Forum Discussion
Top feedback summary for September 24
Granted, the Chromium-based edge is built on different GUI tech, and so naturally will look a bit different, but I don't think there's any value in making users aware of that.
Actually there is value in that. Windows 10 is the most used desktop/laptop OS in the world, and all those users have current Edge, but most have chosen not to use it. Indeed it has too few users and too small a share of the browser market to make it worth Microsoft's time and money to go on with it. This new Chromium Edge is an attempt to garner a larger share of the browser market ... probably a final attempt if it doesn't succeed. Now, most ordinary users don't follow the tech press and blogs, and if new Chromium Edge looks like old EdgeHTML Edge at first glance, most Windows 10 users who decided not to use old Edge will just think it's the same-old, shrug, and carry on with whichever non-Edge browser they are currently using. Chromium Edge needs to look obviously different from old EdgeHTML Edge to have a chance of getting a significant proportion of all those current non-Edge using Windows 10 users to even think about switching to it.
And on top of that, the browser with by far the biggest market share for desktops/laptops is Google Chrome. For these mostly non-techie current Google Chrome users, if Chromium Edge actually looks very like Google Chrome, it becomes easier to lure them into trying it. 'Look, there's no learning curve because it looks and works just like what you use now, but without Google hoovering your data and these shiny extra features' kind of thing.
Remember, Microsoft isn't aiming it at the current far too few Edge users, or techie types. They're aiming it at the horde of non-techie Windows 10 users who are currently using Google Chrome.
look, the classic Edge and Firefox have the most beautiful and useful UIs among browsers (transparency, useful features etc) but they are among the least users browsers.
and what is on top? google chrome with the worst UI ever, small, compact, everything is into each other and very simple.
so bottom line, people Don't care about the UI as much as you think, they just need something that works and about the consistency, the consistency should be about under-the-hood Not the visuals. under-the-hood consistency is such as a good and reliable sync, ability to use that sync on multiple devices, a good browser engine that doesn't hang or crash, a bug free browsers experience and things like that.
- HotCakeX -- I largely agree with this. Features and ease of use matter more than design to most people. But it's hard to passionately support a product without great design, especially for those of us who do care about design. It's like a piece of furniture in a house -- there could be a really comfortable couch, and comfort is it's mean feature, but if it's covered in towels or blankets to hide all the stains and wear-holes on the surface, it's still a piece of junk. Ultimately, to be great, it needs to be both functionally effective and sport beautiful, user-friendly design. And good design means consistency. There is no such thing as good, inconsistent design.
- Spoiler
GraniteStateColin wrote:
HotCakeX-- I largely agree with this. Features and ease of use matter more than design to most people. But it's hard to passionately support a product without great design, especially for those of us who do care about design. It's like a piece of furniture in a house -- there could be a really comfortable couch, and comfort is it's mean feature, but if it's covered in towels or blankets to hide all the stains and wear-holes on the surface, it's still a piece of junk. Ultimately, to be great, it needs to be both functionally effective and sport beautiful, user-friendly design. And good design means consistency. There is no such thing as good, inconsistent design.again it depends on how many people actually want that change, I for one like the current design and don't want it to change. so they either should put it up for vote or something or wait for mass user feedback once it's released to stable channels.
- HotCakeX, clearly preferred design can be a matter of personal preference and that's fine. However, I suspect there's a decent % of people who care a lot about the design (but I would agree with you that it's probably a smaller set than those who care about functional elements) and also that there is a sizeable % who, if asked, may prefer the current design over one that is consistent with Windows (they may even say they dislike the square look of all the windows iconography and design elements, viewing the new Edge as an improvement), but I don't believe those two sets of people have much overlap. That Venn diagram is almost two separate circles, meaning there's very little value to addressing the group in that intersection. For those who care about design almost as much as or more than functional elements, they are almost entirely going to also care about consistency over the new inconsistent look. I can't prove that, but I'm highly confident that it's correct from other partially related studies I've read or done: If you care a lot about design, you're going to care about consistency. If you don't care about consistency (in general, I'm sure there are a few exceptions), then design is just a means to providing a decent UI, and not particularly important in and of itself.
For me, I don't care if the tabs are round or square, but I resent that it looks different from all the other MS products and from the OS.
