"Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."
-- Proverbs 29:18, King James Bible (KJV)

Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Classic Shell Instead of the Badly Designed Microsoft Windows 10 Explorer: e.g. Greater File Sub-Folder Indents DO Make a Difference for Readability

Boris Hofferbert at Der Tutonaut in http://www.tutonaut.de/tipp-klassisches-startmenue-fuer-windows-10-einrichten.html provided us with the impetus to install Classic Shell http://www.classicshell.net/, at whose pages it is written about the system requirements:
"Classic Shell works on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and their server counterparts (Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016). Both 32 and 64-bit versions are supported. The same installer works for all versions. Note: Windows RT is not supported."
The graphic user interface of Windows 10 has many inexplicable design flaws. Some of the flaws are "small" but have a large impact on user usability.

As an example, the file sub-folder indents in Windows Explorer in Windows 10 are simply too small for good differentiation in viewing. We find that peering for hours per day at a screen is made even more tiresome by navigating the overly "tightly placed" files in Windows 10, especially if there are many of them to be used. Design should primarily follow FUNCTION, rather than form.

Thankfully, there is a solution at the program Classic Shell which provides this menu option:
"Full-size offset for sub-folders
("When this is checked, the subfolders will be offset by the full size of the [folder] icon, instead of the half of the size")".
That "small" change makes a "big" difference and is essential to those of us who may be somewhat older and no longer have the eyes of an eagle. Greater offsets make working with sub-folder files in Explorer much, much easier.

"Better readability" is why text paragraphs in books are normally indented more than just one letter. It makes reading easier. Indeed, we are waiting for Blogger to come to this recognition as well, as there is no provision at all for indents. Instead, we separate paragraphs by empty lines. It reads better.

The entire file Explorer interface pays little attention to user comfort and is especially flawed in taking the protection of user eyesight into account. Good examples are the teeny-tiny "forward" and "back" arrows in Windows Explorer, which by their poor placement, minuscule size and hard-to-spot gray color are hard to spot in practical daily usage and one is constantly "looking" for them.

Design "amateurs" in Redmond wrongly opted for minimalist "form" rather than proper function, and that flaw permeates Windows 10.

We need arrows that are immediately spotted and are ergonomically placed. Frequently used, operational image icons must be readily VISIBLE!

We do not know if it will work for you, but Classic Shell definitely has numerous sensible features that -- for us -- are vast improvements over the flawed Windows 10 graphic user interface and design.

Addendum: Classic Shell also has an option -- Tree Item Spacing -- for the file Explorer to make the spacing between the files larger, thus putting more white space between the entries. We set this value at "1" rather than "0" and for us, it makes it much easier to navigate the files.

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