re: Windows Live Writer: Known Issue

PatriotB — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 09:51:35 GMT

I haven't tried Windows Live Writer personally, but there's one thing about this screenshot that is making me shake my head in disappointment.

The red X icon.

Some designer on the Windows Live team decided that Windows Live Writer should NOT use the standard Windows "red X" icon, but should use its own. That designer then proceeded to spend time (or, have someone else spend their time) drawing an icon.

WHY?!

Windows comes with a perfectly good red X icon. You load it using LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_ERROR). This has been around since at least Windows 3.1. The good thing about using the built-in icon is that you get an optimal experience regardless of what OS you are running: XP has an XP-style icon, Vista has a Vista-style icon, 95 has a 95-style icon, etc. Why should a user see one red X icon from 99% of their Windows apps (e.g. everytime they use MessageBox with MB_ICONERROR), but a different one within Windows Live Writer?

This may seem like just one small, minor issue. But it is an example of a growing, disturbing trend at Microsoft: apps going against UI guidelines, apps re-inventing the wheel provided by the OS platform, for no good reason.

Windows Live Writer Tip - Avoid "Server Error 0"

Daptivate > by Kyle Beyer — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 06:27:52 GMT

For those who have notyet experienced this error while using Window Live Writer, hopefully this will