Many of the recent Windows 11 Start menu changes we've seen tested by Microsoft have generated both positive and negative reactions, but this hasn't deterred the software giant from continuing to experiment with the menu, and it's currently testing a new “Category” layout that we first heard about last month.
This layout is an alternative to the standard layout of the “All apps” section of the Start menu, along with a new grid-based layout that Microsoft has also been testing. I've already seen a preview of this new category view.and that teaser featured solid-colored squares arranged in blocks of four (reflecting the fact that it was an early version of the design).
However, since a new build hit the Windows 11 Beta Channel, the category layout now works — or is at least somewhat functional, as Windows Latest reports. (Though note that the layout still remains hidden in Windows 11; testers will have to dig around to find it.)
A more orderly and organized life with applications
This more polished version of the category layout now displays a few app icons instead of just colored blocks as was the case before. Each thematic category (such as Entertainment, Music, or News & Weather) displays up to four installed app icons in a 2 x 2 grid. However, this grid can display more than four apps by grouping up to four together as mini-icons (as you can see in the screenshot above, in the “Other” category), giving a total of 16 apps that can be included in any category (in theory, as it stands in the test).
That said, none of this is fully functional in the beta yet (those mini-icons should expand when clicked, presumably, but they don't yet), and Microsoft could change things (or even scrap this idea) as testing progresses.
Both the category and grid layouts would be better options than Windows 11's default layout for the Start menu, which shows a long list of apps that you have to tediously scroll through. The grid view groups apps alphabetically in a grid, which means less scrolling, and the category layout refines things further with thematic groups to make finding apps easier.
Just reading about these Start menu updates makes me nostalgic for the old Start menu designs, where you could instantly see all your apps in select categories.
Windows Latest believes the new category layout will be functional fairly soon, and perhaps even rolled out in the next major Windows 11 update, version 24H2, though given how early the feature appears to be in testing right now, I'm not sure how realistic that expectation is.
