steven36 Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Vista was bad. Coming five years after XP, it was heavily anticipated by Windows users who were impatiently awaiting something interesting from Microsoft as Apple’s star was on the rise. Yet when the OS dropped publicly in January 2007, it was immediately reviled by, well, everyone (except our expert reviewers). It was slower than XP, had annoying DRM that grossly restricted what people could do, and removed a ton of features people liked. It is not hyperbole to say it might be the most hated software product Microsoft has ever produced—impressive for the company that gave us Internet Explorer and Clippy. But Vista did one thing very, very right, and 11 years later, it’s never been more in fashion. So what was Vista actually prescient about? Translucent design elements. All the way back in Vista, Microsoft introduced Aero, a design language intended to be a futuristic update to XP. Aero’s most eye-catching feature was the Glass theme, which could make elements throughout the UI transparent. When it was released, it didn’t get more than a passing nod from reviewers who noted it was slick if somewhat irrelevant to the actual performance of the OS. Aero lasted through Windows 7—Microsoft’s most critically lauded OS until Windows 10. Then in Windows 8, Microsoft introduced a new design language: Metro. Metro actually kicked off another major trend in user interface design: flat design elements. But it still maintained some of the cool translucent effects introduced in Aero. Those translucent effects were carried over to Windows 10 and are easily seen in Edge, the Start menu, and the Notifications panel. They’re so popular, some Windows 10 users are even hacking the OS to add translucency and transparency to everything else! The effect is super noticeable in the start menu. Screenshot: Windows 10 The trend isn’t reserved to Windows. Apple seems to have been inspired, too. That’s because UI designers, like everyone else, are subject to trends. Once upon a time, everyone tried to make their app icons and buttons look rounded because of iOS. Then, after Windows and Android embraced a flatter look, iOS followed suit with iOS 7 in 2013. It also began sprinkling that sweet, sweet translucent design throughout. Look at these pretty menus! Screenshot: macOS Mojave The translucent elements first appeared in Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 as an option to turn the menu bar translucent. That was in November 2007, nearly a year after Vista launched. Apple seriously began showing off translucent elements when iOS 7 added translucent menus and notifications in 2013. MacOS 10.10 Yosemite began embracing translucency a year later. Since then, both Apple operating systems have added more and more translucent elements. The most recent additions come courtesy of the betas for macOS Mojave and iOS 12. That’s because both are adding dark translucent elements, which seem to highlight the translucency effect even more. It is reminiscent of glass that’s been frosted and tinted. It’s very attractive. Sometimes I get distracted into marveling at it instead of doing work. I mean just look at it in Safari! https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--D4wf6Cer--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/ef5knheqchlma1mbmvlc.mp4 It’s so good, I find myself using Safari instead of Chrome just so I can watch stuff I’m scrolling through turn blurry as it hits the browser frame. The transparent elements, while not as ubiquitous in iOS, are still present there too—particularly in the iOS 12 beta, which has done away with the garish white panels in the notification center and embraced a dark and translucent look. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luisam Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 I don't share at all author's enthusiasm for Vista's transparency. Actually, I found it rather annoying, for the short time I used Vista ,probably one of the MOST annoying "first impressions". The best legacy from Vista is my desktop computer, "made for Vista" which still works well for XP and Windows 7, on dual booting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted July 20, 2018 Author Share Posted July 20, 2018 1 hour ago, luisam said: I don't share at all author's enthusiasm for Vista's transparency. Actually, I found it rather annoying, for the short time I used Vista ,probably one of the MOST annoying "first impressions". i loved it so much that my windows 8.1 setup has a cracked version of Aero Glass and when I used Windows 10 i always tweaked the colors default windows 10 white on applications is just plain fugly and default windows XP was ugly too but you can download a nice Black theme for it and make it look much better. Once they came out with Windows 10 and the every 6 month update it really killed 3rd party themes and things for Windows because the updates mess them up and i hated re tweaking windows once every 6 months . I never really liked the default start menu Win XP. Windows Vista,or Windows 7. I liked Windows 10's better but it was so full of bugs i ended up installing Classic shell.. I use Dark Clouds theme for my start menu . Linux has really nice default start menus. Keep in mind I've not used XP in other than in a VM once or 2 times testing some apps since 2010 ..It looks like something from the stone age too me now. PS: i have 3 start menus Classic shell PortableApps PStart 2 Explorers Windows Explorer with Clover and OldNewExplorer XYplorer 1 Dock Nexus Ultimate My taskbar on windows 8.1 is so transparent you can see whats behind it, in this case of the screenshot above is one of my wallpapers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronY-Man Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 5 hours ago, steven36 said: i loved it so much that my windows 8.1 setup has a cracked version of Aero Glass and when I used Windows 10 i always tweaked the colors default windows 10 white on applications is just plain fugly and default windows XP was ugly too but you can download a nice Black theme for it and make it look much better. Once they came out with Windows 10 and the every 6 month update it really killed 3rd party themes and things for Windows because the updates mess them up and i hated re tweaking windows once every 6 months . I never really liked the default start menu Win XP. Windows Vista,or Windows 7. I liked Windows 10's better but it was so full of bugs i ended up installing Classic shell.. I use Dark Clouds theme for my start menu . Linux has really nice default start menus. Keep in mind I've not used XP in other than in a VM once or 2 times testing some apps since 2010 ..It looks like something from the stone age too me now. PS: i have 3 start menus Classic shell PortableApps PStart 2 Explorers Windows Explorer with Clover and OldNewExplorer XYplorer 1 Dock Nexus Ultimate My taskbar on windows 8.1 is so transparent you can see whats behind it, in this case of the screenshot above is one of my wallpapers. Similar was my case with Vista too, I mean after XP it was a major design overhaul that was very eye-candy but as slowly but steadly peeps realised that it had impact on system performance overall and then with I think MS has found a nice balance with Win 10. I dont have feel the need to 3rd party menus cos I find the default one sufficient and with OldNewExplorer + QT Tabbar , the win-explorer is poweful enough with less RAM hogging as compared to Clover; I dicthed docks on Win 10 cos I tend to keep my icons in folder via shortcut in Explorer & I also have the same levels of transparency on windows, start and taskbar as your snapshot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven36 Posted July 21, 2018 Author Share Posted July 21, 2018 47 minutes ago, IronY-Man said: Similar was my case with Vista too, I mean after XP it was a major design overhaul that was very eye-candy but as slowly but steadly peeps realised that it had impact on system performance overall and then with I think MS has found a nice balance with Win 10. I dont have feel the need to 3rd party menus cos I find the default one sufficient and with OldNewExplorer + QT Tabbar , the win-explorer is poweful enough with less RAM hogging as compared to Clover; I dicthed docks on Win 10 cos I tend to keep my icons in folder via shortcut in Explorer & I also have the same levels of transparency on windows, start and taskbar as your snapshot. I tired QTBar and after awhile it just stop working on my system so i went back to clover . All my apps are that transparent just like i'm on windows 7 and i think people on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 donates to Aero Glass all the time to get it back . It was like the start menu it was something they removed in Windows 8 and you cant get it back without using 3rd party software , it was not like you got a choice of the matter it could be turned off in Windows Vista and Windows 7 if you have a POS PC so you had a choice then but not in newer windows. . People just get use to something and accepted the change is all . it just like all the bloatware that comes with Windows 10. Windows Vista brought great change so most people hated it ,by the time Windows 7 came out people accepted the change. A lot of people hated Windows 8.1 but by the time Windows 10 came out they accepted the change, but not willingly they gave up unless they were fanboys. I only used Vista for 2 weeks tell i got my windows 7 key i used XP for 10 years and I only used Windows 7 for a few years then I switch to windows 8.1 but upgrading every 6 months is not my cup of tea and I used Windows 10 off and on tell right before Redstone 4 came out and reverted back to Windows 8.1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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