Windows 11: Inside the dramatic redesign

Windows xi: Inside the dramatic redesign

(Image credit: ADeltaX/Microsoft)

Update: Clippy is back in the latest Windows 11 update .

Windows 11 has been available to the public in beta form for nearly a month now, and while we won't see the total version of the software update until the end of the year, the centered Start button, rounded corners, and overall softness of the new operating organization have already sparked outrage and appreciation among Windows watchers.

That's why the Medium post Microsoft's Blueprint team published this calendar week is so interesting: it outlines some of the key themes and goals the company prioritized when designing Windows 11, which may help folks frustrated with Windows' new look better sympathize where it came from.

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Plus:Microsoft is bringing Clippy dorsum to life — thanks to new Windows eleven emojis

I doubt knowing why Windows 11 centers the Start carte on the taskbar will stop nearly of united states of america from doing our level best to put it back on the far left where it belongs, but it'southward still nutrient for thought from Microsoft.

According to the Microsoft Design team, the next generation of Windows is all virtually keeping usa calm and centered.

"A guiding [Windows eleven] design principle was based on a key theme surfaced during research: calm technology that makes our lives genuinely better," reads the Medium post. "Later listening to people express a need for more than efficiency and less noise when using Start, nosotros designed a cleaner and simpler experience that puts people at the center by prioritizing the apps they beloved and the documents they need."

Windows 11 Start menu redesign — Microsoft says the new Windows 11 Start bill of fare is meant to be more efficient and less noisy (Image credit: Microsoft)

I don't know that centre-adjustment the Start button and pinned programs on the taskbar makes me experience any calmer, merely it does at least make them easier to find if you lot're using an ultra-broad or curved monitor — and the Design team says as much, noting that the new alignment is meant to make Windows 11 easier to utilize on a variety of displays.

Indeed, the new Windows eleven Kickoff menu looks to be a chip less noisy than its predecessor, as Microsoft has axed Live Tiles in favor of a clean two-pane interface (crowned with a search bar) that puts a gird of pinned apps on the peak and a listing of algorithmically-recommended apps and files below.

It'south a notable comeback over the Windows 10 Beginning menu, which tends to wait either cluttered with Live Tiles or (if you have the time to remove them) weirdly desolate, with big blocks of empty infinite. Whether the tighter design and rounded corners of the Windows xi Start carte make you lot feel meaningfully calmer or not is something just you tin make up one's mind, but at least i Tom's Guide staffer was convinced to upgrade to Windows 11 by this feature alone.

How the pandemic shaped Windows 11's more than customizable desktop

Nosotros also found a number of new Windows 11 features that Apple should copy in the next macOS, principal amid them being the way Microsoft has designed the next Windows such that you customize different desktops for the different ways you use your PC. It'due south a useful comeback for those of u.s. who utilise the same PC to work from home, tinker on personal projects, and game with our friends. PCs accept always shined every bit multi-purpose platforms, and the COVID-xix pandemic drove this home in a very literal mode equally and then many of u.s.a. adapted to working full-time from our personal desktops and laptops.

As you lot might expect, the Microsoft Blueprint squad also cites the pandemic as a driving force behind the Windows 11 redesign. According to today's Medium postal service, the wide move to long-term work-from-abode setups is one of the primal reasons why Windows eleven has much more granular options for switching betwixt desktops, arranging windows, and mostly organizing your Windows experience.

Windows 11 multitasking — Windows eleven is designed to better remember different windows layouts and desktop configurations, so you tin switch between them more than easily (Image credit: Microsoft)

"Much as it has with everything, the pandemic influenced Windows 11," reads the Microsoft Design team mail. "Over the past twelvemonth, the boundaries betwixt work and life have been redefined. In this new version of Windows, the power to organize your activities is something that we paid close attention to...windowing and snapping take been redesigned to remember your preferences so when you exit your work brain for a moment to check the news (the new Widgets were intentionally designed to respect your workflow), the system remembers how y'all organized your space."

Improving Windows' capacity to recall how you like your desktop organized is a welcome upgrade, especially if you're someone who uses multiple monitors or regularly hooks your laptop upwardly to an external display.

Windows 11 screenshots — With Snap Layouts, Windows 11 offers much more granular control over how you want your windows organized (Image credit: Microsoft)

Along with the new rounded corners and warmer colors, these changes are all intended to make Windows xi experience like a calmer, more welcoming operating system (according to the Microsoft Design team, at least). It seems like a noble goal, admitting one that can be quickly undermined if you lot stumble into the wrong settings carte and find yourself staring at the same cold and confusing system interface that's been hiding under the surface of Windows since the '90s.

Of course, at that place are lots of other changes coming in Windows 11 too: Car HDR and DirectStorage features which make gaming on Windows a bit more than similar playing on an Xbox Serial X, a redesigned Microsoft Store with (hopefully) many more apps, thanks to broadening submission requirements, and improved voice recognition, affect targets, and haptics for when you're using a stylus.

If you're bold enough to dabble in the Windows Insider Preview Build, you can install the Windows 11 beta on your own PC right now to check out some of these features. Of form, y'all'll need to make certain it meets the Windows 11 organisation requirements, including the potentially thorny requirement that Windows 11 won't work on your PC without a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0 bit.

Alex Wawro is a lifelong tech and games enthusiast with more a decade of experience covering both for outlets like Game Developer, Blackness Lid, and PC Globe mag. He currently serves as a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering all things calculating, from laptops and desktops to keyboards and mice.