

The problem with Metro: it's boring. - corporalagumbo
http://www.riagenic.com/archives/889

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freehunter
Computers are in a state of maturing right now. No longer is it the rush to
get the fastest, the best, the one that does the most. People are rushing to
get the one that does what they want, that's easy to use, that has the
features tailored to them. That's why people are buying the iPad over a new
Core i7 machine.

Similarly, don't you think it's time for interfaces to mature? You claim it
can't evolve, that we're going to see the same interface forever. Is this a
problem? There were some wacky car designs in the early 1900s before you ended
up with clutch on the left, brake in the middle, gas on the right, shifter in
the center of the car. People wouldn't call that boring, they'd call that
mature and standardized.

No one points to the iOS interface and says " _That's_ fresh! That's exciting!
That's evolved!" It's not, it isn't, and it hasn't. iOS is exactly the same as
every interface that came before it. So your implication that the iPad is king
because its interface isn't boring... I'm not buying that.

~~~
bunderbunder
_No one points to the iOS interface and says "That's fresh! That's exciting!
That's evolved!"_

That observation works better as a criticism of Metro than a defense of it.

Microsoft was clearly trying to come up with something strikingly fresh,
exciting, and evolved when they cooked up Metro. If (as I'm inclined to agree)
they didn't need to do that in the first place, then with Metro they didn't
just miss the target, which would have been forgivable. They missed a target
_that they shouldn't have been shooting for in the first place._

~~~
freehunter
It stands out to me every time someone brings up their opinion that Metro is
awful. It stands out to me every time because that opinion is expressed so
rarely, and is a very unpopular opinion. Almost universally, people love Metro
[1]. The most criticism I hear is that people don't like Metro on their
desktop; this is sometimes expanded by those people saying then that Metro is
awful in any circumstance. The first statement is common, but it's rare that
the expanded opinion is any more than a childish backlash against a new
interface. There's nothing better on phones and tablets.

Regardless, Metro is the idea that the interface should not distract you from
the information, that the GUI doesn't overshadow the content. At a quick
glance, you can easily tell exactly what you want to know. You might call it
boring, others call it useful.

What would have been more boring in my opinion? Another interface full of
static icons aligned to a static grid. What's a little different, a little
more exciting? Dynamic icons that don't make me enter the app to know what the
weather forecast will be, that don't make me open Facebook to see what someone
wrote on my wall, that show random pictures from my phone in a slideshow, that
show me my stock performance without needing to open the app.

Desktop shortcuts circa 1994 are boring. Metro is far from boring.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_%28design_language%29#Re...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_%28design_language%29#Response)

~~~
corporalagumbo
I use a WP7. I like it, its quick and usable. Some parts of the OS really work
- eg the messaging app. But generally it is quite boring and visually sparse.
On top of that the interface has a lot of rough edges. Simply, it needs a more
polished visual style, with more colour, detail, and life.

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chris_wot
What, exactly, is boring about it? I actually think it is, so not asking to
prove a point. More - what is it about Metro that causes it to dull so
quickly?

P.S. Fluoro pink on a black background with flashes of white will date faster
than strawberries in the sun.

~~~
vetinari
I think that the term "Airport lavatory signage" is quite fitting.

It is quite pleasing, does the job, but does not excite anyone. People like
it, but do not love it. Just like the old Android design, before Holo.

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michaelcampbell
Without regard to Metro being boring, Microsoft wanted to make its business
plan be the world to use THEIR commodity, and now it has. Which leaves it not
much place to go.

