Thereās an art to designing a good user interface. Some companies, like Netflix, Apple and Google, know this. I get the impression Valveā¦doesnāt. At least not all the time.
The companyās āBig Pictureā version of Steam is fantastic. Itās simple, clear and fast to navigate. Its bread-and-butter, though ā the standard desktop client most people use ā is a bit of a shambles.
Not only is it slow, but itās awfully cluttered. The main ātabsā across the top of the screen work well enough, but once you get into more detail ā especially on the store pages ā things get messy.
In an attempt to clean things up, designer Jay Machalani ā whose work on Windows 8 we showcased a little while ago ā has taken a swing at redesigning the platform.
https://lastchance.cc/20-year-old-designs-a-better-windows-than-microsoft-1482249033%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
The main areas heās looking at are things like the visual appearance (āthe use of gradients, half-opacity elements and textured diagonal lines are very datedā) and the way Steamās services are displayed and organised (āSteam is also suffering from poor app organization and a lot of repetitive navigation. There are too many unclear menus to do the same task all around the appā).
The redesign concept is universal, Machalani tackling both the desktop client and mobile apps. You can see some examples of his ideas in this post, or if youāre interested in checking out his complete pitch, head to his site for more detail
