Feedback Friday: How would you improve the desktop on Windows 10?
Sean Michael Email @Sean_Michael_UK Jun 17th, 2016 in Latest news
With the success of the Windows Insider program, Microsoft now lets anyone give them formal feedback through the Feedback app. In this series we break down some of the most intriguing feedback and suggestions. We'll do our best to dive into the lists of feedback rather than just have "dark theme everywhere." This week we look at the desktop, a key area of Windows 10.
Note that the links to feedback items work by opening the Feedback Hub in Windows 10.
The desktop on Windows has come a long way. Windows 10 brought the merging of apps that were introduced in Windows 8 and the desktop in the form of windowed apps. It also brought virtual desktops and many more features to the environment.
The desktop serves as a home base for users and is a staple within Windows. While I think the desktop in Windows 10 is very good, there are always ways to improve. Here's some intriguing and best feedback related to the desktop on Windows 10.
Give people options about one pixel borders
Personally I strongly dislike the one pixel borders surrounding Windows. I just can't see why people would want a bright, barely visible but visible enough to be noticeable border around a Windows in the desktop but Microsoft has it as part of the design language of Windows 10. This piece of feedback calls for an option regarding borders. I know Microsoft tries to have a certain look and modern feel but with something so many people dislike such as these borders it would be nice to see options.
"Allow different backgrounds for each virtual desktop"
Virtual desktops were so demanded by users that they rejoiced when they were announced during the development of Windows 10. That being said, there are some improvements that people would like to see. This piece of feedback calls for separate background depending on the virtual desktop. This would help the effect of virtual desktops feeling like two distinct environments even though they are within the same PC.
On multi-monitor setups allows users to have a preference to where apps open
Let me walk you through a very common occurrence on my PC. I have an app open on one monitor, as my day progresses I drag the app between my two monitors. I switch my video playing app to one monitor to have on in the background while I do something else. When I go to open an app to be productive by clicking on a taskbar in the monitor I want it to be in BAM it opens on my other monitor. It may seem like a little thing but I always feel like I'm chasing apps when I open them on a multi-monitor setup. I could just be multi-monitor illiterate but it seems like they could also make it easier.
So I say a thousand times yes and upvote this piece of feedback which calls for the option to open things based on the monitor you click the taskbar from.
"Replace the speaker icon in the system tray with a similar headphones icon when the system detects they are plugged in"
This speaker related feedback asks for Windows 10 to switch the icon from a speaker to a headphone when you have them plugged in. This would be a great little touch to Windows 10 but unfortunately isn't on the way any time soon. A Microsoft engineer responded to this feedback with "… we decided against making this change, because there are a few places where headphones are reported as speakers or vice versa. So to avoid potential confusion, we're going to keep things as they are for now."
Unfortunately there are some things preventing this from being a feature but hopefully they can work something out or as a Andrew S. suggested in that same feedback thread "As a compromise why then don't you show a slightly different icon to represent that 'something' is plugged into the audio jack."
Overall the desktop is very nice and it's worlds ahead of where it was just a few years ago with Windows 8.1. I think Microsoft is making solid strides to improve it and hopefully the ones mentioned above will make the cut.
Please let us know what you would change about the current desktop and what you would like to see in future Feedback Friday posts.
Further reading: desktop, Feedback, Windows 10