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'{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2013}} [[File:Aero Example.png|250px|thumb|right|The "glass"-like window borders, a distinctive feature of the "Aero Glass" theme used by Windows Vista and 7]] '''Windows Aero''' (a [[backronym]] for ''Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open'') is a set of interface and design guidelines that were included in [[Windows Vista ]]<nowiki/>and [[Windows 7]]. The changes made in the Aero interface affected many elements of the Windows interface and how it functions, including the incorporation of a new visual look, along with changes in interface guidelines reflecting appearance, layout, and the phrasing and tone of instructions and other text in applications. It was not included in [[Windows 8]], as that version was based around Microsoft's [[Metro (Windows)|Metro]] design language. ==History== ===Windows Vista=== [[File:ThumbnailWin7.png|thumb|Live thumbnails on taskbar]] [[File:Windows7 flip.png|thumb|[[Windows 7]] Flip 3D, invoked with {{keypress|Win|tab}} key combination]] The Aero interface was unveiled for [[Windows Vista]] as a complete redesign of the Windows interface, replacing [[Windows XP]]'s "Luna" theme. Until the release of Windows Vista Beta 1 in July 2005, little had been shown of Aero in public or leaked builds. Previous user interfaces were ''Plex'', which was featured in Longhorn builds 3683-4039; ''Slate'', which was featured in build 4042 and was available until build 4093; and ''Jade'' (builds 4074, 4083 and 4093. Microsoft started using the ''Aero'' theme 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 the Aero theme 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. Windows Aero incorporated the following features in Windows Vista. *'''Aero Glass theme''' – The main component of Aero, it is the successor of Windows XP's "Luna" and changes the look and feel of [[control (GUI)|controls]], including but not limited to [[Button (computing)|buttons]], [[checkbox]]es, [[radio button]]s, [[Menu (computing)|menus]], [[progress bar]]s and default Windows [[computer icon|icons]]. Even message boxes are changed.<ref>{{cite web|title=Message boxes differ in Windows Vista and in Windows XP, although you use the same code to generate the message boxes|url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936852|work=Support|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|accessdate=16 June 2013}}</ref> *'''Windows Flip improvements''' – Windows Flip (''Alt+Tab'') in Windows Vista now shows a live preview of each open window instead of the traditional application icons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/What-is-Windows-Aero |title=What is Windows Aero? |work=Windows Portal |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |accessdate=11 June 2013}}</ref> *'''Windows Flip 3D''' – Windows Flip 3D (''Windows key+Tab'') renders live thumbnail images of open windows, allowing one to switch between them while dynamically displaying them in a three-dimensional view.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Using-Windows-Flip-3D |title=Using Windows Flip 3D |work=Windows Portal |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |accessdate=11 June 2013}}</ref> *'''Taskbar live thumbnails''' – Hovering over the taskbar button of a window displays a live preview of that window in the taskbar. *'''[[Desktop Window Manager]] (DWM)''' – Due to significant impact of the new changes on hardware and performance, Desktop Window Manager was introduced to achieve [[hardware acceleration]], transferring the duty of UI rendering from CPU to graphic subsystem. DWM in Windows Vista required compatible hardware. *'''Task Dialogs''' – Task Dialogs are [[dialog box]]es meant to help communicate with user and received simple user input. Task Dialogs are more complex than traditional message boxes that only bear a message and a set of command buttons. Task Dialogs may have expandable sections, hyperlinks, checkboxes, progress bars and graphical elements.<ref>{{cite web|title=About Task Dialogs|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb760441%28v=vs.85%29.aspx|work=[[MSDN]]|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|accessdate=16 June 2013}}</ref> ===Windows 7=== [[File:Aero Peek.png|thumb|Aero Peek, showing the desktop]] Windows Aero is revised in Windows 7, with several UI changes, a more touch-friendly UI and many new visual effects and features, including [[mouse gestures]]: *'''Aero Peek''' – Hovering over a taskbar thumbnail shows a preview of the entire window. Aero Peek is also available through the "Show desktop" button at the right end of the taskbar, which makes all open windows transparent for a quick view of the desktop. A similar feature was patented during Windows Vista development.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.istartedsomething.com/20081130/from-microsoft-patent-to-windows-reality-x-ray-browsing-aero-peek/ |title=From Microsoft patent to Windows reality: “X-ray browsing”, circa 2005; Aero Peek, circa 2008. |work=iStartedSomething.com |publisher=iStartedSomething |date=30 November 2008 |accessdate=11 June 2013 |first=Long |last=Zheng}}</ref> *'''Aero Shake''' – Shaking (quickly dragging back and forth) a window minimizes all other windows. Shaking it again brings them back. *'''Aero Snap''' – Dragging a window to the right or left side of the desktop causes the window to fill the respective half of the screen. Snapping a window to the top of the screen maximizes it. Windows can be resized by stretching them to touch the top or bottom of the screen, which fully increases their vertical screen estate, while retaining their width, these windows can then slide horizontally if moved by the title bar, or pulled off, which returns the window to its original height. In spite of the "Aero" moniker, this feature is available if one uses the Classic theme. *'''Touch UI enhancements''' - Windows Aero was revised to be more touch-friendly.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/03/25/touching-windows-7.aspx | title=Touching Windows 7 | publisher=[[Microsoft]] | work=Engineering Windows 7 | accessdate=30 November 2008 | editor-first=Steven | editor-last=Sinofsky | editor-link=Steven Sinofsky | first1=Reed | last1=Townsend | first2=Dave | last2=Matthews | first3=Ian | last3=LeGrow}}</ref> For example, the title bar buttons are now slightly bigger. *Maximized windows remain transparent instead of becoming opaque. *When hovering over the taskbar button of an open program, the button glows the dominant RGB color of its icon, with the effect following the mouse cursor.<ref>[http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/whats-new.aspx What's new in Windows 7: Faster & easier]{{Dead link|date=June 2013}}</ref> *When moving windows, the [[CPU]] and [[GPU]] load is reduced by limiting the frame rate that the Aero part is rendered in order to provide better performance to applications and programs.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} *The cyan outline on the top and left side of active windows has been changed to white in Windows 7. *Progress indicators are present in taskbar buttons. For example, downloading a program through Internet Explorer causes the button to fill with color as the operation progresses. === Windows 8 === In Windows 8, [[Metro (design language)|Metro design language]] replaced Aero guidelines. As a result: * The [[Windows Aero#Aero Glass theme|Aero Glass]] theme is removed, in favor of a [[Metro (design language)|Metro]]-inspired theme.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404647,00.asp|title=RIP Aero Glass; Windows 8 Sticks a Fork in Familiar UI|date=19 May 2012|work=[[PC Magazine]]|publisher=[[Ziff Davis]]|accessdate=20 May 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/05/18/creating-the-windows-8-user-experience.aspx| title= Creating the Windows 8 user experience |first=Jensen |last=Harris|date=18 May 2012|accessdate=24 June 2012}}</ref> This change impacts the look and feel of controls, including but not limited to buttons, checkboxes, menus, progress bars and default Windows icons. Applications no longer have any transparency unless they explicitly implement it. Windows Taskbar has done so and is permanently transparent. * Windows Flip 3D is removed. {{keypress|[[Windows key|Win]]|[[Tab key|Tab]]}} now toggles between Metro-style apps. * Aero Peek and Aero Snap, now simply called Peek and Snap, remain, albeit without the glass effects. * DWM is permanently enabled at all times and employs [[software rendering]] on incompatible hardware.<ref name="dwm-alwayson">{{cite web | url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh848042%28v=vs.85%29.aspx | title=Desktop Window Manager is always on | publisher=[[Microsoft]] | work=Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 Compatibility Cookbook | date=28 November 2012 | accessdate=12 June 2013}}</ref> Although pre-release versions of [[Windows 8]] used an updated version of Aero Glass with a flatter, squared look, Windows developers, felt that interface designs imitating natural materials were becoming dated. As a result they adopted [[Metro (design language)|Metro]]-inspired design for desktop interface, which, in comparison with Windows 7, uses a flatter look with almost no transparency effects, solid colored window borders designed to attract more attention to the content of a window, and fewer rounded edges.<ref name="windows8-verge">{{cite web | url=http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/18/3029547/microsoft-windows-8-drops-aero-glass | title=Microsoft reveals Windows 8 desktop UI changes, drops Aero Glass | publisher=[[Vox Media]] | work=[[The Verge]] | date=18 May 2012 | accessdate=12 June 2013 | first=Andrew | last=Webster}}</ref><ref name="win8-noglass">{{cite web | url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/05/18/creating-the-windows-8-user-experience.aspx | title=Creating the Windows 8 user experience | publisher=[[Microsoft]] | work=Building Windows 8 | date=19 May 2012 | accessdate=21 May 2012 | editor-first=Steven | editor-last=Sinofsky | editor-link=Steven Sinofsky | first=Jensen | last=Harris}}</ref> ==Features== For the first time since the release of [[Windows 95]], Microsoft completely revised its user interface guidelines, covering [[aesthetics]], common controls such as buttons and [[radio button]]s, task dialogs, [[Wizard (software)|wizards]], common dialogs, control panels, icons, fonts, user notifications, and the "tone" of text used.<ref name="uxguide">{{cite web | url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa511301.aspx | title=What's New in Windows Vista | publisher=[[Microsoft]] | work=Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines | accessdate=12 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://blogs.windows.com/windows/archive/b/windowsvista/archive/2006/11/09/the-sounds-of-windows-vista.aspx | title=The Sounds of Windows Vista | publisher=[[Microsoft]] | work=Windows Vista Team Blog | date=10 November 2006 | accessdate=16 June 2013 | last=Allchin | first=Jim | authorlink=James Allchin | archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20061110152317/http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2006/11/09/the-sounds-of-windows-vista.aspx | archivedate=10 November 2006 | deadurl=no}}</ref> ===Aero Glass theme=== [[File:Windows 7 Open dialog box.png|thumb|The Open [[dialog box]] in Windows 7, demonstrating Aero Glass]] On Windows Vista and Windows 7 computers that meet certain hardware and software requirements, the '''Aero Glass''' theme is used by default, primarily incorporating various animation and transparency effects into the desktop using [[hardware acceleration]] and the [[Desktop Window Manager]] (DWM). In [[Control Panel (Windows)|Control Panel]]\Personalization\Window Color and Appearance, users can customize the "glass" effects to either be opaque or transparent, and change the color it is tinted. Enabling Aero Glass also enables other new features, including an enhanced [[Alt-Tab]] menu and taskbar thumbnails with live previews of windows, and "Flip 3D", a window switching mechanism which cascades windows with a 3D effect. Windows 7 features refinements in Aero Glass, including larger window buttons (minimize, maximize, close and query), the replacement of the cyan highlight from window borders with white ones, revised taskbar thumbnails, the ability to manipulate windows by dragging them to the top or sides of the screen (to the side to make it fill half the screen, and to the top to maximize), the ability to hide all windows by hovering the Show Desktop button on the taskbar, and the ability to minimize all other windows by shaking one. Use of DWM, and by extension the Aero Glass theme, requires a [[video card]] with 128 MB of [[video RAM]] (or at least 64 MB of video RAM and 1 GB of system RAM for on-board graphics) supporting [[pixel shader]] 2.0, and with [[WDDM]]-compatible drivers. Aero Glass is also not available in Windows 7 Starter, is only available to a limited extent on Windows Vista Home Basic, and is automatically disabled if a user is detected to be running a [[Windows Genuine Advantage|non-genuine]] copy of Windows.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc507845.aspx | title=Windows Vista Enterprise Hardware Planning Guidance | publisher=[[Microsoft]] | work=[[Microsoft TechNet#Library|TechNet Library]] | accessdate=12 June 2013 | year=2007 | month=February}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://news.cnet.com/Vista-wont-show-fancy-side-to-pirates/2100-1016_3-6060700.html | title=Vista won't show fancy side to pirates | publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] | work=[[CNET]] | date=13 April 2006 | accessdate=12 June 2013 | year=2006 | month=April | first=Ina | last=Fried}}</ref> [[Windows Server 2008]] and [[Windows Server 2008 R2]] also support Aero Glass as part of the "Desktop Experience" component, which is disabled by default.<ref>{{cite web|title=Desktop Experience Overview|url=http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772567.aspx|work=[[Microsof TechNet#Library{{!}}TechNet Library]]|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|accessdate=16 June 2013}}</ref> ===Aero Wizards=== [[File:Windows Vista Connection Wizard.png|thumb|right|A wizard on Windows Vista for connecting to the internet, which utilizes the "Aero Wizard" layout]] '''Wizard 97'''<ref name="wizard97">{{cite web | url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms738248.aspx | title=Wizard 97 | publisher=[[Microsoft]] | work=[[Platform SDK]] | accessdate=12 June 2013 | month=May | year=2002}}</ref> had been the prevailing standard for wizard design, visual layout, and functionality used in [[Windows 98]] through to [[Windows Server 2003]], as well as most Microsoft products in that time frame. Aero Wizards are the replacement for Wizard 97, incorporating visual updates to match the aesthetics of the rest of Aero, as well as changing the interaction flow. More specifically: * To increase the efficiency of the wizard, the "Welcome" pages in Wizard 97 are no longer used. (A precursor to this change was implied in a number of wizards in products such as [[Microsoft SQL Server|SQL Server 2005]] where a check-box was added to welcome pages, allowing a user to disable the welcome page in future uses of the wizard.) * Aero Wizards can be resized, whereas the Wizard 97 guidelines defined exact sizes for wizard window and content sizes. * The purpose of Aero Wizards are more clearly stated at the top. * A new kind of control called a "Command link" provides a single-click operation to choose from a short list of options. * The notion of "Commit pages" is introduced, where it is made clear that the next step will be the actual process that the wizard is being used to enact. If no follow-up information needs to be communicated, these are the last pages in a wizard. Typically a commit page has a button at the bottom-right that is labeled with the action to be taken, such as "Create account". * The "Back" button has moved to the top-left corner of the wizard window and matches the visual style of the back button in other Vista applications. This is done to give more focus to the commit choices. The "Next" button is only shown on pages where it is necessary. * At the end of a wizard, a "Follow-up page" can be used to direct the user to related tasks that they may be interested in after completing the wizard. For example, a follow-up for a CD burning wizard may present options like "Duplicate this disk" and "Make a disk label". ===Notifications=== Notifications allow an application or operating system component with an icon in the notification area 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 balloon]]s 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 (the entire application was minimized as the bubble came up). 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=== [[File:Segoe UI Revision Differences.png|thumb|[[Segoe UI]] font in [[Windows Vista]] and [[Windows 7]] (top) and [[Windows 8]] (bottom)]] The [[Segoe UI]] [[Computer font|typeface]] 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 prior to Windows 8, the numeral zero ("0") is narrow, while capital letter "O" is wider (Windows 8's Segoe UI keeps this difference), and numeral one ("1") has a top hook, while capital letter "I" has equal crown and base (Windows 8's "1" has no base, and the "I" does not have a crown or base). ===Icons=== Aero's base icons were designed by [[The Iconfactory]], which had previously designed [[Windows XP]] icons.<ref name="Windows Vista icons">{{cite web | url=http://iconfactory.com/design/detail/windows_vista | title=Design: Windows Vista | publisher=[[The Iconfactory]] | work=iconfactory.com | accessdate=12 June 2013}}</ref> ===Phrasing tone=== 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. 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 [[grammatical person|second person]] and the [[grammatical voice|active voice]] (e.g. "Print the photos on your camera") and avoidance of words like "please" and "sorry".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa511287.aspx | title=Text | publisher=[[Microsoft]] | work=Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines | accessdate=12 June 2013 | year=2008 | month=June}}</ref> == See also == * [[Features new to Windows 7]] * [[Development of Windows 7]] * [[Features new to Windows Vista]] * [[Development of Windows Vista]] * [[Desktop Window Manager]] * [[Windows Vista#Hardware requirements|Windows Vista hardware requirements]] * [[Compositing window manager]] * [[Aqua (user interface)]] * [[Compiz]] * [[Kwin]] * [[Metro Design Language]] ==References== {{Reflist}} == External links == * [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/features/experiences/aero.mspx Windows Vista Aero User Experience] {{Windows Components}} {{Window Managers}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Aero}} [[Category:Graphical user interfaces]] [[Category:Windows Vista]] [[Category:Microsoft Windows]]'