Latest update yet to achieve perfect consistency

May 24, 2019 12:27 GMT  ·  By

The lack of consistency in the Windows 10 UI has been a problem of the operating system since its early days, and the first adopters certainly remember it.
 

But despite the fact that nearly 4 years have passed since the debut of Windows 10, consistency continues to be a concept that Microsoft can’t fully embrace. And the recent launch of the May 2019 Update is living proof the software giant still needs more time to deal with it.

If you don’t know what I’m taking about here, it’s easy to discover it on your own. Simply right-click any icon on the desktop and look closely at the context menu. Now right-click a live tile in the Start menu and look at the same context menu. Notice the differences?

The two designs, which Windows 10 has had for a couple of years already, shows that achieving perfect consistency across the UI of the operating system isn’t something that can happen overnight.

Not even as part of the Fluent Design push, which is supposed to overhaul the interface of Windows 10 with a completely new language relying on visual tweaks and usability improvements in both the OS and apps.

Needless to say, the huge amount of code in Windows 10 is what makes the whole thing more difficult than we, the end users, can ever imagine, but as a long-time Windows user, I can easily observe that Microsoft advances with baby steps when it comes to these small refinements in its operating system.

The "classic" context menu in File Explorer
The "classic" context menu in File Explorer

Having just one context menu in Windows 10 sounds like a piece of cake at first, but it’s actually harder to make it happen mostly because of the idea that the operating system is based on.

Windows 10 is the second Windows version capable of running Store apps, after this concept was first introduced in 2012 by Windows 8. Store apps, which have gradually evolved from Metro apps to become UWP apps, represent the modern side of Windows 10. As part of this modern push, Microsoft created a new UI that includes the context menu you see when right-clicking a live tile in the Start menu.

On the other hand, Windows 10 also retains its Win32 component with the classic UI that has in the meantime been refined with a bunch of modern touches, but still not enough to bring it in line with the one of Store apps. The Win32 section of Windows 10 still comes with a context menu that reminds of Windows 7, the OS that’ll soon be retired once and for all.

The two context menus are a result of Microsoft trying to make Windows 10 an operating system for any device and any user. Again, the amount of work that Microsoft has put in Windows 10 is enormous, but as a rule of design, consistency should have been a priority from the very beginning.

And the modern context menu for Store apps
And the modern context menu for Store apps

Tracking the UI, fixing inconsistency, and eventually delivering a much more refined interface in Windows 10 is something that Microsoft should have done a long time ago, so I can only hope that all of these would actually make their way to the company’s agenda at some point in the future.

The next major update for Windows 10 is likely to come in the spring of 2020 because as it turns out, the fall of 2019 release will be a little more than a service pack. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because this service pack-inspired approach could actually allow Microsoft to resolve issues like this one, as there’ll be less pressure on developing new features and getting them ready in time for the launch.

Whether or not Microsoft will fix this is something we’re going to see in just a few months when the 19H2 update reaches a more advanced development phase.

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Windows 10 May 2019 Update introduces a new light theme
The "classic" context menu in File ExplorerAnd the modern context menu for Store apps
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