[ProgSoc] Win 9x User Interface

[alister air <baitoven@nospam.progsoc.uts.edu.au>]

Why is the Win 9x user interface bad?  This might assist:

http://www.iarchitect.com/msoft.htm

The following are some brief points this page makes:

Lack of consistancy ("special" windows which act differently from other
windows)

"Start" button (the computer is already running, after all...)

Cascading windows... Start --> Programs --> Accessories --> Multimedia -->
CD Player is a default... on 640x480, or even 800x600, this takes up most
of your screen, often cascading backwards (just to confuse matters).

Windows Explorer (network drive letters you can't see, and differing
menus)

"Options" seems to be placed in whichever the hell menu it pleases (Tools
--> Options, View --> Options ... whatever...)

Taskbar (systray) icons doing whatever they want... different icons act in
different ways.

"We found it interesting that in the 50 pages of requirements for "good
Windows" citizenship, there are only three requirements related to the
user interface:

1.The application must provide 16-by-16 and 32-by-32 pixel icons for its
primary executable files. 
2.The application must provide and register 16-by-16 and 32-by-32 pixel
icons for each native data file type it creates and uses. 
3.The application uses the system metrics for sizing wherever appropriate;
that is, pixel dimensions of menus, scroll bars, sizes of captions, border
sizes, and so on must not be hard-coded. 

The more recently released and expanded Designed for Microsoft Windows NT
and Windows 95 Logo requirements, includes a single reference to the user 
interface: 

The application must use the system metrics for sizing wherever
appropriate. Do not hard code pixel dimensions of menus, scroll bars,
sizes of captions, border sizes, etc."

"The Windows95 common file dialogs (Open File, Save File) offer further
proof that proper interface design is no longer a concern at Microsoft. We
are at a loss to explain what the designers were thinking when they came
up with these dialogs. What we do know however, is every time a new
computer user is presented the Windows95 common file dialog, he or she is
at a loss as to what the heck is going on."

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