Here's how the new Windows Blue Start Button may work

With Windows Blue, a k a Windows 8.1, Microsoft is re-introducing a Start Button and adding a boot-straight-to-desktop option. Here's how these may work.

Read more at source: Here's how the new Windows Blue Start Button may work | ZDNet

 

[CountMike]

Welcome to EightForums, CountMike.

This kind of stuff is what MS was seeing in their data on users. That's only one of the reasons why the Start Menu was changed to Start Screen.

You may want to consider using Page Up and Page Down keys instead of scroll wheel. You can then further "fine tune" with any of the arrow keys to select, then push Enter. But then again I'm big on keyboard whereas you may not be.

Hope that helps.

I know about that but as my hand is most of the time on the mouse when searching it's easier for me. Ever since my Atari I'm thankful I do not have to use keyboard so much. DOS an Unix just wore my fingers out.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Welcome to EightForums, CountMike.

This kind of stuff is what MS was seeing in their data on users. That's only one of the reasons why the Start Menu was changed to Start Screen.

You may want to consider using Page Up and Page Down keys instead of scroll wheel. You can then further "fine tune" with any of the arrow keys to select, then push Enter. But then again I'm big on keyboard whereas you may not be.

Hope that helps.

I know about that but as my hand is most of the time on the mouse when searching it's easier for me. Ever since my Atari I'm thankful I do not have to use keyboard so much. DOS an Unix just wore my fingers out.

Ok. We all use our computers differently. It's just that I'm big on keyboard. I forced myself a while back to use the mouse in 8 just to learn that navigational feel. I too have a scroll mouse.

I see hyper-scroll doesn't work on Start Screen which I never tried before. Something that came to me and just experimented with again. If one just moves the mouse right or left without pressing any buttons the screen scrolls very quickly. Perhaps that would be easier for you? Not familiar with touch in 8, but I would imagine this mimics finger scrolling.

 

[startas]

I don't understand this brainwash ... start menu won't be back, and there so many news about nothing...

 

[JohnBurns]

It seems that there are 3 groups when it comes to Windows 8.
Group 1: Those who like it
Group 2: Those who don't like it but could change if MSmakes the changes that they want.
Group 3: Those who hate it, always have hated it andregardless of what happens; always will hate it.
I hope that the changes in 8.1 will helpful those in group2. It's doubtful that it will change anything for group 3. But you never know,it might. For those who hate 8 because they like 7 so much more. There's nothing wrong withthat since 7 is certainly a good OS.

Good comment, Frank - exactly the way I feel also.

 

[Coke Robot]

Start button got pretty useless for me long time ago. Once I got hundred or more programs installed finding a particular one fast was mission impossible so I always grouped programs in folders on the desktop, clearly marked and sorted by thematic.Only throwback was that I had to go to desktop to reach them. Now, on W8, I sort them on the Metro screen and they are reachable with one click. Having 2 monitors helped a lot. Now if only Metro tiles for non-metro apps would contain whole icon and be smaller so all the apps would be contained on only one or two screens so I don't have to turn mouse wheel like crazy.

You are going to enjoy the Windows 8.1 update, it has the EXACT feature for tiles.

 

[Dogmatix]

According to the BBC, 8.1 will bring not only the Start button (of a sort), but also direct-to-desktop booting and more colour & customisation flexibility:

BBC News - Microsoft 'U-turn' sees Start button back on Windows 8

 

[HippsieGypsie]

I could swear someone had another post on this thread that I wanted to answer to, but must have deleted it. It was an answer to Cokie's subject he mentioned of ergonomics of the Start Menu in post #16.

OK. I'll answer to it anyway.

ergonomics - Wiktionary

1. The science of the design of equipment, especially so as to reduce operator fatigue, discomfort, and injury.

Human factors and ergonomics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics or human factors as follows:
Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

As you can see there's quite a lot on the subject just in the Wikipedia article let alone doing an internet search on the subject. Let's take a look at this word, especially when it comes to using Windows 8.

Lol! I especially enjoyed the picture example found in the Etymology section of Wikipedia. What perfect posture! I don't know how long I could sit at my computer desk for that long in that way. My heart goes out to anyone in any profession that has to sit like that all day! I had a construction management job at one time in Seattle where I would usually do computer work in the morning. I found I could tolerate it for about two to four hours, then I would be chomping at the bit to get out of the office and into the field. I still find it true doing what I do today. Exit stage left!

All kidding aside, do you think MS has an ergonomics department with highly-educated professionals that perform studies, collect data, read and analyze data from other departments, attend oftware and hardware product planning meetings, inject their professional opinions and/or advise, and do all that needs to be performed before any product is released? I wouldn't know for sure, but one would think so. Perhaps one of our members that works in that profession could answer that for certainty. Anyone?

For now and assuming that's true, I wouldn't want to outguess professionals that knows best for me when it comes to an OS any more than I would my doctor when it comes to my health or a professional mechanical technician when it comes to a problem with my car or truck. I have a choice whether or not to follow that professional advice, but I surely would listen to it closely, especially if it came to my health. Then again, the best I can do is get another professional opinion. More often than not it would probably be the same analysis and advice.

Please keep in mind that MS has probably been performing this with the development of past OSs and other products. Yes? Why would we possibly think we could second guess them now? I know what some may be thinking > The principle of "leading blind sheep to the slaughter" aren't you? Don't forget those lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Data that MS collected showed that more and more users we're pinning things to the taskbar and desktop rather than opening up the Start Menu. This is the undeniable fact. Personally I was. Evolving the Start menu - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

We’d like to share a series of blog posts on the how and why of reimagining Start. This first post talks about the history and evolution of the Start menu, and several of the problems and trends we’ve learned from you. We think it’s always important to understand where we’ve come from before we talk about where we’re headed. We’ll then have another post that dives into how we crafted the new Start screen, and then we’ll see where the discussion leads us from there.

In 7 I kept pinning more and more to the taskbar. When that got filled up I started pinning to the desktop. Why? Because ergonomically it got to be a PITA opening up that little menu to find something. It was much faster for me to pin. I guess I'm not alone for I found out others were doing the same.

Another annoyance to me was the fact that I had the Start Menu configured to populate items in the Control Panel on the right side of the menu. I know I don't have the fastest computer on earth, but it took quite awhile for it to populate all the items. So what did I do? You guessed it. I kept pinning.

Now onto the analytical thinking of the Start Screen vs the Start Menu. The Start Menu was always there whether I used it or not. As time went on the more I did not use it. Personally it got to be that most of the time all I used it for was WinKey > Enter > Boink > Computer shut down. So what did Microsoft do? Gave me a much bigger Start Screen/All Apps, Store apps' tive tiles, and All Apps that I find very useful for personal at-a-glance information that far exceeds what the Start Menu, Gadgets, Win32 email programs with calendars, contacts programs and/or folders, and picture programs and/or folders at far better speed and less resources than in past OSs.

All this info took a long time to get: http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/16379-real-quality-boot-time-8-verses-7-a.html#post164432

What could possibly be ergonomically better?

One more thing. Don't forget this little beauty:

View attachment 22519

 

[Coke Robot]

I could swear someone had another post on this thread that I wanted to answer to, but must have deleted it. It was an answer to Cokie's subject he mentioned of ergonomics of the Start Menu in post #16.

OK. I'll answer to it anyway.

ergonomics - Wiktionary

1. The science of the design of equipment, especially so as to reduce operator fatigue, discomfort, and injury.

Human factors and ergonomics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The International Ergonomics Association defines ergonomics or human factors as follows:
Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

As you can see there's quite a lot on the subject just in the Wikipedia article let alone doing an internet search on the subject. Let's take a look at this word, especially when it comes to using Windows 8.

Lol! I especially enjoyed the picture example found in the Etymology section of Wikipedia. What perfect posture! I don't know how long I could sit at my computer desk for that long in that way. My heart goes out to anyone in any profession that has to sit like that all day! I had a construction management job at one time in Seattle where I would usually do computer work in the morning. I found I could tolerate it for about two to four hours, then I would be chomping at the bit to get out of the office and into the field. I still find it true doing what I do today. Exit stage left!

All kidding aside, do you think MS has an ergonomics department with highly-educated professionals that perform studies, collect data, read and analyze data from other departments, attend oftware and hardware product planning meetings, inject their professional opinions and/or advise, and do all that needs to be performed before any product is released? I wouldn't know for sure, but one would think so. Perhaps one of our members that works in that profession could answer that for certainty. Anyone?

For now and assuming that's true, I wouldn't want to outguess professionals that knows best for me when it comes to an OS any more than I would my doctor when it comes to my health or a professional mechanical technician when it comes to a problem with my car or truck. I have a choice whether or not to follow that professional advice, but I surely would listen to it closely, especially if it came to my health. Then again, the best I can do is get another professional opinion. More often than not it would probably be the same analysis and advice.

Please keep in mind that MS has probably been performing this with the development of past OSs and other products. Yes? Why would we possibly think we could second guess them now? I know what some may be thinking > The principle of "leading blind sheep to the slaughter" aren't you? Don't forget those lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Data that MS collected showed that more and more users we're pinning things to the taskbar and desktop rather than opening up the Start Menu. This is the undeniable fact. Personally I was. Evolving the Start menu - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

We’d like to share a series of blog posts on the how and why of reimagining Start. This first post talks about the history and evolution of the Start menu, and several of the problems and trends we’ve learned from you. We think it’s always important to understand where we’ve come from before we talk about where we’re headed. We’ll then have another post that dives into how we crafted the new Start screen, and then we’ll see where the discussion leads us from there.

In 7 I kept pinning more and more to the taskbar. When that got filled up I started pinning to the desktop. Why? Because ergonomically it got to be a PITA opening up that little menu to find something. It was much faster for me to pin. I guess I'm not alone for I found out others were doing the same.

Another annoyance to me was the fact that I had the Start Menu configured to populate items in the Control Panel on the right side of the menu. I know I don't have the fastest computer on earth, but it took quite awhile for it to populate all the items. So what did I do? You guessed it. I kept pinning.

Now onto the analytical thinking of the Start Screen vs the Start Menu. The Start Menu was always there whether I used it or not. As time went on the more I did not use it. Personally it got to be that most of the time all I used it for was WinKey > Enter > Boink > Computer shut down. So what did Microsoft do? Gave me a much bigger Start Screen/All Apps, Store apps' tive tiles, and All Apps that I find very useful for personal at-a-glance information that far exceeds what the Start Menu, Gadgets, Win32 email programs with calendars, contacts programs and/or folders, and picture programs and/or folders at far better speed and less resources than in past OSs.

All this info took a long time to get: http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/16379-real-quality-boot-time-8-verses-7-a.html#post164432

What could possibly be ergonomically better?

One more thing. Don't forget this little beauty:

View attachment 22519

This is true.

I for some reason kept kind of using the start menu, mainly for All Programs list that I kept organized because EVERY new program just HAD to make all sorts of folders just for one damned shortcut. Ugh. But I do remember a time where I was actually planning on pinning EVERY program I have installed onto the Taskbar, it would have either a) required hitting the up/down button that would appear just before the notification tray or b) double the size of the Taskbar. I think I didn't like the size of it though...

So a piece of UI was effectively killed out by an updated piece of UI that Windows 7 brought into play, a Taskbar that is 10 pixels larger than previously before. Not only that, jumplists made the start menu EVEN more irrelevant, as I personally had File Explorer pinned with all my Libraries, Computer, Downloads, and Recycle Bin on it, as the start menu didn't allow me to add a custom Library location on the right portion of it. Basically, what was on that jumplist is now on my Start Screen. I obviously don't use jumplists anymore, I personally don't believe many typical people really know of its existence to begin with. Shoot, thinking about it, the Taskbar in 7 and 8 is like a mini-Desktop, you can close windows, open new ones and just see what you all have open in a small space.