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Thoughts on this sort of UI styling?

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apankrat:
Hi guys,

I am in the process of designing a UI for a Windows app, and the stylistic/visual side of it is proving to be quite a task. Unlike 5-10 years ago, the spectrum of employed design choices is now pretty wide. Native UIs are still here, but they are being supplemented by better looking UIs like those of Chrome, Firefox, Evernote, Acronis and others. There are also UIs that go for full customization and resemble more a web app than a Windows program, e.g. Kaspersky and iTunes.

What I'm trying to do is to find the balance between sprucing app the UI and still retaining the native look and feel. I have sketched out few options, and I'd like to get an opinion on one of them.



Does these customizations come across (even in a slightest way) as annoying or inappropriate? I'll take all opinions... i.e. not just from the UI purists :)

Thanks

Jibz:
I am pretty far from being an UI specialist, but I am always happy to offer my oppinion :-[.

I think it has a slight bit of the "mac" feel to it, but you have added just enough black to the icons to not make it too bland. I still wonder if perhaps a touch of pale coloring on the icons might work, just like the blue in the heading works?

I assume you did not make the texture on the border of the window, but for this particular one, I find the edge where the glassy shadow on the border starts (slightly below the edge of the second box of text) to be rather distracting. When I first opened the post and glanced at the screenshot, I thought it was one window at the top that cut of the top bit of another window below it.

And, nitpicking, I feel there is perhaps slightly too much space above and below the final paragraph of text at the bottom.

Renegade:
I won't comment on the aesthetics, but only on the layout and messaging. (There are better designers here than me.)

You could do a bit better job on the text as some is a bit longer than it needs to be. The layout is excellent, but you're not taking full advantage of it.

At the top, your last line should be more like:

...tasks correctly.

What it does:
OR
It can:

That sets things up. You could even do that in a smaller blue font than in the title. Use whatever short language works best, e.g. "It tests:" or whatever.

The 4 grouped areas have a lot of impact, and work like bullets - very nice. The black/gray text is a nice touch, but make the black text shorter. e.g.

Elevate to admin privileges.
Run as a service.
Run as a desktop application.
etc.

Just examples there. Shorter is easier to read, punchier, and people will make fewer mistakes. (Most people don't/can't read.)

Using the active voice was the right choice. Keep that. :)

Check what you mean by "switch", as it implies that the program can do that on the fly, which I would not expect.

The bottom text is confusing. I'm not sure what's going on there, but then again, I don't know what the application is supposed to do, so I could be off-base.

I like the bottom buttons. They are clear. The chevron also helps indicate forward motion.

Overall, I think it's pretty good. The linear layout leads eventually to action at the bottom, which is what you want. I think you've done a good job there.

It's hard to program and do design and do writing and do... You eventually get distracted by one aspect, and neglect another. Been there more than once. Have the mistakes to prove it~! :D

Just my $0.02.

Stoic Joker:
I like it as is. None of the UI dress ups detract from it's concisely stated purpose...which allows me to glance at it, like it, and properly understand its purpose in one shot.

tomos:
looks nice  :up:

The 4 grouped areas have a lot of impact, and work like bullets - very nice. The black/gray text is a nice touch, but make the black text shorter. e.g.

Elevate to admin privileges.
Run as a service.
Run as a desktop application.
etc.
-Renegade (November 19, 2012, 06:37 AM)
--- End quote ---

I'm not sure if this is exactly what Renegade meant, but I think it would be better to swap the black and grey text -
i.e. the first point would be:

Run as administrator
Elevate itself to full admin priviliges
or at least, as Ren says, make the black text shorter.
The grey is imo better for more info in case someone doesnt understand the brief & to-the-point black text.

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