In each Windows version, you can utilize a
number of shell view styles, each of which presents the files and
folders (and now, Libraries) you're looking at in a slightly different
way. These view styles—and the ways in which you access and configure
them—have changed again in Windows 7.
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For purposes of this discussion, we treat Libraries
just like any other folders. It's just simpler that way, and the view
styles work identically across folders and Libraries with one crucial
exception, which we'll call out when appropriate.
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Windows XP offered six Explorer view styles:
Thumbnails, Tiles, Icons, List, Details, and, for folders containing
digital pictures, Filmstrip; and you could arrange the files in folders
in various ways, such as by name, type, or total size, or in groups,
where icons representing similar objects would be visually grouped
together. All of these options could be configured in a number of ways,
including via buttons in the Explorer window toolbar, by right-clicking
inside of an Explorer window, or from the View menu.
Windows Vista bumped the number of Explorer view
styles to seven but, confusingly, it dropped some of the options that
were previously available in Windows XP. In Vista, you could choose
between Extra Large Icons, Large Icons, Medium Icons, Small Icons,
List, Details, and Tiles views.
One thing that both Windows XP and Vista shared,
sadly, was that they would often forget or override folder view styles,
either on a per-window or system-wide basis. This is one of the weird
areas in which Windows XP and Vista were inferior to previous Windows
versions. Thankfully, this situation has been rectified in Windows 7:
the system no longer forgets view styles.
Table 1 describes the eight view styles that are available in Windows 7. And in Figure 1, you can see the latest member of the view style family, Content view.
Table 1. Explorer View Styles| View Style | Description |
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| Extra Large Icons | This
absolutely gigantic view style takes full advantage of Windows 7's near
photographic quality icons, which are rendered at 256 × 256 pixels. | | Large Icons | Similar to the Windows XP Large Icons view, this view style provides 128 × 128 icons laid out in a conventional grid. | | Medium Icons | A new style that was added to Windows Vista, Medium Icons are similar in style to Large Icons, but smaller, at 64 × 64 pixels. | | Small Icons | Small
icons appeared in Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, and Windows 2000,
but were exorcised from Windows XP for some reason, much to the chagrin
of many users. They returned in Windows Vista and still remain today in
Windows 7, sizing in at 32 × 32 pixels. | | List | A columnar version of Small Icons view, with the same size icons but a more linear look | | Details | A columnar view style that uses the same icon size as Small Icons but presents them in a more regulated fashion. | | Tiles | A
view that presents information about each folder and file to the right
of the icon, as with Small Icons and Details, but utilizes a much
larger icon (it's the same icon used by Medium Icons view). Because of
the extra space available, Tiles view can present more than just the
icon's name. What you see varies according to file type. Microsoft Word
documents, for example, include both the name of the file and the
notation "Microsoft Word Document." Digital photos include the name and
the date the picture was taken. | | Content | A
view that combines the medium-icon behavior of the Tiles view (although
these icons are strangely a tad smaller) with the behavior of the
informative Details view. The columnar information you would normally
see in Details view piles up to the right of each icon, space
permitting. |
You can access these styles in manners that are
similar to those in Windows XP and Vista—via the Views button in an
Explorer window toolbar, via the View submenu on the menu that appears
when you right-click a blank area of the current Explorer window, or,
if you have the Classic Menus option enabled, via the View menu.
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As with Windows Vista, Windows 7 enables you to
choose different icon view styles for the desktop as well as for normal
Explorer shell windows. To access these view modes, right-click a blank
area of your desktop and choose View. You'll see three view styles
here: Large Icons, Medium Icons, and Small Icons, which was called
Classic Icons in Windows Vista. (Details, Extra Large Icons, Small
Icons, Tiles, and Content are not available on the desktop.)
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NOTE
For some reason, clicking the Views button
toggles between all but one of the available view styles. If you want
to use Extra Large Icon view, you have to do a bit more work: click the
More Options button to the right of the Views button to display the
Views drop-down menu and then select Extra Large Icons.
What's interesting is that these shell view styles
are not your only view style options. You can also access intermediary
view styles between each of those stock settings using a new slider
control that pops down when you click the More Option button next to
the Views toolbar button (it resembles a small arrow), as shown in Figure 2.
This control enables you to fine-tune the look and feel of individual
Explorer windows, so you can arrive at a view style that matches your
preferences and system capabilities. For example, on a large
wide-screen display, you might prefer larger icons, whereas a smaller
notebook display might look better to your eyes in Details view. It's
up to you.
NOTE
You can also move the slider with the scroll
wheel on your mouse if it's so equipped. Simply open the slide control
by clicking the arrow as noted previously and then use the scroll wheel
to find the view style you like.
NOTE
Alternately, skip the More Options button
entirely: while viewing any Explorer window, simply hold down the Ctrl
button on your keyboard and scroll with your mouse's scroll wheel. The
icon sizes in the current window will change in real time.
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