We’ve been hearing a lot about the changes to the WinUI interface on Windows 11, and how they could ultimately revolutionize many aspects of the user experience on the existing operating system. Some job postings suggest that WinUI will bring part of the Windows user experience with new developments and revamps of existing parts.
Last year, a major redesign of Windows officially kicked off. The plan is to bring WinUI elements to the oldest legacy part of Windows. As part of the redesign, Microsoft first updated the traditional context menu with rounded corners and even a dark mode.
In Windows 11 Build 25115, Microsoft is now exploring a more modern interface for the famous Alt+F4 dialog. This revision ditched the traditional Windows logo for a clean look that resembled the dialog boxes of the Windows 95 era.
For those who don’t know, the current shutdown dialog interface is the same as we have on Windows 10. It has the new Windows 11 logo and rounded edges, but it doesn’t support the “modern” WinUI design.
It looks like Microsoft is preparing to add more WinUI elements like Mica to the OS’s shutdown dialog. And now, Mica only works with the title bar of Windows applications, and Fluent Design is gone. From the diagram, these changes are not huge, but they lay the groundwork for future improvements, and they are necessary for design consistency.
In addition to the shutdown dialog, Microsoft is also testing WinUI and Fluent Design icons for WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment).
The Windows 8-era WinRE interface that lives in the operating system now has a new icon, and more changes are likely, as remember Windows 11 Build 25115 is still an early working version of next year’s major release. Again, this isn’t a big change, but a change to a long-standing legacy part of the OS could lead to a more consistent design across the platform.
In the original release of Windows 11, the Control Panel also got UI improvements, including rounded corners and new icons, which is arguably a good start, but we still hope that one day the company will ditch the legacy Control Panel entirely area, without causing difficulties for the user at the same time.
It’s worth noting that Microsoft is exploring design tweaks in the Windows 11 Dev Channel, and there’s no guarantee these changes will ship with version 23H2.