The revised Start menu was one of the most controversial parts of Windows 11. Here’s how Microsoft is experimenting with fixing it.

What’s Wrong with the Start Menu?

There has been a ton written on the UI changes between Windows 10 and Windows 11, but few things have generated as much controversy as the Start menu.

Some don’t like how large it is, others don’t like that it is impossible to see a comprehensive list of your apps and your pinned apps simultaneously—something Windows 10 has perfected over the years.

I think the best way to summarize the problem with the Start menu is information density. On a 1440p monitor, the Start menu takes up about 1/6 of my screen when open, but is mostly empty. The spacing between pinned icons is larger than the standard spacing of icons on the desktop. Importantly, unlike Windows 10, you cannot change the size of your pinned icons in Windows 11; Windows 10 offers three different size options.

It is also not very easy to customize—pinned icons can’t be freely moved around to form convenient groups based on your preferences, like how they fit into your workflow. You can put them into named bins, much like on Android or iOS, but then you have to click twice to open the app you want.

When you click “All” to see your list of programs, Windows still only displays your list vertically, which wastes most of the horizontal space that is available in the Start menu.

All of this creates a Start menu that uses up an enormous portion of screen real estate but doesn’t really offer you all that much. In many ways, the Start menu on Windows 11 feels like it was designed to be used on a touch device, since it is generally easier to mistap with your finger than to misclick with your mouse. In those situations, big icons with large margins between them make sense.

The trouble is that most Windows 11 devices don’t have touch screens, and even among those that do (tablets or some laptops), only a minority of users are going to be using the touchscreen as their primary interface.

The current design of the Windows 11 Start menu just doesn’t make sense for the vast majority of people, especially not when you compare it to Windows 10, which was much more customizable and useful.

Microsoft Is Taking Steps to Fix the Start Menu

Before any feature goes live, it first moves through a series of experimental versions of Windows via the Windows Insider Program, which gives people a chance to test out new features and provide feedback.

The beta build from February 21st contains a significant redesign of the “All” list in the Windows 11 Start menu. The big change is that you can now choose between sorting alphabetically and by category.

The alphabetical sorting option is very similar to the Start menu’s current All list, but the programs can spread out horizontally, which is a much better use of space.

Both give you a more efficient view of your programs than what we have now.

When Will These Changes Be Available to Everyone?

Unfortunately, there is no concrete timeline of when these features will be available to everyone, or even if they’ll be released. Sometimes features that show up in Beta Channel (part of Microsoft’s Windows Insider Program) never make it to the “real” version of Windows at all.

However, it seems very likely that something like these options will make it to the mainline version of Windows 11. On the whole, Microsoft has been pretty good about responding to criticism and feedback about the user interface changes in Windows 11, and the fact that they’re actively exploring options is a promising sign.

Now to convince someone to add some extra customization features to the Pinned part of the Start menu.