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| The story of the new Microsoft.com |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-10-03 03:27:37 |
| "This week marked the real launch of the new Microsoft.com home page. And as someone who has been involved on and off with the project from the moment it was conceived, I thought I'd tell you the story, albeit extensively abridged, behind the new Microsoft.com. Grab a seat." I love the new Microsoft site. It looks very clean and focused. |
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| Redesign |
| By Elv13 on 2012-10-03 04:34:12 |
| Apple have the same website since the first time I went there to download Quicktime. The CSS changed a few time from OS9 to bushed metal to glossy/Aqua to plan gradient to the current one, but the overall site is the same. How many time Microsoft changed their site over the years? |
 - Score: 0 |
| RE: Redesign |
| By quackalist on 2012-10-03 04:45:23 |
| Had a peak at the new one and, dunno, but for the life of me couldn't remember what it'd replaced...was it better, worse. I've no idea. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Redesign |
| By kwan_e on 2012-10-03 05:14:23 |
|
> Apple have the same website since the first time I went there to download Quicktime. The CSS changed a few time from OS9 to bushed metal to glossy/Aqua to plan gradient to the current one, but the overall site is the same. How many time Microsoft changed their site over the years? If Microsoft changes their look-and-feel from time to time, it's them trying too hard. If Apple maintains almost the same bland look, it's just being innovative. |
| - Score: 8 |
| Responsive layout |
| By arpan on 2012-10-03 06:06:44 |
|
I like the new design. Clean, simple and fits with their new Metro design. Best part, the layout is responsive. Try reducing the browser width and you'll see what I mean. I think this is one of the first major websites to have a completely responsive layout. I'm impressed. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: Redesign |
| By Soulbender on 2012-10-03 06:15:15 |
|
> How many time Microsoft changed their site over the years? What does it matter? |
| - Score: 5 |
| RE: Responsive layout |
| By arpan on 2012-10-03 06:28:28 |
|
Performance needs to be improved. * 60 requests * 1.34MB transferred That's not right for a simple layout that's supposed to work on a mobile! Responsive design isn't just about how it looks, performance is key. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE[2]: Responsive layout |
| By arpan on 2012-10-03 06:32:06 |
| Saved a couple images and ran imageoptim ( http://imageoptim.com/ ) on them. It was able to reduce filesize from 3% to a whopping 60%. ImageOptim uses lossless techniques to reduce file size, so there was absolutely no loss in quality, just a reduction in file size. |
| - Score: 3 |
| Navigation? |
| By wigry on 2012-10-03 06:49:00 |
|
Well there are issues mainly with navigation. Once you choose for example Windows in products there is no way back to main Microsoft page. You are stuck with Windows and you have to go to address bar to get back to main Microsoft site. Second the navigation areas seem kind of detached. Simply random columns of links and text on a white background. So it is still confusing. Apple has it better. |
| - Score: 4 |
| Must everything now be about 'touch'? |
| By TM99 on 2012-10-03 08:16:30 |
|
It seems as if everything now has to be designed with the simple Tablet or mobile user in mind. There is so much white space. There are so many large buttons and tabs for fat fingers on touch displays. I am not really all that impressed with this from a design perspective. And before someone goes off on my complaint as being resistant to change, it is not. Change is inevitable and yet it is also evolutionary and incremental. Well thought out changes in anything invite the new while retaining a connection to what was foundationally sound and right in the old. This is something different. This is 'pop' design. Everyone must do it the same. So very little real innovation here, just another sad attempt to follow the market leader even if that market leader is heading for a cliff. The one thing I can be thankful for is that humans are predictable. Popular fashions come and they go. The pendulum has swung in one direction, and it will swing back in the other direction at some point in the future. Maybe then, a nice balance can be found. We shall see. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Must everything now be about 'touch'? |
| By Victor.Drake on 2012-10-03 09:00:40 |
|
Going even further, I want to critizise how everything seems to be only about the looks nowadays. Fashion before function. According to the linked blog, the for tenets for the new page were all about look and feel. And it shows in the new page. It sucks at presenting my navigation options in a clear, well-aranged and structured way. Links are all over the place, and mutliple links to the same sub-pages, as it seems. Why are there two sections of downloads and two for support? Which one is the right one for me? Obviously no one thought about the users, but all thoughts went into design. Like on so many other sites these days. Mind you, I don't argue to go back to a left navigation frame, but pages presenting their contend a little more clearly and structured would really be nice! Edited 2012-10-03 09:01 UTC |
| - Score: 4 |
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