Inside the taskbar
With uptake of Vista still lagging, a lot of IT departments are pinning their operating system upgrade hopes on its successor Windows 7.
After Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference saw an unveiling of elements of Windows 7's desktop, Redmond's Engineering Windows 7 blog has unwrapped how the next version of the Microsoft OS will see a makeover for the taskbar, or what Windows 7 engineers call "the beachfront property of the Windows OS".
According to Microsoft, Windows 7's taskbar will be slightly larger than its Vista counterpart and bigger icons will be the default option. The idea, according to the software giant, is that the taskbar will become the main location that users launch their programs from.
The taskbar will also be given what Microsoft calls a "glass treatment", as shown here.
Photo credit: Microsoft
The Windows 7 taskbar will also showcase windows associated with an application button.
The windows will appear whenever a user hovers their cursor over an application in the taskbar or clicks on it and users can switch between the windows by clicking on the corresponding thumbnail.
The taskbar will show stacked tiles to indicate to the user which applications are running on multiple windows.
Photo credit: Microsoft
If the thumbnails don't give out enough information, users can take advantage of a feature called Aero Peek.
By hovering over a thumbnail, Aero Peek will show a full version of the window while any other windows already open on the desktop will turn into "glass sheets", shown below right.
Photo credit: Microsoft
Thumbnail Toolbars will also be available through the taskbar. Toolbars will give thumbnail applications up to seven of their own tools - for example, this Media Player thumbnail will allow users to play, rewind or fast-forward a multimedia clip.
Photo credit: Microsoft
The Windows 7 taskbar also includes a new feature called Jump Lists, which gives users instant access to commonly used tasks and documents, whether the program is running or not, by right-clicking on a taskbar icon.
Jump Lists will come pre-populated with tasks and recent documents but can be customised by users.
Photo credit: Microsoft
Icons will also be able to show how far a task - such as downloading a document - has progressed through the progress bar, shown here in green.
Photo credit: Microsoft
For visual effect, but no discernible purpose, if a user moves their cursor across an icon of an application while it's running, a trail of light will follow their mouse's movement.
Photo credit: Microsoft
Microsoft product screen shots reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.