Thursday, April 18, 2013

Why the obsession with Start Button?


Since the day Windows 8 was introduced to the world everybody is speculating about the absence of start button which is totally beyond my understanding. I have been using Windows 8 since the time it was in its consumer preview stages and I have NEVER felt the use of start button. In fact there is no need of start button at all!
If I think back I remember start button had all the shortcuts to the commonly used applications plus a search box and if you wanted to go somewhere easily all you had to do was just press the start button… Now let’s see what does Windows 8 has to offer… A start screen which can hold any number of tiles which are nothing but the shortcuts to your favorite and most used applications. The age old start button could hold a limited number of shortcuts whereas the start screen can have any number of tiles and you can even group them according to the category or your frequency of use. You have the amazing Semantic zoom if you have added many tiles on the start screen.
Coming on to the search box which otherwise popped up in the start menu when we clicked on Start button, I know it was a handy search box. In Windows 8 all you have to do is start typing when you are on the start screen and it would start searching for you in the various apps that you have installed, in files and even in settings. For example if I wanted to search for the Hyper-V settings or the Remote connection settings I just have to start typing the text and Windows 8 searches for these in the settings and quickly shows you the result. I don’t think this is possible with the search text box in start menu!
Now if you are missing the fact the you could have gone to the start menu even when you had opened many applications on the desktop then to compensate that, there is a Window key available on your keypad, and you just have to press it to go back to the start screen or press the Window icon on the Charms
I think people are just not exploring enough. There is nothing missing in Windows 8. Windows 8 has reinvented the whole desktop. Windows 8 has got a beautiful and super user friendly start screen which needs to be used correctly.

Got a problem? Write an app for it!

I have been working on App development from the past 2 years now and I see that after I started working on it there is a significant change in my thought processes. App development has changed the way I think completely. I now think of apps all the time. I look at problems and think of developing an app to fix that. I keep telling this to my juniors. Finally decided to write a post on how I think and how our simple thought can convert into an app.

Here is what I wrote for one of the company's blog,
http://blog.aditi.com/design/got-a-problem-write-an-app-it/

Hope you'll agree with me :)