Suggestions for @WindowsPhone: Reordering the Settings Menu

There’s been a bit of discussion over our last post joking about the settings menu. To get something positive that could be developed further here’s just some suggestions on how the settings would work better for me.

The aim here is “efficiency”. Whilst things might work out as they are, it could be simpler, easier, quicker, no?

Perhaps you have other suggestions (or could even help translate what I’m suggesting into a photoshopped screenshot) feel free to share that. Bouncing ideas off each other might help us get to the most efficient way of interacting with the settings.

I don’t have the facilities at the moment to give any visual demonstrations other than with text so apologies in advance.

Lets take the gripes on WP one thing at a time. This post is just about the settings menu.

Problem:

The menu is spiced with disorganisation. Yes there are groups and yes, there is some subtle attempt at organising things with titles somewhat closely related as you scroll down and more frequently used at the top. However, the thought process behind it is a little too subtle, which ends up with a lot of people having to hunt for items.

Solution:

Reorganising the menu. There’s already rumours that the settings menu will be updated to have alphabetical listing options. Whilst this is welcome, I found that with long lists (e.g. app lists) things still get lost.

So here’s my suggestion:

• Imagine a thin line with small(ish) writing on the right side saying phone settings and it could be collapsible if you want but it isn’t collapsed by default.
  • I don’t want it to be hidden by default so as it would end up with people having to click it open and shut just to find what’s inside.
  • However when you cannot see the list below, you will see that there are options for “connectivity” and “personalisation” and “phone settings” in a tab like interface. As mentioned, these ‘collapsible’ groupings are already open (the collapsible nature of live folders is nice. You aren’t transported to a new page, you can still interact with the main screen. A bit like this)
  • It just makes it easier to get where you want to (perhaps purists will say this goes against the WP way?)
• Small and on the right because it would be best to avoid having too much nesting and hiding away.
• The “Most used” dynamically changes.
• Note also how the main subgroup for the settings (other than ‘most used’ are in alphabetical order). I’m not sure what would be best, whether the individual items inside should have the items listed in most popular for each category or alphabetical (alphabetical less needed as there’s fewer items).
• Category names not final. Can be changed if it helps.

This is just a quick fluff of an idea that I thought might be worth sharing. Oddly enough, the very old Symbian settings was sort of laid out like this.

__________________Most used

Ringtones and Sounds

WiFi

Bluetooth

Flightmode

Brightness

_________________Connectivity

Flightmode

WiFi

Bluetooth

NFC

Network

Internet sharing

VPN

Location (GPS)

USB

Transfer my Data

Project My Screen

_______________Personalisation

Email and accounts

Start and Theme

Ringtones and Sounds

Lock Screen

Kids Corner

Notifications

Quiet Hours

Call+SMS filter

Audio

__________________Phone settings

Date and time

Keyboard

Language

Region

Ease of access

Phone Update

About

__________________Screen settings

Touch

Glance

Screen Brightness

Screen rotation

Project my screen

Category: Nokia, Windows Phone