3. Getting Around the Taskbar
The taskbar in Windows 7 has several key features:
- Start button
Displays the Start menu, as previously discussed
- Program buttons
Provide access to pinned and running programs
- Notification area
Displays system notifications and the current time
Each area has feature enhancements. The sections that follow
discuss the enhancements for the Quick Launch Toolbar, program buttons,
and the notification area.
3.1. Navigating and customizing taskbar buttons
The taskbar displays buttons for open programs that
allow you to switch between the applications you’ve opened or
pinned to the taskbar. A new feature in Windows 7 is the
ability to easily add any program to the taskbar. To customize the
taskbar by adding programs, follow these steps:
Find the program you want to be able to quickly access in
the menu.
Right-click the program’s menu item.
On the shortcut menu, select Pin to Taskbar.
To remove a pinned program from the taskbar, right-click its
icon and then select “Unpin this program from the taskbar.” This
removes the program’s button from the taskbar.
In Windows 7, you can set the order of buttons for all opened
and pinned programs. To do this, click the button on the taskbar and
drag it to the desired position.
One of the more significant taskbar enhancements in Windows XP
was the introduction of program grouping. Rather than display a button for each
program, the taskbar groups similar buttons by default. Grouping
buttons saves room on the taskbar and makes sure that in most cases
you don’t need to expand the taskbar to find the buttons for open
programs. For example, if you open six different folders in Windows
Explorer, these items would be grouped together under one taskbar
button. Clicking the taskbar button would then display a popup dialog
box with an entry for each window, allowing you to select the grouped
window to open.
The way grouping and preview works depends on whether your
computer supports Windows Aero Glass and whether you are using a theme
that has Windows Aero Glass enabled:
When you are using an Aero desktop theme, moving the mouse
pointer over an open program’s button on the taskbar displays a
preview window with thumbnails for each open instance of the
program. Moving the mouse pointer over a particular thumbnail
preview brings the related window to the front of all the other
windows. You can then switch to the window by clicking or close
the window by moving the mouse pointer to the right and clicking
the close button.
When you are not using an Aero desktop theme, moving the
mouse pointer over an open program’s button on the taskbar
displays a menu with icons and titles for each open instance of
the program. Moving the mouse pointer over an item does not bring
the related window to the front of all the other windows. However,
you can still switch to the window by clicking in it or close the
window by moving the mouse pointer to the right and clicking the
close button.
You can customize taskbar behavior using the Taskbar Appearance
options found on the Taskbar tab of the Taskbar and Start Menu
Properties dialog box (see Figure 9). To display this dialog box with
the Taskbar tab selected, right-click an open area of the taskbar and
then select Properties. Once the dialog box is displayed, select or
clear options as preferred and then click OK.
Table 2
details how you can use the options provided to customize taskbar
behavior. By default, all the options are selected except Auto-Hide
the Taskbar and Use Small Icons.
Table 2. Options for customizing the taskbar
| Taskbar
option | When
selected | When not
selected |
|---|
| Lock the
taskbar | Locks the taskbar in place to prevent accidental
moving or resizing. | Allows you to move the
taskbar to dock it to other sides of the screen and to resize
the taskbar to display fewer or more rows of
buttons. |
| Auto-hide the
taskbar | Allows the taskbar to
automatically hide when you aren’t using it and display only
when you move the cursor over it. | Ensures that the
taskbar is always displayed on the desktop (though not
necessarily on top of other windows). |
| Use small
icons | Reduces the size of
program buttons, allowing more buttons to fit on the
taskbar. | Uses large icons, which
are easy to select and work
with. |
| Use Aero Peek to
preview the desktop | Enables the show
desktop button at the end of the taskbar. | Hides the show desktop
button at the end of the taskbar. |
| Taskbar
option | Used
to | Options |
|---|
| Taskbar location on
screen | Set the location of the
taskbar as bottom, left, right, or top. | Bottom, Left, Right,
Top |
| Taskbar
buttons | Specify whether taskbar
buttons are always combined, combined only when the taskbar is
full, or never combined. | Always combine, Combine
when taskbar is full, Never combine |
Windows 7 introduces several significant enhancements to the
taskbar that are available only on a system that supports Aero. These
enhancements are:
Live thumbnails
Windows Flip
Windows Flip 3D
Full-screen preview
Peek and shake
When you move the mouse pointer over a taskbar button (and Show
Windows Previews is enabled), Windows 7 displays a live thumbnail of the window, showing the content of
that window. Figure 10 shows an example of a
live thumbnail. If the content in the window is being updated, such as
with a running process or active video playback, the thumbnail
continuously updates to reflect the live state of the window. If the
preview is for grouped taskbar buttons, Windows displays a thumbnail
of the most recently started window and makes the thumbnail appear to
include a group of windows. When you hover over the thumbnail, all of
the grouped windows are displayed in a preview window.
When you press Alt-Tab, Windows 7 displays a flip view (Figure 11) containing
live thumbnails of all open windows. Because the thumbnails are live
views, they continuously update to reflect their current state
regardless of the type of content. You can work with a flip view using
the following techniques:
Pressing Alt-Tab and then holding Alt keeps the flip view
open.
Pressing Tab while holding the Alt key allows you to cycle
through the windows.
Release the Alt key to select the current window and bring
it to the front.
Alternatively, select a window and bring it to the front by
moving the mouse pointer over the thumbnail and clicking.
When you press the Windows logo key and the Tab key, Windows 7
displays a 3D flip view. This 3D flip view provides a skewed 3D
view of all open windows. Because the 3D window views are live, the
windows continuously update to reflect their current state regardless
of the type of content. Figure 12 shows an
example of a 3D flip view. You can work with a 3D flip view using the
following techniques:
Pressing the Windows logo key and Tab and then holding the
Windows logo key keeps the 3D flip view open.
Pressing the Tab key while holding the Windows logo key
allows you to cycle through the windows.
Release the Windows logo key to select the current window
and bring it to the front.
Alternatively, select a window and bring it to the front by
moving the mouse pointer over the thumbnail and clicking.
Windows 7 also adds jump lists. Figure 13 shows an
example of a jump list. Jump lists are visible with or without Aero,
and provide quick access to recently or frequently used files.
Sometimes, you’ll also have access to tasks that you can perform. To
display a jump list for any program on the taskbar or Start menu,
right-click the program button. You can then select a file to open or
task to perform by clicking in the jump list.
By default, jump lists track up to 10 recent items. You can
specify the maximum number of items to track using the Customize Start
Menu dialog box. Right-click the Start button and then select
Properties. In the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box, click
the Customize button on the Start Menu tab. In the Customize Start
Menu dialog box, specify the number of recent items to display in jump
lists and then click OK twice.
Windows 7 provides new ways to work with windows as well. Using
Snap, you can:
Maximize a window by dragging it to the top of the screen.
If you later drag the window away from the top of the screen, the
window is resized to its original size.
Drag the top or bottom border of window to expand it
vertically. If you drag the window to the top or bottom of the
screen, the window expands vertically to fill in the space between
the bottom and the top of the screen. If you later drag the window
away from the top of the screen, the window is resized to its
original size.
Peek allows you to look past all your open windows and
view the desktop. To peek at the desktop (Aero only), simply point to
the right edge of the taskbar. When you do, open windows instantly
turn transparent, revealing your desktop and any icons and gadgets it
contains.
To focus on a single window and clear up the view (Aero only),
click a pane of the window and give your mouse a shake. Every open
window except that one is minimized. Shake the mouse again and all
your windows are back.
3.2. Navigating and customizing the notification area
You’ll find the notification area on the far-right side
of the taskbar. As Figure 14 shows, the
notification area has several key features:
An options button (the up-pointing arrow) for accessing
hidden notification icons, such as those used by programs you’ve
installed. If you click the options button and then click the
program icon, you’ll open the program or display the program’s
notifications window. If you click the options button, then click
and drag a program icon, you can move the icon to the
notifications area or from the notifications area to the options
window.
An area for notification icons, such as those for the action
center, network, power, volume, and clock controls.
Notifications for programs and the operating system behave in
different ways:
Generally, if you move the pointer over a program
notification icon and then click, you’ll see a shortcut menu
(provided one is available).
Generally, if you move the pointer over a program
notification icon and then double-click, you’ll open the
related program or window.
Generally, if you move the pointer over a system
notification icon, you’ll see a tooltip that provides information
about the notification.
Generally, if you move the pointer over a system
notification icon and click, you’ll see a control window that
provides information about the notification and allows you to
configure the related feature.
You can use the system notification icons as summarized in Table 3.
Table 3. Working with system notification icons
| System notification
icon | Moving pointer over
the icon | Clicking the
icon |
|---|
| Action
Center | Displays information
about alert messages and system problems that you way want to
try to resolve. | Displays a control
window with links to the various alert messages. There’s also
a link for opening the Action Center. |
| Network | Displays the network to
which you are connected and the current access configuration,
such as Internet Access or Local Only. | Displays a control
window with shortcut links for each connection. If there’s no
connection, use the Connect to a Network link to configure
wireless network connections and the Open Network and Sharing
Center link to manage your network
configuration. |
| Volume | Shows the current
system volume and speaker configuration. | Allows you to adjust
the computer volume or mute the sound entirely. Click the
Mixer link to display mixing options for application
sound. |
| Clock | Displays the day of the
week, date, and year. | Displays a calendar
view of the current month and a clock depicting the current
time. Browse other monthly calendars using the buttons
provided. Click Change Date and Time Settings to modify the
computer’s date and time. |
You can configure notification behavior by completing the
following steps:
Right-click an open area of the taskbar, choose Properties,
and then select Customize under the Notification area.
Alternatively, click the “Notifications options” button and then
click Customize.
On the Notification Area Icons page in Control Panel, shown
in Figure 15, select
the appropriate notification option for each program. Notification
icons are listed by name and behavior. Click in the Behavior
column to set the icon’s behavior as “Show icon and
notifications,” “Only show notifications,” or “Hide icon and
notifications.”
NOTE
You can show the icon and notifications, show only
notifications, or hide the icon and notifications. Generally,
you’ll want to show the icon and notifications for important
programs. However, if you find the notifications to be
bothersome, you might want to show only the icon and
notifications for action center and network.
To manage system icons, click “Turn system icons on or off” and then set the
behavior for each icon to on or off as appropriate. Turning off a
system icon removes the icon and turns off notifications. Click
Customize notification icons to return to the previous
page.
To always display program notification icons, select the
“Always show all icons and notifications on the taskbar”
checkbox.
