This is the latest release of Windows, with a new user interface and other new features, such as the new Microsoft Store, a new personalized feed with AI and best-in-class browser performance from Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Teams chat integrated into the taskbar and more toga!
What’s new in Windows 11:
– Windows 11 gets a completely new look. Microsoft clearly needs a good reason to refute its previous claims and still abandon Windows 10 by introducing a new operating system number. And the brand new design suits him well. The giant from Redmond has long been preparing a redesign for the update under the code name Sun Valley (“Valley of the sun”) – apparently under that name was Windows 11. The Sun Valley project flashed online for a long time – Microsoft regularly revealed details about the new interface style, insiders shared previously unknown information, and popular designers in their circles drew realistic concepts based on all this information.
– Startup and system elements hover above the bottom bar. Start is the calling card and face of all the latest versions of Windows. It is not surprising that in Windows 11 the developers change it again, but not so much functionally as visually – the Start window floats above the bottom bar. We have to admit that this small change makes the system look a lot fresher. Based on information on the network, Microsoft does not radically change the “inside” of this menu – innovations affect only the design of the window itself. The control panel also floats and has exactly the same design as “Start”. The function center is combined with control keys – something similar has long been used in some other operating systems. Almost all mentions of this new menu point to it being an island – controls are in one separate panel, notifications are in another, and certain elements (like the player) are in another separate panel.
– Straight corners disappear, they are replaced by rounding. In reality, insiders and concept designers do not agree on this – some are sure that Microsoft will not change its tradition and stay at the right angle, while others are convinced that in 2021 Microsoft will follow the fillet fashion. The latter fits more into the “brand new Windows” definition – just having menus floating around isn’t enough to make a new look truly new. Filets are expected to affect almost everything in the system, from context menus and system panels to all application windows. True, even on this issue, the opinions of concept designers differ – some draw fillets on all possible interface elements, others connect them at right angles.
– Transparent background and blur everywhere. On the Internet, they disagree about the island style of the window, the design of the corners and the levitation effect of the menu, but almost everyone agrees about the transparency of the window. Most leaks and renders of the design show transparency and blur in all windows, be it at least the Start menu or Explorer. Moreover, these effects are present even in the configuration of the canceled Windows 10X operating system, which Microsoft developed with two screens and weak devices in parallel with the Sun Valley project. The so-called acrylic transparency implies the use of new effects when moving the mouse over elements and an increased distance between elements – the surfaces of the user interface with which the user interacts will certainly become larger, and the page titles thicker.
– A new font that has already been introduced. Windows 11 will likely use the default Segoe UI Variable responsive font, which already appeared in Windows 10 Build 21376 for Insiders. Its advantage is that it is equally suitable for small texts and large writings.