Windows 7 TaskBar – Win 7 SuperBar
The TaskBar has undergone some huge changes in Windows 7 and we’re going to see a much better user experience. This post focuses on the actual changes with loads of images. The best source of information for the rationale behind the changes is the Engineering Windows 7 blog’s write-up of the Windows TaskBar. And thanks to them for the images too.
Windows 7 TaskBar – Quick Launch + Taskband Merge
The Windows 7 team talks about promoting the taskbar as the central place to launch everyday tasks. Towards this end, they’ve taken the task bar and combined ‘launching programs’ (earlier quick launch) with ’switching between programs’ (earlier taskband). If you look at the image below, you’ll see that there is one central menu, with only icons and you could use it to hold all your most used programs. It’ll take a little getting used to – however I do like it.
New Windows 7 TaskBar – the SuperBar
Windows 7 SuperBar – Jump Lists and Pinning
You can drag any program or destination (a file, link, website, etc. that programs create or consume) to the SuperBar and pin it there. So if you find yourself using the calculator a lot, you can drag it to the SuperBar and get an easy to access shortcut. It also means you can store some of your favorite web shortcuts on the Win7 SuperBar. The more important change are Jump Lists. Basically every icon on the TaskBar gets its own mini Start Menu. If you’d normally start Word and bring up a recently read document, now you can do that straight from the TaskBar using Jump Lists. And these are customizable
Windows 7 Jump Lists
Windows 7 Taskbar Hover – Interactive. Grouped Thumbnail Images
Currently, In Windows Vista, hovering over a running program indicator in the taskbar gives you tool tip text. In Window 7, you instead get a cool thumbnail. Also, at any given time there is only one icon for a program. So if I had three IE windows open, I’d see only one icon, and hovering over the icon would show me thumbnails for all three IE windows I had open. The screenshot shows what it’d look like if I had three IE windows open and then hovered my mouse over the IE icon.
Hovering over an icon
Now, if you were to hover over one of these thumbnails, you’d see another cool Windows 7 feature -
Windows TaskBar – AeroPeek
Hovering over one of the thumbnails, hides all other windows, and brings up a preview of that window. It’s really cool – it lets you see exactly what that window is, and if you’re just looking to check on some information, you don’t even have to switch. This feature is called AeroPeek.
Windows 7 Aero Peek
Windows 7 SuperBar – Less Notifications and Better Notification Area
One change I was really happy to hear about is that there are lesser notifications and it’s easier to control them. Also, there is now both time and date in the notification area.
Overall, the changes to the taskbar are a very big feature. They really save a lot of time and will have a huge positive impact on user experience. Be wary of reviewers who make judgements based on the first 5 minutes of using the taskbar. As you use it – perhaps in 10-15 minutes, perhaps in the first few days, you’ll get used to the new taskbar and then you can figure out for yourself whether you like it, and whether the new superbar works for you.
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Filed under: windows 7 features