So, ok, I have some minor issues. Well, I guess I have a bit of a problem with FRUSTRATION. I understand differences of opinions and all that. I understand that all the people in the world who disagree with me are entitled to their wrong ideas. But JEEPERS-CREEPERS, there are some things that are just so patently obvious that, well, why can’t everyone just SEE it?
Ok, sorry, I’m better now. I’m ready to quietly and patiently discuss the Windows Taskbar with you. Its not my fault that both Microsoft and Apple got it wrong. AND, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but even the absolutely brilliant guys at PCMech. PCMech has to be my favorite newsletter, but this one: Always Show Date In Taskbar, just made it clear that even they don’t have it.
Have a look:
Yes, my Taskbar is on the left. WHERE IT BELONGS.
Look guys, you read left to right, outlines are short pseudo sentences left to right, lists almost always begin on the left side of the paper, the page icons in PDF’s are on the left…need I go on? When I got my first look at a GUI interface that used some sort of window list, it was immediately obvious that once you had only a few windows open, the list became unusable as the titles became too short to be intelligible. An ever growing batch of icons in the notification area just compounds the problem. In fact, now that I think about it, the problem goes all the way back to text interfaces, where lists of commands were squeezed into the bottom line or two or three of the screen. Some of these lines were not only 80 characters long, in the very early days, they were only 40 columns wide. Monochromatic too. I’ll never forget the envy and awe I felt when seeing my first 80 column wide display with actual COLORED text. ASCII graphics RULED.
Ok, back to this century. Drag your Taskbar to the left edge of the screen and leave it there. Hover over the right edge and drag its width to something comfortable based on your needs, taste and display size. If you have a wide display like my screen shot, the icon plus 20 or 30 characters is plenty to know what each line is for. If you have a small display, right-click, choose properties, and select "auto-hide", and "…always on top". The Taskbar will move neatly out of the way until you need it. Then tap the left edge of your screen with your cursor and POP, there it is.
Now go back and look at my screen shot. Those lines just below the center are "toolbars". Create a folder somewhere and put some shortcuts in it. Shortcuts to other folders (My Documents, My Pictures, Downloads, etc.). Make another folder with shortcuts to your drives, card reader slots, drives on your network, whatever. Now right-click again on the Taskbar and choose "Toolbar/New Toolbar…". Point it to your shortcut folders and BANG, you’ve got your list right where you need it, when you need it. Do the same for your drive folder. Don’t put program names here. Stick them in "Quick Launch". No names, just the icons. These are your most used programs, so the icon should be sufficient. If it isn’t, you aren’t using the program enough, so get it out of Quick Launch.
Really. This is the ONLY way to set up your screen.
Unless your name is Wozniak or Gates.
Sage
I used to have my taskbar in all kinds of places years ago. Having read this article I\’ve put it where you suggest, not for the first time. I too have toolbars on all but the bottom of the screen, auto-hidden, even now parallel with the taskbar.I tried once to create toolbars in Windows 7 64-bit without much success. I still need to play around with it further before I come to any definite conclusions though.