by Windows 11 has just received a new preview version that brings a number of changes with it, including a new volume mixer, as well as some tweaks to make the operating system more accessible.
Preview build 25309 just became available through the Dev channel and gave the volume mixer a whole new look.
As you may have noticed, there are bits of legacy UI in the Windows 11 interface that are outdated and rather annoying when they suddenly appear on the screen. The volume mixer, accessed from the taskbar (system tray on the right), is one of them, but in the new preview version, it now has a nicely modernized look.
The mixer allows adjustment of overall volume and per-app volume, and there’s a new addition here in the form of quick access to surround sound settings. This allows you to turn the feature on and off or select different types of surround sound, such as Dolby Atmos for example.
Microsoft has also made improvements with the Voice Access feature in build 25309, revamping the help page that shows you all the voice commands that can be used in Windows 11. This layout now has a cleaner layout and is easier to use, with a search bar so users can locate the commands they might need when operating Windows by voice.
Additionally, voice access is now available in some new English dialects, so in addition to US, we now have UK English, along with Australian, Canadian, Indian and New Zealand English.
Oh, and there are also some new voice commands, one of which lets you select a specific slab of text (from the word ‘a’ to the word ‘b’).
Lots of tweaks are evident elsewhere with the Windows 11 interface, too. We’re talking updated touch keyboard settings (new options for when it appears) and minor tweaks to the taskbar (so the search box is more open when Windows is set to a custom mode color, such as dark mode).
Widgets get theme-aware icons, meaning their icons will have their contrast ratios adjusted based on dark or light themes to allow them to stand out better and make relevant details clearer.
There are also changes for snap layouts with build 25309. Microsoft is still experimenting with shorter time periods for the snap flyout to appear in order to improve the discoverability of this feature.
For the full list of changes and known issues – there’s a lot more interface work here – as well as bug fixes, check out Microsoft’s blog post (opens in new tab).
Analysis: Many steps forward for the user interface
It’s good to see Microsoft continuing its push for better accessibility, which has been something of a theme lately. There’s plenty of commendable work on voice commands in this new preview build, with some useful additional commands that make working with speech-to-text easier, and that improved help menu, which looks a lot better now. Changes to provide better contrast ratios for widget icons will also help people with low vision. Good stuff.
There’s also some interface work going on in the background, because as hacker PhantomOfEarth pointed out on Twitter (opens in new tab), the (hidden) photo collection feature in File Explorer (read more about it here) has been given a touch of polish in this version. Clearly, there’s a lot going on with the interface right now.
As always, we can expect bugs with early software releases (and the Dev channel is the first). Indeed, Microsoft specifically notes that Voice Access assistance may go wrong at some points at this stage, and that descriptions and additional information for some commands may be inaccurate, so be careful.
