New Windows Calendar Screenshots

on 01.31.06, 12:48pm in windows • comments (25)

Just thought I’d post a few new screenshots of Windows Calendar.

Day View Month View Subscribe to iCalendar Month View with Subscribed Calendar

25 Comments

    Daniel J. Wilson (January 31, 2006 @ 5:10 pm)

    Screenshot #1: I don’t recommend using “Url:” as a field label, both because many people don’t know what it stands for and it isn’t capitalized correctly. “Web Address:” or “Web Site:” might be clearer.

    Screenshot #1: The left side padding inside the Start Time box (12:30 PM) should be increased.

    Screenshot #3: There are essentially three labels for the single field. The field itself should be wide enough that there is equal space on the left and right sides, for both visual balance and to accommodate long URLs.

    JeffMc (January 31, 2006 @ 10:31 pm)

    Looks great Steve. Do we have to wait for Vista to test? ;)

    Andre Da Costa (January 31, 2006 @ 11:33 pm)

    I just the Windows Calendar could look like the one in Office Outlook 2003 or 12. Does not necessarily mean it has to have the power of that application, but the look and feel would be nice. There is just this bland look about it. Its getting better by the builds though, I hope it will be great by BETA 2. Its not easy to use currently, I wouldn’t mind having the ease of use of Office Outlook Calendar.

    I also would like to see integration as a folder in Windows Mail.

    Bruce (February 1, 2006 @ 2:28 am)

    Tease!

    But seriously - nice job.

    Patrick (February 1, 2006 @ 5:28 am)

    Beautiful!

    I would definetly listen to the comments by Daniel J Wilson though. He’s spot on with all of them.

    Steve (February 1, 2006 @ 6:55 am)

    Thanks for the feedback everyone (keep the comments coming).. This build will be in the Feb CTP, so you can start playing soon. :)
    “URL”: I agree that most users dont understand what a URL is. This field corresponds with RFC 2445 (iCalendar) URL field which can be any type of resource, not just a “website”. I’ll see what UX recommends.

    “Looking like Outlook”: Im torn on this one. While I think MS needs a greater consistency between it applications, Windows Calendar has a completely different user base and model - we don’t want to pop dialogs up to edit appointments. Everything you need to see/edit should be right in front of you. From inital user feedback, the ‘average user’ seems to like this model better.

    “Mail”: From Windows Calendar, you can email appointments, tasks or entire calendars (via ICS attachement) to your default email client.

    Herman Saksono (February 1, 2006 @ 7:02 am)

    Outlook should look like outlook, wincal should look like wincal. Undeniably, Outlook is a full-featured PIM, thus it trade UI simplicity over feature completeness. Windows Calendar, on the other hand, seems to offer small functional features useful for simple ‘to-do’ management. But this simplicty allows easy to use and simpler UI.

    Great UI, nice colours. However, the calendar on the upper-left part of the window is too small and too tightly spaced. People will have a hard time clickin on those dates ;). I would consider making the font size larger for the monthly calender on the left.

    Can’t wait to use this application :)

    steamy (February 1, 2006 @ 7:20 am)

    I dont like the colors of the app, are they going to change? it doesnt look consistent with Vistas color scheme.
    other than that, its cool!!!

    Scott Mace (February 1, 2006 @ 9:56 am)

    I’m not running the Vista beta. Is it simple to synchronize Windows Calendar with Outlook’s Calendar?

    Dean (February 1, 2006 @ 10:37 am)

    Looks awesome! Will Windows Calendar work with ActiveSync or will I still be stuck with Outlook?

    Steve (February 1, 2006 @ 6:35 pm)

    “Why not more coverage on Windows Calendar”: There are literally thousands of new features in Vista, and it’s near impossible to cover everything in a keynote. Keep an eye on http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/forhome/calendar.mspx - more coverage will be coming soon.

    “Outlook Sync”: To be honest, we’re not sure that most users will be running *both* Windows Calendar and Outlook. Windows Calendar is designed for personal calendaring, while Outlook 12 has more advanced calendaring features, especially for groups running Exchange. You’ll be able to import Windows Calendar calendars into Outlook by simply opening these files from within Outlook. However, beyond this import scenario, full interop between the two clients (such as the ability for both of them to edit the same data set simultaneously) is not planned for the Vista/Office 12 release.

    The good news is that Windows Calendar produces calendars that adhere *closely* to the IETF spec(http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2445.txt), and Outlook will be able to import iCalendar files. In addition, Windows Calendar works well with other calendar applications besides Outlook that also use ICS.

    You should take a look at the SSE work (http://spaces.msn.com/rayozzie/Blog/cns!1pyct_cYtbBtOBPDVAumMEdw!175.entry) that Ray Ozzie is driving - http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/rss/ssefaq/. There’s some really interesting thinking about broader synchronization issues that SSE is looking at.

    “ActiveSync”: Pocket Outlook currently doesn‚Äôt have a built in ActiveSync provider to convert/sync ICS data at this time. I‚Äôm not sure what their plan is for Vista, but will pass along the feedback.

    Paul F. Williams (February 2, 2006 @ 9:31 am)

    Pretty. I’ve envied Apple’s calendar for some time; this one looks as good. I hope it’s easy to use.

    I agree with Herman Sasksono– Outlook should look like Outlook, and WinCal should look like WinCal.

    Sebastian Porto (February 2, 2006 @ 1:58 pm)

    Look like outlook? Please no! IMO Outlook calendar is just awful. I find it very frustating. Palm desktop calendar is an good example of a clear user interface.

    Steve (February 2, 2006 @ 2:24 pm)

    One thing to remember is that Outlook’s calendar focus is on the business user connected to an exchange server.

    Windows Calendar is designed to bring basic calendaring functionality to the OS for the home users.

    Different apps. Different usage.

    So, to answer the question, no, we don’t have any plans to make Windows Calendar look more like Outlook.

    Jote (February 2, 2006 @ 5:14 pm)

    I see the app is improving, but I somehow don’t like the inconsistency with the current Explorer UI in Vista - in the Explorer the “Search” box occupies the glassy part above the “toolbar”, in the Calendar it sits right INSIDE the “toolbar”. I know it might be just too late, but can anything be done about this? Just my $0.02

    Steve (February 2, 2006 @ 7:10 pm)

    Jote - thanks for the feedback. The explorer UI is kind of a special case - but we’re doing a ton of fit and finish work between now and beta 2, so colors, moving things around for consistency, tweaking, etc., are all on the list of todo’s

    setmajer (February 3, 2006 @ 4:38 am)

    Regarding Outlook sync, perhaps this needs more thought — or just clarification of what’s actually going to be done.

    Outlook is a very expensive app. Many people likely will not pay for a home license, though they have it at work through a site license or similar. If WinCal offers only import/export with Outlook — no syncing or (limited) Exchange connectivity — it means they will not have access to their work calendar information when at home and vice versa without going through a cumbersome export/import process and potentially needing to manually delete redundant entries.

    This seems far from optimal.

    Using OWA would at least make the calendar information available, but requiring two separate clients is far more awkward than having all the information in a single app. Moreover, it seems to fly in the face of Microsoft’s ‘rich clients are the way forward’ mantra: either OWA is ‘good enough’ and rich clients aren’t all that after all, or OWA isn’t good enough and Microsoft is treating WinCal users like 2nd class citizens.

    While I appreciate that Microsoft is likely loathe to risk cannibalizing Outlook sales with WinCal, it seems that some rudimentary synchronisation with Exchange/Outlook could be implemented while still leaving ample incentive for business users to purchase and use Outlook.

    Munish (February 3, 2006 @ 6:02 am)

    cool. But that appointment of picking up mom at SEATAC, how about WinCal recognizing it as an address and making a link there to, say, “Windows Live Local” to give map/directions?

    Jote (February 3, 2006 @ 10:02 am)

    Thanks Steve for the reply - regarding UI consistencies in Vista, let me just point out that WMP11 UI is also a bit inconsistent - the back/forward buttons sit on the dark menu (shall we say “tab”) bar and the address (or “breadcrumb”) and search bars are below. It would be really great to see Explorer, Calendar, IE, WMP and Gallery share the same UI:

    1. extended (think glass) title bar containing back/forward, address (breadcrumb) and search fields
    2. below - the toolbar

    Sorry, I’m such a perfectionist ;)

    Brandon LeBlanc (February 3, 2006 @ 6:39 pm)

    Steve,

    In the screenshots I noticed you were subscribed to Calendars for moonphases, US Holidays, and New DVD Releases.

    Where can I subscribe to these Calendars? I’d like to test this functionality in Windows Calendar myself.

    - Sidebar Geek

    A Tinling (February 3, 2006 @ 9:31 pm)

    I would love to see a design that is more suggestive of the visual strengths of Vista. A little more shading, transparency, rounded corners, etc. Now that the technology is so drastically improved, you don’t have to let Apple set the bar on making it enticing and beautiful.

    And please do whatever you can to make the Outlook and Windows calendar interoperate reasonably well. Family and friend calendar sharing is a terribly important scenario, but expecting them to have Outlook and Exchange is a non-starter. Currently, it is a huge pain.

    All the best…

    Steve (February 4, 2006 @ 7:55 am)

    Brandon - I found these at various calendar sites around the internet. For example, there’s thousands at http://www.icalshare.com that are downloadable and compatible with Windows Calendar.

    Pavan Podila (February 16, 2006 @ 10:56 am)

    Hi Steve,
    My comment is not directly related to WinCal. I am more curious to know how did you create the pictures of the app (like pages lying on a table). I had been searching for ways to get that kind of look. Please share your secret :)

    Edward (February 20, 2006 @ 2:00 am)

    I’m with setmajer. I use Outlook at work, sometimes multiple Outlook’s (One Exchange-server @ HQ and one @ Clientsite provided by the client). I would like to be able to see my Personal calender @ work, so I won’t plan a late meeting when my daughter has to go to swimming, and at Home I want to see that I shouldn’t by tickets for a concert, when on that day I’m supposed to be on the other side of the country for work.
    I would really like to have this integration seamless, and I’m not aiming for editing one or the other on every place on earth.

    elena (April 20, 2006 @ 1:30 pm)

    Hi! Could you tell me the main differences between wincal and google cal? they just seem the same to me…Thanks

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