Menu and Toolbar design in Windows

I've been working on trying to figure out the best way to move forward with a new application idea lately. I have to say I've been slaving over the menu and toolbar design way, way too much. The reason is there's just no "standard" any longer. Windows Vista and Windows 7 began killing off the old menu and toolbar design.

• Sometimes there's no toolbar, and only a navigation bar on the left side, like with the control panel.
• Sometimes there's both, and the toolbar tries to mimic functionality of the old menu bar with drop down buttons (like Windows Explorer).
• Then you have the introduction of the Ribbon control to certain apps like MSPaint and Write.
• Some apps still use the old menu bar, but may not have a toolbar. They may use just the menu and a navigation bar.
• Office changes it's look constantly, and now there's a "new" Ribbon bar.
• I really don't know how to describe Internet Explorer 7 & 8

The platform appears to me to be in a state of chaos. I can't really see where there is a "standard" look for a Windows application now. With every application a user may have to learn a new layout. They can't possibly expect consistency in layout and design. Obviously there are still a lot of applications out there using the old standard menu and toolbar, frequently with an Outlook style navigation bar included. But Microsoft has introduced countless variations of different layouts and styles at this point. Oh well, back to beating my head against the wall...

About The Author

Ron Grove draws on over ten years of training, network administration and development experience. He loves to work with new technology and see how that technology can be best utilized by his clients. You can find him through his company Evanoah, LLC or through his LinkedIn profile.