Windows 8 Will revamp File Manager with Ribbon

Like it or loathe it, Microsoft’s ribbon interface is here to stay. Case in point: the massive multinational has just revealed that the Windows 8 file explorer, which featured a massive, ugly ribbon interface along the top, will be keeping it.

But hey, they’re willing to make it a bit smaller. This is despite massive uproar over the file manager implementation, which many users felt made the file explorer nigh unusable.

Microsoft has decided that the best way to deal with the complaints is to set the ribbon to minimize by default--taking it out of the screen and letting you see more of your files. The company is also going to work to make it a little more compact. And for those who don’t move completely to keyboard navigation thanks to the ribbon interface paradigm, Microsoft has graciously included a popup keyboard shortcut to move you in that direction.

File managers are here to stay. You spend far too much of your time tooling around inside of them, and yet they tend to get fairly little love from user interface designers. And those that do tend to suck (here’s looking at you, Finder!) Microsoft seems to have decided that its time to rethink the file manager’s interface, and I tend to agree.

Though the ribbon isn’t how I would go--I hate that thing.

Microsoft is also rolling out a bevy of more subtle tweaks, too. When you copy duplicate files into a folder, the computer will automagically decide whether a file should be kept or replaced based on file size, the date last modified, etc. Error message reporting will be left until the end of an operation, rather than popping up dozens of times throughout a move. The file manager will (finally) respect EXIF data about picture orientation, so that shots taken by a camera tilted sideways will display properly.

Overall, the changes make the file manager better. Even with the ribbon interface, which I have a deep loathing for, it will probably be a better user experience than the Windows 7 or XP managers. so if you happen to deal with the file system a lot, you now have another reason to want Window 8.

PC World