Windows Aero

Windows Aero adalah antaramuka pengguna grafik dan tema utama dalam kebanyakan edisi Windows Vista, sistem pengendalian dikeluarkan oleh Microsoft pada November 2006. Ia akan juga didapati di Windows Server 2008, yang dijangkakan untuk dikeluar pada awal 2008. Namanya adalah akronim untuk Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open. Bertujuan menjadi pengantaramukaan pengguna yang amat bersih, paling berkuasa, paling cekap, dan paling menyenangkan daripada tema yang digunakan sebelumnya (Luna), ia memasukan kelutsinaran, ibu jari kuku langsung, ikon langsung, animasi dan halwa mata. Aero juga melingkungi set reka bentuk garis panduan pengantaramukaan pengguna untuk Microsoft Windows.

Sejarah

Seperti Windows XP, ikon asas Aero's yang direkakan oleh The Iconfactory.
Hingga keluaran Windows Vista Beta 1 pada Julai 2005, little or nothing had been shown of Aero in public/leaked builds. Previous user interfaces were Plex, which was featured in Longhorn builds 3683-4029; Slate, which was featured in build 4051 and was available until build 4093; and Jade (build 4074, 4083 and 4093, actually an early preview of Aero). Microsoft started using Aero in public builds in build 5048. The first build with full-featured Aero was build 5219. Build 5270 (released in December 2005) contained an implementation of Aero which was virtually complete, according to sources at Microsoft, though a number of stylistic changes were introduced between then and the operating system's release.
Asasnya, Aero was to have three levels available, one code-named "To Go", which had the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) composition engine (previously known as DCE) disabled. The next was to be AeroExpress, lacking many features of the highest level code-named Aero Glass. However, in December 2005, Microsoft announced that there would only be two levels available, "Windows Vista Aero" and "Windows Vista Basic", with the previous "Express" level integrated into the new "Windows Vista Aero" level. A control panel was added to enable the user to fine tune this functionality, such as being able to turn off the "glass" translucency effect. These levels are provided so that the Aero interface (to some extent) can be used with a relatively low-end graphics card.
Initially, a variation of Aero, codenamed "Aero Diamond", was slated to be the user interface for the Windows Vista Media Center experience. Although there has been no official mention of Diamond for a number of years, it may refer to the expectation that the interface will be written in pure XAML (as was Aero initially) but this has not been confirmed.

Pemberitahuan

Notifications allow an application or operating system component with an icon in the system tray to create a pop-up window with some information about an event or problem. These windows, first introduced in Windows 2000 and known colloquially as "balloons", are similar in appearance to the speech balloons that are commonly seen in comics. Balloons were often criticized in prior versions of Windows due to their intrusiveness, especially with regard to how they interacted with full-screen applications such as games. Notifications in Aero aim to be less intrusive by gradually fading in and out, and not appearing at all if a full-screen application or screensaver is being displayed – in these cases, notifications are queued until an appropriate time. Larger icons and multiple font sizes and colors are also introduced with Aero's notification windows.

Font

Segoe UI taip muka is the new default font for Aero with languages that use Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic character sets. The default font size is also increased from 8pt to 9pt to improve readability. In the Segoe UI typeface, the numeral zero ("0") is narrow, while capital letter "O" is wider, and numeral one ("1") has a top hook, while capital letter "I" has equal crown and base.

Nada suara

The Vista User Experience Guidelines also address the issue of "tone" in the writing of text used with the Aero user interface. Prior design guidelines from Microsoft had not done much to address the issue of how user interface text is phrased, and as such, the way that information and requests are presented to the user had not been consistent between parts of the operating system.
Research done by Microsoft informed them that users were finding Windows difficult to use and understand. Users were dissatisfied or felt insulted because of the phrasing of some messages. In particular, computer terminology and jargon were overused and used inconsistently, creating a barrier to understanding for newer users, and messages were unclear or perceived as patronizing.
The guidelines for Vista and its applications suggest messages that present technically accurate advice concisely, objectively, and positively, and assume an intelligent user motivated to solve a particular problem. Specific advice includes the use of the second person and the active voice (e.g. "Print the photos on your camera") and avoidance of words like "please" and "sorry".

Persamaan dengan Mac OS X

Di antara lain-lain, penonton semula WinSuperSite Paul Thurrott mengemukakan banyak persamaan di antara Aero dan Aqua; dia mencadangkan bahawa penggunaan lut cahaya dalam pengantaramukaan yang akan membandingkan dengan pengantaramukaan Mac OS X yang sukar untuk mengelakkannya. Penulis ruang Mac sepanjang masa dan pengarang buku John Rizzo menulis dalam rencana eWeek, "Microsoft seems to have taken many cues from Mac OS X with the user interface and features, right down to some of the terminology. Even some of Vista's icons are amazingly similar to those in Tiger."