NewsBot
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I remember when I was first introduced to graphical OSs, with Macs, it was standard practice for people to have windows of open folders permanently on their desktop, with reference to common applications, or personal documents. Also you had these Apple menu apps where calculators and other mini programs were used above regular programs. But overall, the desktop was more than just a task manager, but an environment for organizing what you were doing.
Currently in Windows there are many ways to achieve something similar. You can add a toolbar to the taskbar to reference to a folder, and have it open up like a cascading menu, if you keep it shortened to its title. You can keep a sidebar gadget on the desktop for permanent display, and bring it to the top to use.
However, none of these things are promoted by the Windows design. The use of toolbars has been limited, no longer easily able to drag a toolbar from the taskbar to another side of the screen, and most people don't even notice you have the capability. So even though this is extremely useful, most people even those who are aware of the ability to do it, don't do it. The sidebar is neutered , doesnt have auto-hide ability, and if you want to bring a gadget to the top, you have to bring all of them to the top first. Even though you can get really cool sidebar apps, people won't make extensive use of it, and nobody will use sidebar apps in a way like the Apple menu programs like calculators or puzzle games, even though that would be a good use,*because the design doesn't support it well.
I think it would be great if one thing Windows designers worked on was improving the Windows experience, in that regard, as a user environment.
Plus, imagine things like minimizing Windows Media Player to the sidebar in its compact form, and restoring it from the sidebar to its normal windowed form. Ditto with*Live Messenger or Live Mail, where the compact gadget state is an alternative form to minimization. Or--OneNote.
Add to that, the ability to easily minimize folders to the sidebar, and you're on your way to having an interface that promotes all these cool and useful features. -- Then, make the taskbar congruent in some way to the sidebar, so things can move between them (like notifications and system tray apps were originally supposed to ---and like different minimized forms of Media Player --taskbar, and sidebar; and do that with minimized folder menus)
I don't think you'll be able to greatly improve the Windows interface without thinking along these lines, and making the OS a more integrated environment.
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Currently in Windows there are many ways to achieve something similar. You can add a toolbar to the taskbar to reference to a folder, and have it open up like a cascading menu, if you keep it shortened to its title. You can keep a sidebar gadget on the desktop for permanent display, and bring it to the top to use.
However, none of these things are promoted by the Windows design. The use of toolbars has been limited, no longer easily able to drag a toolbar from the taskbar to another side of the screen, and most people don't even notice you have the capability. So even though this is extremely useful, most people even those who are aware of the ability to do it, don't do it. The sidebar is neutered , doesnt have auto-hide ability, and if you want to bring a gadget to the top, you have to bring all of them to the top first. Even though you can get really cool sidebar apps, people won't make extensive use of it, and nobody will use sidebar apps in a way like the Apple menu programs like calculators or puzzle games, even though that would be a good use,*because the design doesn't support it well.
I think it would be great if one thing Windows designers worked on was improving the Windows experience, in that regard, as a user environment.
Plus, imagine things like minimizing Windows Media Player to the sidebar in its compact form, and restoring it from the sidebar to its normal windowed form. Ditto with*Live Messenger or Live Mail, where the compact gadget state is an alternative form to minimization. Or--OneNote.
Add to that, the ability to easily minimize folders to the sidebar, and you're on your way to having an interface that promotes all these cool and useful features. -- Then, make the taskbar congruent in some way to the sidebar, so things can move between them (like notifications and system tray apps were originally supposed to ---and like different minimized forms of Media Player --taskbar, and sidebar; and do that with minimized folder menus)
I don't think you'll be able to greatly improve the Windows interface without thinking along these lines, and making the OS a more integrated environment.
More...
View All Our Microsft Related Feeds