With the upcoming release of Windows 11, Microsoft has planned a number of new features, including a visual overhaul of many parts of its operating system.
Of course, it won't just be a matter of revising the graphical aspect of things. However, since the first official presentation of Windows 11 - last June 24 - Microsoft has been insisting on the aesthetics of its new system, visual consistency, and fluid design. Our colleagues at Windows Latest have drawn up a list - not exhaustive - of the applications affected by this graphical remodeling.
While it is often considered as very accessory and too limited by many users, Microsoft Paint is nevertheless part of the Windows "folklore" and Microsoft has realized that it has vaguely evoked to remove it. Today, there is clearly no question of getting rid of it and the new Paint will obviously be entitled to its fluent design treatment and rounded edges. It will also have the famous dark mode and a redesign of its various menus. New touch features will be included and new options will allow for more precise management of color selection or brush settings.
The applications related to Mail and Calendar will be much less reworked with mainly slight visual changes: fluent design and dark mode will be part of it... and that's it! Finally, Microsoft may still have some surprises in store. The Clock should benefit from a few improvements such as the Focus Sessions principle, which allows you to schedule breaks in your work and linked to the Clock. There is also talk of integrating the Spotify service, although it is not yet clear how this will be implemented.
The famous screen capture tool itself will not change, but it will be complemented by the Snip & Sketch tool in order to combine their very complementary features in a single application dedicated to capture and much more complete to manage the capture of complete screens, predefined portions or free forms. Microsoft has opted, as for everything else, for the fluent design, always in order to harmonize the whole. The Calculator promises a deeper redesign with a recoding of the tool in C#, the use of WinUI 2.6 with its rounded edges, the dark mode and, once again, this fluent design.
The Windows audio recorder will benefit from a nice little novelty that allows you to display the sound waves of recorded files. Its left panel will also be redesigned so that touch management is simplified and new controls related to WinUI 2.6 will be present. Microsoft has also remained very wise with its Photos application, which will be better integrated into the general Windows interface and will benefit from a new "floating" menu to bring together the most commonly used "retouching" functions such as cropping or rotating images.
Finally, Notepad tries to get closer to the Office suite. Of course, it's not about adding a lot of features, but rather about presenting things in a way that is closer to what you find in Office. The controls, icons and toolbars have been redesigned, the font has been revised and the whole thing is aesthetically more in line with Windows 11. Note, however, that all this information is related to the latest builds of Windows 11. Microsoft still has time to change a lot of things before the release of the new OS.
