Over the 16 months that My Microsoft Life has been online I have received many comments about the look of the site, some good and some bad, and I have noted what needs to be changed. What I didn’t want to do was just add new features and tweak the way things worked and looked as I thought of them; I wanted to basically start a fresh with the look of My Microsoft Life. Upon thinking of how the new design should look I eventually settled for a Metro UI design.
As you probably know I am a big fan of the Metro UI featured on the Zune software and Windows Phone 7. If you were to have asked me what it was that I liked about the design I’m not sure I could have told you before creating the new theme for MML, however I now feel I know what it is and why I like it.
You have probably heard Microsoft employees mention how the content on Windows Phone 7 is the UI, there is no chrome, which allows the content to “shine”. This idea is the very essence of Metro and doesn’t just need apply to mobile devices. You come to my site to read what I have to say, not look at ads or be impressed by the UI. Yes, having an attractive website can make people return but I really want people to like what I have to say rather than just admire the background. This, then, explains why I have removed nearly all colours, gradients and icons from the site. The articles are what I want you to read so now take centre stage on the page. By having a white background and black text it is now easier to read my articles too.
If you come to my website to read my articles then that’s what I want you to do. This mean I am giving you as much as space in which to read the article and look at the pictures as possible, without making it difficult to follow a line of text. As you can see I have removed the sidebar as all that did was require you to scroll more to read an article and limit the size of pictures or videos I wanted you to see. However, removing the sidebar meant I wasn’t able to offer you some options normally available there so I have added the “app bar” at the bottom which I shall be adding too over time, currently it is possible to return to the home page, favourite a page or share the page on Messenger or Twitter.
In terms of how the site works I have found that most people don’t like having a static home page but would prefer to see the most recent articles I have posted, so that will now happen. I shall also be reducing the number of pages the site has, I like starting things but never seem able to finish them so expect only a home page and an about page.
I have learnt quite a bit about what Metro really is, it’s not just blue squares and Segoe but in fact a mind set on how to show content off. To this end I have created the Metro theme for MML and to accompany that I will be changing my publication style slightly, seeing as a picture says a thousand words you can be sure I will using more of them. I shan’t be updating my older posts with new images but you can be sure that all my new posts will feature wide images.
I hope you like the new theme. If you think something needs tweaking, changed, added or removed then please leave a comment below, thanks.
On a side note I actually think Internet Explorer 9 has under gone a Metro redesign. It might not feature typography hugely but it does have very little chrome and features monochrome icons, just like Windows Phone 7’s Metro UI.
