Imagining that everyone connected with Windows Live is now busy beavering away on Wave 4, then this user is going to take the liberty of posting some ‘wish lists’ that I would love to see being included in the next round of changes to WINDOWS LIVE. As one of the most important areas of WINDOWS LIVE to me personally and to countless other users is the SPACES area, I am aiming my first wish list at the Spaces Team. Why? Because this part of Windows Live didn’t seem to benefit at all in the Wave 3 overhaul, and therefore it has ended up looking really out of place when compared to the rest of Windows Live.
1. Firstly I would like the team to enable the use of those THEMES which are available in the rest of WINDOWS LIVE and in Messenger so that a user could have exactly the same THEME running right through the whole of their WINDOWS LIVE pages. The rest of the actual Space could then be made to match the header colour in much the same way that the message and contacts area is changed to match the colour of the Header theme chosen inside MESSENGER.
I am not sure if it would also be possible for users to be able to use the DYNAMIC THEMES available on their HOME and PROFILE pages inside their SPACES page, but that would really be fantastic as then their SPACE would be ever changing depending on the state of the users weather conditions and time of day. I would also like the team to allow users to upload their own picture to have as the header theme if they so wish in exactly the same way you can use one of your own pictures as the MESSENGER theme.
2. Also allow the user to insert their personal picture or Avatar into this header area in exactly the same way as the top of the PROFILE PAGE currently has. The title of your SPACE or blog would then be overlaid over the top of this TITLE THEME and then either centred, left or right depending on which side of the header the user placed their personal picture or Avatar.
3. Allow users to employ THEMES and LAYOUTS which are full screen width. I have never been able to understand why SPACES or any other blogging sites for that matter have to waste so much of the screen area at each side. It can’t be impossible to have THEMES and LAYOUTS that make use of the full width of the screen, as other blogging sites manage to use them. Because the actual blogging area is so narrow widthways, it then tends to limit the choice for the user of being able to have two or three columns in the layout and also impinges on the available width of those columns. You could then allow users to have and use much wider MODULES in their SPACE when customizing it.
4. Some new more ‘professional’ and tidier looking themes would be welcome as well. I find it ironic that there are some Windows Live teams who don’t make use of Windows Live Spaces when writing their blogs and instead prefer to blog elsewhere, but when you contrast the much cleaner and tidier look of their blogs to what is possible on SPACES, then really its not surprising. We want to make SPACES so attractive to look at that absolutely everyone from the Microsoft head honcho down to this lowly Granny wants to blog on here!
For an example of this, just take a look at Brandon’s Windows 7 blog to see what I mean. Look how much neater and tidier and ‘professional’ it all looks. Notice the header and the modules at the side with the ‘rounded corners’. Look at the attractive way it is all laid out. We really do need SPACES being brought bang up to date in my opinion.
5 So with this in mind, how about letting users choose the shape of any modules that they use? By shape I mean having all modules with ‘rounded corners’ for example instead of just square. Allied to this could be the choice of being able to change the actual size of modules within a users SPACE so that the ones that they wanted to be more prominent could be made larger than those the user felt weren’t as important. Of course the modules would still have to fit into a LAYOUT or framework, but it would still allow the user far greater control over the overall finished look of their SPACE.
6. Allow users a greater choice of FONTS SIZE when setting up their SPACE and also a larger choice of FONTS to use. I find it really annoying that I can’t make the actual TITLE of each blog much larger than is available at present and that even when I try to set it at the largest size available, it doesn’t only effect the FONT in the Blog TITLE but also all the other FONTS in the other MODULES as well! So more control please over each separate modules FONT SIZES.
7. Hmm, difficult one this, but as we all now have our personal details replicated in our PROFILE page, then the Profile module is now really surplus to requirements. Anyone viewing your SPACE can just go to your PROFILE page if they wish to see your personal details, but they should be able to go straight to your PROFILE page with just one click and similarly be able to return back to your SPACE with just one click.
8. Last but not least, I want to be able to access my SPACE using just one click from my HOME page. I find it rather ironic and strange that I can arrive at my SPACE with one click from MESSENGER and from inside WRITER on my desktop, yet I cannot go to my own SPACE with one click from my HOME page despite the fact that its supposed to be MY personal HOME page!
Remember, my PROFILE page might tell you some facts about me, such as my interests, my favourite things, my likes and dislikes, but its my SPACE that tells you who I really am!
So that’s it. My wish list for Wave 4 for SPACES. I just hope that the SPACES team takes the time to at least read it, and perhaps make a comment or two on my ideas.
TG 
