Most popular submissions in 'Usability' of all time
Safely Remove Hardware dialog is programmer-oriented, not user-oriented
Overly complex, hostile dialog is painful when your computer comes with one of those 6-in-1 card readers (as does mine), an external hard drive, and a USB thumb drive. Unchecking “display device components” leaves unhelpful, undistinguishable entries. (more...)
Add the drive letters, add the device names, and get rid of all the worthless tree-level stuff; it’s a programmer’s view, not a user’s view.
In 2008, we no longer need to be calling these things a "USB Mass Storage Device."
Low
Medium
Fixed
Permissions editor is way too complicated and outdated
User has to make millions of clicks to edit permissions for the file. All dialogs which pop up in the process don't make the process any clearer.
Keep it simple, reduce number of intermediate dialogs and clicks.
High
High
Not fixed
Application Continuity - Pick one!
Just look at the photo. My first reaction is - "Man, I hate when I get a brand new computer and it comes preloaded with all this random bloatware". Then you realize it actually is part of Vista and a little bit of your geek soul dies.
(more...)
All kidding aside - the best thing to do here is really start over. Do not try to fix a trainwreck - you will spend more time on it than you think and your result wont be as nice. I do not know how MS develops, I would hope the UI is very disconnected (more...)
High
High
Not fixed
"Add Fonts" is outdated
Generally outdated. Uses Windows 3.1-era folder views. Cannot select individual font file - lists all fonts in folder.
Not only update styling, but add new functionality. Search. Font management - activate/deactivate. Fonts export/backup functionality.
Medium
Medium
Fixed
According to a credible source, the dialog no longer exists in Windows 7 and is most likely not going to come back. No words whether or not there are any new 'font organization' features.
Performance options dialog has available space for list, doesn't use it, isn't resizable
Performance Options has a semi-long list of items, but the box the options are in does not use all the space in the dialog to minimize scrolling, and the dialog as a whole isn't resizable
Make the dialog resizable. Make the box containing the items use all the available space in the dialog. If the dialog is made resizable, make sure the box the options are in properly uses all space.
Medium
Low
Fixed
Context Menu Items Below Close Item
It's *extremely* annoying when programs put menu items below the 'Close' item in context menus. At least a couple times a day I end up opening 'Help Topics' instead of closing the program I wanted to close.
Don't allow applications to place items below the close item.
Low
Medium
Not fixed
Taskbar: Just a lot of "Windows ..." (Vista application naming)
Every application that ships with Windows Vista starts with “Windows” like Windows Photo Gallery and so on (except for the old ones like Paint or Notepad). If you open enough of them, the taskbar shows a lot of “Windows…” titles. I have counted (more...)
If that works on Mac OS X why not on Vista? Hide the term "Windows" on the taskbar buttons or rename the new applications. There is nothing wrong with simple names like "Paint" or "Notepad".
Medium
Medium
Not fixed
Unsigned driver security warning doesn't give you any evidence to make a decision on
When an installer is attempting to install an unsigned driver, no information is given in the actual warning dialog about which program, and what driver, and unsigned and attempting to install. This is a problem because this dialog is completely spoofable (more...)
Provide the information about what program is attempting to install the driver, and which driver it is trying to install. Further, the dialog itself should provide some functionality to show the window of the application making the request, so that the (more...)
High
Medium
Not fixed
Allow taskbar to span multiple monitors
Lots of users have multiple monitors these days. However you can only display the Windows taskbar on the "primary display".
Stretch the Windows taskbar along the bottom, top or side (as selected by the user) of each monitor.
This would allow more space for the taskbar buttons, quick-launch bar and system tray for multi-monitor users (ie the type of user who are likely (more...)
Medium
Medium
Not fixed
Allow ordering of Taskbar
When explorer dies, the taskbar returns with apps in a different order than they were originally.
1. Remember the order (save them maybe every minute?) and restore if explorer is restarted.
2. Allow the user to re-order them.
It seems silly that we should have to install extra software to do the reordering.
Low
Medium
Fixed
Remember Desktop Icon Placement
With remote desktoping being more and more popular, it is very annoying that when I log into my machine and the resolution is smaller and then eventually log back in normally and all of my icons are messed.
There are probably 10 programs out there that fix this, one of them is ultramon, just buy them or do it yourself!
Medium
High
Not fixed
Add Fonts
Installing 100’s of fonts which each happen to have duplicate versions of Windows fonts - forces you to hit “Yes” over and over again.
Add “Yes to all” and “No to all” buttons; better yet, follow the conventions of the file copy dialog.
High
Low
Fixed
Disk Manager desing is very bad and old.
Complete old style - maybe windows 98.
Medium
Medium
Not fixed
Start Menu: Links to Videos, Downloads and Contacts are missing. No way to add custom links.
The links in the right-column of the menu should be more customizable:
- In the Customize Start Menu dialog, there is no option to show Videos, Downloads, or Contacts, even though they are default folders, just like ex. Music.
- There is (more...)
- Allow the user to add links to Videos, Downloads, Contacts, etc.
- Allow the user to add links to any folder.
Consider limiting the this to folders directly within the home folder, in order to preserve some kind of folder hierarchy. Also (more...)
High
High
Not fixed
Explorer guessing the type of content in a folder
The explorer has several templates that set how and what to show about the files. These can be found and manually set in Folder Properties->Customize (which is arguably too clumsy and un-discoverable).
When you open a folder for the (more...)
Stop trying to guess. *All* folders should default to the "All items" template, using the detail view with some relevant columns. Or the tiles view, pick *one*. Only use other templates if the user chooses them, or for pre-configured folders (more...)
High
Medium
Not fixed