14 DAY TRIAL // The Start menu is set to return in Windows 10 with a new approach based on live tiles, but some people now think that the Start screen is more helpful, no matter if you use a PC with a mouse and keyboard or a tablet with touch capabilities.
Windows 10 will indeed give adopters the power to choose if they want to use the Start menu or the Start screen and there won't be a way to use both at the same time, but an idea offered by a Windows Insider member could come to the rescue.
Basically, his idea is pretty simple, and at first glance, it really seems to be doable in Windows 10. First and foremost, why offer the Start menu and the Start screen as separate options when you can have them both in a single interface and working based on consumer configuration?
What he suggests is use the Start screen as a full-screen mode for the Start menu, since the latter is already resizable in Windows 10, so if users want a full-screen Start menu, the feature will be automatically turned into a Start screen.
Here's what he said in a post on the Windows UserVoice channel:
“The ‘Start’ screen should be understood as the full-screen mode of the start menu. Therefore, we should be able to easily get the ‘Start’ screen by clicking a ‘launch into full screen’ button on the start menu. Or as another option, get the ‘Start’ screen by resizing the start menu into full-screen mode, as others have suggested.”
More changes coming in Consumer Preview
Next month on January 21, Microsoft will be holding a Windows 10 event specifically aimed at consumers, and the company is expected to reveal a bunch of new features, including Continuum and maybe new features for the Start menu and the desktop altogether.
The Start menu could thus get a new effects when opening/closing, as well as more customization options that would make it a bit more appealing and easier to use for beginners and those who want to stick to the familiar Windows 7 design.
At this point, it's not yet clear whether the Consumer Preview build of Windows 10 will be released for download next month or just presented at the show by Microsoft, but there's no doubt that many more features will be integrated into the stable version of the operating system scheduled to go live in early fall 2015.
