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Windows 11 (Day 1)

I am have been a beta tester of Windows since DOS. I love it. I love the feeling that this code is fresh, right out of the oven. These days, I am on the Insider Program – Slow Ring. Today, it asked me to install Windows 11. First, my bottom line reaction.

Nicely done

Graphic Design

To be clear, I hated, loathed, the Windows 10 graphic design. It sucked. Metro was nonsense. Look at these Windows 10 form elements:

This is not good
Boring AF

Total flatness, no transparency, no rounded corners, no color in the icons….come on, man! This is terrible.

But Glen, isn’t graphic design subjective?”

Adolf Hitler, Artist

No. No, it is not subjective. Graphic design (or any kind of design) is not just random choices. There are rules like composition, color theory, balance, space, and psychology involved in how we perceive beauty. To the untrained, it might seem like it’s all the same and some designers just get lucky. To professionals, they understand that design can inspire people to love your product or service.

Take a look at these new Windows 11 screens

Windows 11 Settings
Start Menu

Look at those shadows. Look at the rounded corners! OMG, there is a gradient and some glass effect in there. This reminds me of the Super DIV. I wrote that in 2008 and I mentioned it had been asked for since 1995. This is it right here. This is nice graphic design!

Upgrade

It actually was very fast. The whole upgrade took under 15 minutes. I was really surprised. Nothing went wrong, no prompting. Just upgraded.

I especially appreciated this upgrade now that I am hiring a designer with a graphics focus. I need to see nice designs to know that good things can happen.

Functionality

It has a few things. I don’t think I care yet. Like a “Widgets” thing.]

Windows 11 widgets

It’s fine, I just don’t need it.

Bottom Line

I think this is the best looking Windows UI ever, by far. It’s nicer than MacOS. It’s nicer than Linux. I still have complaints about performance, especially in Figma, but for aesthetics, this is top notch. I haven’t been this excited since Windows XP.

Comments

3 responses to “Windows 11 (Day 1)”

  1. shalom.ormsby Avatar
    shalom.ormsby

    Hi Glen! This post inspired me to seriously consider switching to a Windows workstation for high-end 3D work (modeling, animating, rendering, etc.), instead of trying to keep using Mac’s (where the compute : cost ratio is absurdly high – I write this after Apple’s release of the M1 Max chip).

    Question for you about font rendering, relative to the pixel density of your screen. What’s your opinion of Win 11’s font scaling capabilities? Are you using a high-DPI monitor? Do you have the problem of fonts rendering absurdly small, or are you able to scale them up and have them look crisp?

    Speaking of monitors, what monitor are you using? I know at TD, you had a widescreen curved monitor. Did you like that? Do you have any recommendations?

    Sorry to barrage you with so many questions, but as a Mac user who’s considering switching over to Windows, there’s so much I don’t know. I am doing lots of research, but it’s extra helpful to learn from the experience of someone I know and trust.

    Reply
    1. Glen Lipka Avatar
      Glen Lipka

      Im still using the wide curved screen (Asus MX34V 3440×1440) and I have it set to 125% scaling. My eyes are too weak for 100%. The laptop (Lenovo T15g Gen1) screen (15″) is 3840×2160 at 250%. When I used the Mac with this monitor, it did not recognize it properly and therefore could not scale well. Windows scales very nicely. The font crispness are a weird subject. I posted how Adobe doesn’t match Windows. https://commadot.com/photoshop-fonts-dont-match-browser-fonts/ When I first got the Mac, I thought all the fonts looked blurry to me. But people used to it thought it was good. So I don’t think there is a better/worse. I would suggest going to Best Buy and seeing for yourself.

      Reply
  2. shalom.ormsby Avatar
    shalom.ormsby

    Thanks, Glen. The tight integration between the development of Windows 11 with Intel’s development of the new Alder Lake CPU’s – with performance cores, efficiency cores, and a Thread Director to direct traffic accordingly – plus the new UI improvements of Win 11, plus, of course, the more affordable cost of CPU and GPU computation in the PC world is creating an ineluctable draw from Mac to the Windows world. I’ll post my experience and results, as things develop…

    Reply

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