Yuck! Windows 8 Explorer Gets Ribbon Interface

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 3, 2011
Updated • Jun 26, 2018
Microsoft, Windows, Windows 8
|
51

I have to admit that I do not like the ribbon interface that much. You can see it in action in Microsoft's latest versions of Office or Windows 7 applications like Paint or Wordpad.

It is only a logical consequence that Microsoft is now moving from standard menus to a ribbon interface in Windows 8. One of the first applications to get an overhaul is the default file browser Windows Explorer.

Please keep in mind that the following screenshots are a work of progress and that things may change before the final release.

windows 8 explorer

You can see that the ribbon interface has replaced the menubar and previously available toolbars with the exception of the navigational toolbar. It takes up quite the amount of space. I'd estimate that the header space in Windows Explorer had to be doubled because of the new ribbon interface.

If you look closer at the available options you notice that Microsoft plans to display most functions that have previously been accessible via the menubar or the right-click context menu directly in the ribbon interface.

windows 8 ribbon windows explorer

The Home tab for instance offers buttons to create new files or folders, to perform a variety of file operations like deleting, renaming or copying, as well as file selection and opening options.

Part of the ribbon interface is displayed dynamically. A library management tab is added to the interface if a library is selected.

A new File button has been placed in the upper left corner of the screen, resembling the file button of Office. A click on that button opens a menu with management options. Here it seems to be possible to pin frequently used places to the sidebar for faster access, to clear the history, access folder options and perform various other tasks.

It is not clear why the frequent places have been added to the menu, instead of the Windows Explorer sidebar where they would be accessible directly without an additional click.

New or inexperienced computer users will likely benefit from the new interface, as many functions are now directly visible on screen and not hidden behind a menu or context menu entry. This may look like a step back for many experienced users on the other hand, considering that they have to give up screen estate for a larger header with functions that they can access faster with keyboard shortcuts or the mouse.

It seems that Microsoft plans to add options to hide the ribbon interface in Windows Explorer, which many users would probably do in a heartbeat.

What's your take on the new interface, aesthetics aside?

Summary
Yuck! Windows 8 Explorer Gets Ribbon Interface
Article Name
Yuck! Windows 8 Explorer Gets Ribbon Interface
Description
Microsoft plans to launch a ribbon interface in the File Explorer (Windows Explorer) of the Windows 8 operating system.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Some Dude said on March 19, 2023 at 11:42 am
    Reply

    Are these articles AI generated?

    Now the duplicates are more obvious.

    1. boris said on March 19, 2023 at 11:48 pm
      Reply

      This is below AI generated crap. It is copy of Microsoft Help website article without any relevant supporting text. Anyway you can find this information on many pages.

  2. Paul(us) said on March 20, 2023 at 1:32 am
    Reply

    Yes, but why post the exact same article under a different title twice on the same day (19 march 2023), by two different writers?
    1.) Excel Keyboard Shortcuts by Trevor Monteiro.
    2.) 70+ Excel Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows by Priyanka Monteiro

    Why oh why?

    1. Clairvaux said on September 6, 2023 at 11:30 am
      Reply

      Yeah. Tell me more about “Priyanka Monteiro”. I’m dying to know. Indian-Portuguese bot ?

  3. John G. said on August 18, 2023 at 4:36 pm
    Reply

    Probably they will announce that the taskbar will be placed at top, right or left, at your will.

    Special event by they is a special crap for us.

  4. yanta said on August 18, 2023 at 11:59 pm
    Reply

    If it’s Microsoft, don’t buy it.
    Better brands at better prices elsewhere.

  5. John G. said on August 20, 2023 at 4:22 am
    Reply

    All new articles have zero count comments. :S

  6. Anonymous said on September 5, 2023 at 7:48 am
    Reply

    WTF? So, If I add one photo to 5 albums, will it count 5x on my storage?
    It does not make any sense… on google photos, we can add photo to multiple albums, and it does not generate any additional space usage

    I have O365 until end of this year, mostly for onedrive and probably will jump into google one

  7. St Albans Digital Printing Inc said on September 5, 2023 at 11:53 am
    Reply

    Photo storage must be kept free because customers chose gadgets just for photos and photos only.

  8. Anonymous said on September 5, 2023 at 12:47 pm
    Reply

    What a nonsense. Does it mean that albums are de facto folders with copies of our pictures?

    1. GG said on September 6, 2023 at 8:24 am
      Reply

      Sounds exactly like the poor coding Microsoft is known for in non-critical areas i.e. non Windows Core/Office Core.

      I imagine a manager gave an employee the task to create the album feature with hardly any time so they just copied the folder feature with some cosmetic changes.

      And now that they discovered what poor management results in do they go back and do the album feature properly?

      Nope, just charge the customer twice.

      Sounds like a go-getter that needs to be promoted for increasing sales and managing underlings “efficiently”, said the next layer of middle management.

  9. d3x said on September 5, 2023 at 7:33 pm
    Reply

    When will those comments get fixed? Was every editor here replaced by AI and no one even works on this site?

  10. Scroogled said on September 5, 2023 at 10:47 pm
    Reply

    Instead of a software company, Microsoft is now a fraud company.

  11. ard said on September 7, 2023 at 4:59 pm
    Reply

    For me this is proof that Microsoft has a back-door option into all accounts in their cloud.
    quote “…… as the MSA key allowed the hacker group access to virtually any cloud account at Microsoft…..”
    unquote

    so this MSA key which is available to MS officers can give access to all accounts in MS cloud.This is the backdoor that MS has into the cloud accounts. Lucky I never got any relevant files of mine in their (MS) cloud.

  12. Andy Prough said on September 7, 2023 at 6:52 pm
    Reply

    >”Now You: what is your theory?”

    That someone handed an employee a briefcase full of cash and the employee allowed them access to all their accounts and systems.

    Anything that requires 5-10 different coincidences to happen is highly unlikely. Occam’s razor.

  13. TelV said on September 8, 2023 at 12:04 pm
    Reply

    Good reason to never login to your precious machine with a Microsoft a/c a.k.a. as the cloud.

  14. Anonymous said on September 18, 2023 at 1:23 pm
    Reply

    The GAFAM are always very careless about our software automatically sending to them telemetry and crash dumps in our backs. It’s a reminder not to send them anything when it’s possible to opt out, and not to opt in, considering what they may contain. And there is irony in this carelessness biting them back, even if in that case they show that they are much more cautious when it’s their own data that is at stake.

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