Improvements in Windows Explorer

Steven Sinofsky:

Only 2 of the top 10 commands customers invoke in Explorer are available in the Command bar, the main UI element for invoking commands. This further reinforced our thinking that there was a big opportunity here to improve Explorer by making common commands more readily available. A clear user interface design principle is that frequently used commands should be easy to get to—clearly we had not yet accomplished that with existing designs.

See also the comments by Laurie Voss and Dmitry Fadeyev (via Lukas Mathis). I tend to agree with Fadeyev, contra Voss’s snark, that lots of people using the context menu is a sign that the other methods need to be improved. The other interesting thing is seeing just how often Windows users Cut/Copy/Paste files. I’m still not sold on the ribbon, though, having used it in Office 2011. But, as with Windows Phone 7, it’s nice to see Microsoft explore a different direction.

Making Beautiful Forms

Dion Almaer on Square’s credit card form (via Cathy Shive):

When you get to the CCV/CIN number, see how the card flips and you get a mini version pointing to where the 3 digits will be.

The feedback throughout the experience is fantastic. Errors are handled nicely, and it is just a pleasure to use something so simple.