Windows 8 File System to Feature Ribbon Interface

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If you think you’ve had enough of Microsoft’s ribbon-based interface with Office, you’re in for a treat. Microsoft is revamping Windows Explorer with a new ribbon interface with its upcoming Windows 8 launch.

The Windows 8 engineering team has recently unveiled new details about its upcoming Windows 8 release. This new sneak peeks on various applications like Windows Explorer, social gaming, and cloud computing. In particular, Windows 8′s Explorer will feature a ribbonized interface, where the most commonly-used functions and buttons are organized in easy-to-access icons in different ribbons.

Microsoft says this layout is more intuitive both for mouse- and touch-based interfaces.

While not primarily a touch interface, the ribbon also provides a much more reliable and usable touch-only interface than pull-down menus and context menus (we’ll have lots more to say on the topic of touch, of course … we definitely know there is a lot of interest but also want to make clear that we know how important keyboard and mouse scenarios are to power-user scenarios of file management).

The discussion at MSDN actually explores the history of Windows Explorer, back from the early days of MS-DOS Executive, Windows 3.1 File Manager and Explorer in Windows XP onward. The ribbon interface is likely to bring in both acclaim and criticism, particularly with the drastic way icons and functions are reorganized. This is very much similar to how users found the ribbon layout in the 2007 version of MS Office to have a high learning curve.

Still, Microsoft has high hopes for this kind of interface, particularly with devices moving toward touch-based interfaces. Windows 8 is, after all, supposed to be a multi-platform OS, which will support desktop computers, tablets and possibly even smartphones.