Microsoft shows new Windows 10 design with different start menu and File Explorer
Chief product officer Panos Panay has posted an Instagram video online in celebration of the billionth Windows 10 installation, showing a redesigned Windows 10 design. File Explorer and the start menu, including Live Tiles, will be refreshed, among other things.
In the Instagram video, Panay shows, among other things, the new icons, which are partly already being distributed among Windows 10 users. A notable change is the start menu. The list of installed programs will be redesigned and the area now containing the Live Tiles will be expanded.
According to previous rumors, Microsoft wants to stop with the Live Tiles, but that does not seem to be the case in this updated design. For example, there are still ’tiles’ from, for example, a calendar, news and weather app, which show information. However, the design of the Live Tiles has changed slightly, for example, tiles from the Office package no longer have their own color.
The Explorer gets the biggest change with this design, based on the video. For example, the top ‘Ribbon’ bar seems to have disappeared. Instead, there is a select number of smaller icons. Some of those buttons have been moved to the left side of the Explorer screen. A striking feature of the new appearance is that parts are displayed larger, so that less information seems to fit on the screen. This is especially visible on the left side of the screen.
The new design also seems to have more room for personalization. In the future, users should be able to exert more influence on the size and color of the mouse pointer. The right-click contextual menu has also been modified. For example, a ‘Go back’ button has been added.
Whether and when these changes will come to Windows 10 users is unknown. Windows Insiders have not yet received the changed appearance, with the exception of the new icons. An update in the first half of this year therefore seems unlikely. Microsoft has not provided any further information about the new design.