Windows 10 has a major design overhaul inbound for later in 2021, at least in theory, and we’ve caught a number of glimpses of what interface changes might be in store – with another one just popping up, reports techradar.com.
As observed by Windows Latest, there are proposals made by Microsoft on GitHub which show how pop-up alert boxes are going to be changed in Windows 10, namely by adding rounded corners – which is becoming something of a theme for the desktop OS.
The borders of these popup boxes will be rounded, as will the buttons inside, for a more modern look overall (and indeed a much more Mac-like appearance, as one commenter on GitHub suggests – and they’re not wrong).
Microsoft’s intention is also apparently to update the background colors to common colors, and to make it so that when the box isn’t being actively highlighted by the cursor, the close button border is removed.
Another post from the same Microsoft software engineer notes the need to “update text control colors and borders”, plus the buttons inside them, so for example AutoSuggest boxes, or password boxes, will get rounded corners.
Broad theme
As mentioned, rounded corners seem to be a broad theme for Microsoft’s more contemporary look for the Windows 10 redesign, or at least that appears to be the goal at this stage – as ever, during development, a lot can change.
We’ve seen early work on rounded rather than sharp-edged corners in Windows 10’s core apps, the Settings panel, and other major elements of the desktop UI including the Start menu and Action Center. The idea of corner-rounding has been floating around for the best part of two years, now, in fact.
Windows 10’s big interface revamp is codenamed ‘Sun Valley’ and is expected to be realized in the second feature update of 2021 (the 21H2 update). The first update of 2021 will be a minor affair, and it might arrive later than expected according to the rumor mill (in fact, it may not be here until June).