-first, cloud-first" strategy Microsoft has gotten behind. I believe in this stategy very much, and believe a somewhat literal interpretation can be applied to how Windows 10 is designed by applying a more thoughtful approach to infusing mobile UX into a brand that was born decades before mobile's rise.
"To me, when we say mobile first, it's not the mobility of the device, it's actually the mobility of the individual experience," says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
If mobile is first, Windows should appear contemporary like any mobile-born startup sans the parts where it has to figure things out as a naive, unexperienced organization. Microsoft has decades' worth of wisdom and knowledge. With harsh lessons learned from Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, Microsoft can move into the Windows 10 era by reimagining familiar pre-mobile features and make them modern for the mobile way we think, watch, talk and touch.
Meet Peek. It's a beefed up context menu for the Windows 10 Start screen. Right-click/long-press on any tile or icon for a Peek which provides both the utility from Windows 8-style Live Tiles and the utility of traditional context menus.
Above: A Peek for OneNote
Above: A Peek for OneDrive
OneDrive is promoted as the access point for both OneDrive and File Explorer.
Above: A Peek and the ellipsis menu.
Each Peek has an ellipsis menu for secondary shortcuts and the standard About page. "About" is the new "Properties".
Above: The new About screen.
"About" combines the info from Properties and About screens.
Above: Showing Lumia 635 (left phone) and Lumia 1520 with Windows 10 (Start screen with List mode).
Seeing PC with mobile is important to see how more similiar each experience can be when scaled up or down. Users should be acutely familar with both because the UX similiarities.
Above: Context menu on the Start screen
For the few who prefer tiles, get them back easily. Right-click or long-press on the Start screen, point to View By, and select Tiles. You can also revert back to classic icons with titles or go icons sans titles.
Above: Icon mode (with titles), the default Start Screen view.
Above: PC compared to Lumia 635 and Lumia 1520
Tiles for everyone who wants them. You can make both PC and phone go back to Tile Land.
Above: Use a mouse or a finger to drag out a medium title to a wide title.
Use a mouse or finger to drag a tile out to a taller or wider size. The bigger the tile, the more info it will display. If you're a tile fan, go nuts with it.
Above: The contextual ellipsis menu at the lower right
The contextual ellipsis menu at the lower right works for all apps. For the Start screen, click or tap it to add a new Start screen, remove the one you are on, edit your Start screen schedule, or perform a Sweep.
Above: Two new folders appear, post-Sweep.
Imagine if the above Start screen had multiple image files and zip files scattered about. The old desktop was prone to getting real busy real fast. Thanks to Sweep, you can easily compile like files into new folders: a folder for images and a folder for zips.
Instead of virtual desktops, Windows 10 can adopt multiple Start screens that are swipable with touch or accessible by mouse by placing a cursor at the far right or left for a hover arrow. Deciding which screen shows at what time and day is possible thanks to the Start screen scheduler.
Above: Restart and Turn Off options alongside setting toggles.
It starts here and ends here. The virtual Start key does more. Left-click or tap to return to Start, or right-click or long-press for toggles and power options.
Above: The first time you select Restart and Clear, you learn what it does.
Restart and Clear is the newest addition to the Turn Off menu. It's a new and easy way to keep your stuff private when sharing a PC without multiple profiles.
Above: The Recent Files list lives on. Right-click or long-press on the Back key to see your recent list.
Above: Click or press on the Cortana soft key to access Cortana for notifications, PC/web search and other Cortana features.
Above: The default view first lists what's coming up, followed by app notifications. Use a finger to pivot and use a mouse to click the different sections shown on the bottom.
Above: Use the contextual menu key to clear FYI's, clear notificaitons, mute notificaitons or access Cortana settings.
Above: Cortana helping a user to share.
Cortana handles sharing in Windows 10. Right-click or long-press on the Cortana key to say or select how to share. In this example, the user is sharing a page in Spartan.
Above: The App Menu, first-run.
The Start Menu is now the App Menu. It's home to pinned apps and folders, and also is the access point for running apps and the All Apps list. Simply mouse over the lower left area of the screen to open it, or tap the area with your finger. Alternatively, swipe from the left side of the screen to access it if you decide to swap fast app switching for App Menu access.
Previously, apps lined the taskbar and often became cluttered once too many apps were running. Worst yet, overflow of icons causes users to click a small arrow to see the new row, which can at times cause them to miss app activity. Touch users also struggle to touch the arrow target to move to the second row. By allowing the App Menu to host running apps, the Start Bar can remain clean and free of clutter. Also addressing the need to modernize the Start Menu, the App Menu adopts the mobile convention of having a vertical menu for app switching. For PC, it's just a matter of the aforementioned cursor hover or finger tap. For mobile, it's only a matter of holding down the Back key to resume another app or open one that is not running.
Above: An example of favorites apps that are pinned and an arbitruary listing of open apps.
Above: Once overflow of Favorites or Open Apps occurs, the menu expands.
Above: Cicking All Apps reveals an expanded menu.
Above: Click or tap the contextual menu key for App Menu options. You can get to the App Manager (Programs and Features), the Resource Manager (Task Manager) or the Run box. You can also switch between the default List view for All Apps and a Tile view.
Above: Outlook app for Windows 10
This is Windows 10 on a phone showing how an app adapts to a phone screen. The ellipsis menu is still at the lower right, and pivots are still present above it.
Above: An example of an active menu once you swipe from the bottom.
Metro fans, freak out no more. Swipe from the bottom to get your menu and tell hamburgers to piss off. Once activated, you have three total pivots in this instance for Outlook: Menu, Folders, Settings
Above: An example of Windows 10 on phones. On the left, a Lumia 635 showing an active Peek. On the right, a Lumia 1520 showing the App Menu which is activated by a long-press on the Back key.
Like PC, Windows 10 on phones can access Peek menus and the App Bar, but also features Tile mode and the resizing of said tiles. There's a View mode for everyone. Icons for icon people and tiles for tile people.
Above: A new Settings page to manipulate the hardware version of the Start key.
Windows tablets and 2-in-1 devices often have a physical Start key. Thanks to the new soft key version, the hardware version can be remapped to avoid redundancy.
Above: Corner and Edges settings allow you to change how swipes and corner hovers work.
Maybe you hate the way swipes and corner pointing works in Windows 10. Now you can decide how it all works.
