Microsoft is redesigning the Start menu in Windows 11 this month with a brand new, wider design that lastly allows you to disable the beneficial feed of information and apps. While the brand new Start menu appears to be like totally different to what exists in Windows 11 at the moment, this design refresh may have appeared rather a lot totally different as Microsoft has now revealed in idea pictures.
In a weblog publish detailing the method of redesigning the Start menu, Microsoft has revealed 5 idea designs that would have radically overhauled how the menu works in Windows. One consists of an much more rounded menu with widget-like performance, and a separate For You part that lists Teams conferences, YouTube movies, and lately used information.
Another idea has the For You part separated on the facet, with the primary menu targeted on classes of apps, and one other prototype imagines a touchdown web page because the Start menu, full with shortcuts, apps, information, and separate sections to entry your Android telephone, personalised app lists, and creation instruments. There’s even a begin menu idea that seems to take up the complete vertical house of a display, full with separated sections that you simply appear to scroll vertically to entry.
“Whiteboards, Figma frames, floor-to-ceiling paper prototypes—nothing was too scrappy,” says the Windows design crew. “We sketched out a plethora of layouts, letting ourselves go wild and uncover new issues earlier than making use of the editorial pen.”
Microsoft examined its varied Start menu designs with greater than 300 Windows 11 followers and even co-creation calls with choose followers. “We watched eye-tracking warmth maps swirl, counted scroll wheels, and listened for ’oh!‘s of pleasure to know the place we had been hitting the mark,” says the design crew.
The focus of the brand new Start menu has been on with the ability to simply see your apps, customizability, pace, and never overhauling it an excessive amount of to “respect three many years of muscle reminiscence.” The result’s a brand new Start menu that’s greater and extra customizable than what exists at the moment. Being capable of take away the beneficial feed will likely be a welcome addition for a lot of, and the telephone companion panel appears to be like prefer it’s totally constructed into the Start menu to supply fast entry to current calls, messages, and telephone information.
Microsoft is testing this new Start menu with Windows Insiders over the approaching month, so anticipate to see it present up for all Windows 11 customers within the coming months.
