{"id":6858,"date":"2012-11-19T11:12:38","date_gmt":"2012-11-19T10:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/?p=6858"},"modified":"2012-11-19T11:12:38","modified_gmt":"2012-11-19T10:12:38","slug":"microsofts-design-language-tiles-and-chromelessness-prospects-for-windows-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itwriting.com\/blog\/6858-microsofts-design-language-tiles-and-chromelessness-prospects-for-windows-8.html","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft\u2019s Design Language – Tiles and Chromelessness – Prospects for Windows 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the most illuminating sessions at Microsoft\u2019s BUILD conference earlier this month was Will Tschumy\u2019s presentation<\/a> on the Microsoft Design Language. <\/p>\n

Tschumy says that Microsoft began a new focus on design back in 2003 (think Office Ribbon). Then came Windows Phone and Metro (only he did not call it that), and now:<\/p>\n

\n

Microsoft is the only organization with a single, consistent design language across each screen we touch<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

he explained., noting that Xbox as well as the phone uses this same design language.<\/p>\n

So what is it? The core idea, he says, is \u201ccontent before chrome\u201d. This is an old idea, which Google drew attention to with its 2008 web browser called Chrome \u2013 a playful title for something which properly should have been called Chromeless. Chrome sported a minimal user interface, putting the focus on the web content, and laying the foundations for web applications where the browser disappears and you forget that you are looking at a web page.<\/p>\n

This is actually consistent with Google\u2019s approach from its earliest days, when the Google home page was just a search box and a couple of buttons \u2013 a purity of design now spoilt by a menu bar and nagging ads, but you can still see it.<\/p>\n

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But I digress. What has Microsoft done with the concept? A good example is to compare the SkyDrive \u201cMetro\u201d app with the same folder in Windows File Explorer. Here is Skydrive:<\/p>\n

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and here is Windows File Explorer:<\/p>\n

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Or possibly:<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

if you are like me and prefer the \u201cDetails\u201d view.<\/p>\n

The point here is that the \u201cModern\u201d SkyDrive app has a high ratio of content to chrome, and large icons which preview the content where possible make the content stand out, whereas in File Explorer there is more UI. Of course this is the Windows 8 File Explorer which is also influenced by the same design language. My Details view, which I like because I get higher information density, is closer to an old-style computer approach where the focus is on the number of bytes in the file above what the image happens to look like.<\/p>\n

Mixed feelings them, but I do understand what Microsoft is driving at. Spend some time with Microsoft\u2019s Surface RT \u2013 no, not on the desktop, on the Metro side \u2013 while using some of the better new apps and you begin to appreciate the idea.<\/p>\n

Tschumy spelt out five design principles, though only three of these seem to be substantial:<\/p>\n