Two critical elements that have been revamped for the better are the Taskbar and Start Menu. Some persons I have had conversations with about Windows 7 think it’s a minor release and it’s just Windows Vista reloaded. Yes, it is built on Vista and that’s a very good thing, which means, your investments in that version of Windows will be brought forward in areas of application and device driver compatibility. Apart from that, what new user experiences does Windows 7 introduce? What about the learning curve? Office 2007, Microsoft’s desktop productivity suite revamped the user interface in applications such as Word and Excel, there was a small learning curve, but there were huge benefits because of what the new Office Fluent UI did for the Standard and Formatting toolbars by exposing more features that some end users didn’t even know exist in the suite. Windows 7 is pretty much based on some of those principles, exposing more benefits in the Windows interface.

The improved Taskbar and Start menu

Taskbar

What is the Taskbar? First introduced in Windows 95 as a replacement for Program Manager that was a part of previous Windows releases, it houses your running applications as buttons that you can use to switch between windows on screen. Releases of Windows over the years have added new features and functionality such as the ‘Quick Launch’ desk band in Windows 98, ‘Taskbar Grouping’ in Windows XP and ‘Taskbar Thumbnail previews’ in Windows Vista. Windows 7 combines all those innovations and made them even better. When you load the Windows 7 Desktop for the first time, everything might seem familiar except for the Taskbar which has grown a few inches in size. Shortcuts for applications such as Internet Explorer and the User Folder might look like enlarged Quick Launch icons; well it’s a combination of both. By default, application shortcuts, running applications and non-running applications are not labelled. In previous versions of Windows, a running program would display an icon along with the name of the button on the Taskbar. The Windows Team have changed this based on the probability of users experience identifying programs by clear pictorial representations, the Internet Explorer ‘e’ for web browser, a blue ‘w’ for Microsoft Word, the stacked CD icon with the play identifier for Windows Media Player.

Taskbar with interactive Thumbnail Previews

Improved ways of controlling Notification Behaviour

Of course, if you don’t recognize a program shortcut on your Taskbar, you can hover over its icon which displays a floating balloon describing its purpose. One of the immediate benefits I discovered using the improved Taskbar with applications is a feature called Jump List. What it does is combine the ‘Recent Items’ menu from past versions of Windows and allows each application to have an individual Recent Items menu or Task list right click contextual menu with common activities that you might often associate with the program. Not all applications currently support the new feature, but I have discovered a handful that take advantage of it immediately, such as Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop, Windows Media Player, Windows Live Messenger, Live Writer, Windows Programs such as WordPad, Paint and Notepad to name a few. Not all programs will reveal radical features in Jump List, as programs are updated, third party developers I am sure will add functionality to programs to harness the benefits of Jump List.

Preview your windows without distractions (left), get a glance at your desktop and Gadgets (right)

Right now, users will mostly see ‘Recent files’ for some applications or your browser History for Internet Explorer, you will discover unique functionality in programs such as Windows Media Player which displays a list of Frequent activity such as your recently played media, search queries, artiste played and Task for playing your library of music in shuffle mode. Windows Live Messenger which is available as a part of Windows Live Essentials includes Task such as changing your status, signing in/out, going to your home page, viewing your Windows Live Profile or check your email. Jump List on the Taskbar is not only restricted to applications, Folders also support it too; users can appreciate seeing a list of the most frequently accessed folders within a directory. If you want to add your favourite application, you can do so by clicking Start, right click a program from the recent programs list or all programs and click the ‘Pin to Taskbar’ link.

Color Hot tracking

Appearances – Thumbnail Previews

The Taskbar for some persons might seem radical at first, but I have adjusted to it just fine, beyond Jump List, you will discover some cool effects and features when working with your applications. Thumbnail previews have become interactive. Internet Explorer for example which supports tabbed based browsing benefits from it immediately by displaying previews when you hover over its button on the Taskbar without the need to activate the window. You will be able to see a thumbnail preview of all open tab windows along with the ability see a full size preview when you hover the mouse pointer over each thumbnail. It’s a beautiful effect that saves time and makes working in Windows much faster. Applications and folders that are consolidated into groups automatically compose a group of thumbnails. Windows Media Player 12 Thumbnail supports unique functionality such as Previous, Pause and Next when playing an album. In addition to Thumbnail Previews, users can benefit from another significant productivity effect; the enhanced ‘Show Desktop’ button called ‘Desktop Preview’ allows you to get a glance at your Desktop or Gadgets by simply hovering the mouse pointer in the right hand corner of the screen. Your windows will immediately become transparent frames revealing the contents of the desktop. Another key feature is the progress bar which has been integrated into folder activities. For instance, when you are copying files from folder to folder or a network location or downloading a program in Internet Explorer, a progress indicator is displayed on the Taskbar button for that activity.

Various Jump List Activities by supported applications.

New Capabilities and Settings

Notification Area or System Tray features new options, in addition to showing full time and date, users can gain more real estate by controlling notification icon behaviours. A ‘Show hidden icons’ button reveals a floating balloon with a small gallery of icons and option for customizing the behaviour. This leads to a new Notification Area Icons Control Panel item. What I like in particular about this new setting is the clear organization of your notifications and ease of controlling the behaviours, from here you can choose to hide or show an icon at all times or show just the notification. To further clarify things, a link to a separate area available just for Windows 7 System Icons such as Clock, Volume, Network, Power and the new Action Center allows you to turn these settings on or off. If you mess something up or get confused, you can simply click the Restore default icon behaviours. The new ‘Eject’ device contextual is more informative too, displaying the name of the device instead of just the drive letter. Safely ejecting a device can be done more confidently too, in prior versions of Windows, you always closed all open programs and windows launched from a USB device before ejecting yet Windows kept insisting that you need to close all activities before removing the device. Now you can ignore that and force a device close and eject without any concern.

 
Default appearance – Always Combine, hide Labels

 
Combine when Taskbar is full

Never combine

Never combine with small icons 

One of the most requested functionality for the Taskbar over the years has been the ability rearrange your Taskbar buttons just the way you want. Sometimes we have programs setup up a certain way and would like to set a priority over which is closest to the Start button, now you can with a simple drag and drop action rearrange shortcuts and running applications on the fly. The Taskbar adapts the most predominate RGB value of an icon, making each program use a distinguishing colour effect when hovered over. Taskbar Properties appearance includes options for controlling how and where it is displayed on screen. For novices, you can have your Taskbar positioned on the right, top or left of the screen power users can still use the familiar dragging capabilities that you have known since prior releases. Taskbar button behaviour can also be controlled here too, the default layout in Windows 7 is ‘Always combine, hide labels’, in addition to this, there is a more classic look called ‘Combine when taskbar is full’ which simply enables labels with the large pictorial representations. If you want an even more classical yet familiar Vista style layout the third option ‘Never Combine’ along with ‘Use Small icons’ restores this behaviour.

Improved Start menu supports Jump List, along with new Power Option Settings

Start Menu
The Start menu has been through a few changes throughout the years, also introduced for the first time in Windows 95, the most radical update since was Windows XP which featured a two pane menu with links to recent applications along with common locations such as My Documents, Music, Pictures and default applications for common programs such as Web Browsing and Email and the ability to set default programs for common activities such as Email, Music and Web browsing. Windows Vista introduced additional functionality such as built in Search, a Connect to link for all your network connections and a simplified Power Options area. A major departure in Vista was the cascading Programs menu which was replaced by a hierarchical listing of programs and application groups. Windows 7’s Start menu is more about refining these features. The Start menu integrates Jump List functionality similar to the Taskbar.

Detailed Search Results Windows 7 Start menu (above), comparison in Windows Vista (below) click to enlarge

Search is more detailed displaying more categorized results with total listings within each category. New Categories include Documents, Music, Control Panel Items, Pictures and Videos. Appearances have also changed, instead of utilizing just the recently used application pane for search results; the entire pane is utilized for results. An even more simplified Power Options allows users to set the default setting whether you want it to be Shutdown, Hibernate or Sleep, you can still choose another option from a pop out menu. Searching from the Start menu features a new option; you can search for Task Pane links along with the ability to use natural language queries. New Search areas include Public Folder along with the option to display links and menus for Recorded TV and Videos. Old links that have been turned off include ‘Recent Items’ which makes sense since applications carry their own recent activities and the ‘Connect To’ link now replaced by the more convenient Network notification icon which reveals available wireless Networks, Dial up and VPN connections.

So this was a look at using the new Taskbar and Start menu and realizing its new benefits. It’s radical for the better. It makes application switching less of a puzzle while also enhancing the general user experience of working with your programs in a more convenient way. The Taskbar has come a long way since its days of ‘it works just like switching channels’. Users expect a rich experience and the compelling aesthetics such as interactive thumbnail previews and enhanced search functionality provide a cohesive application experience for end users.

Previously:

A Look at Windows Backup and Windows Update in 7
Playing with Windows Media Player 12

I started blogging back in late 2004 when Microsoft launched its MSN Spaces online journal platform now Windows Live Spaces. I have stuck to the service ever since because of its simplicity, ease of use and continued improvements over the years. Back in the early days, most of my blogging was done through the MSN Spaces ‘Add Post Blog Form’, which is limited in what you could do and still is. Then around 2006 Microsoft introduced Windows Live Writer beta and it was like a breath of fresh air to my blogging exercise. Blogging for me became a much richer and enjoyable experience because of what I could now do; images with wrapped text and tags made it a definite asset for my blogging journey.

Setting up Windows Live Writer (click image to enlarge)

Setup:

One of the things I immediately find frustrating about Windows Live Writer is the process of setting it up and connecting to your site and re-downloading information, especially if you blog from more than one computer. I wish there was some way to backup and export your profile settings and just import them as a part of the setup process, in fact, it would be great if you could travel with your Windows Live Writer profile on a thumb drive. Alas, it’s still a straightforward five step process, of entering your email address and password, selecting your blogging platform and let Windows Live Writer Connect to your blog and downloads the necessary information. During the wizard, Live Writer downloads your blog style and layout so writing content can adhere to its natural look and feel in addition to seeing WYSIWYG previews before you publish to the web. After this is completed, you are prompted to confirm your blog name and you off to expressing yourself.

Windows Live Writer 2009

Supported blogging platforms:

• Windows Live Space
• SharePoint blog
• Blogger
• WordPress
• TypePad and more...

Windows Live Writers interface if you have never used it before is word processor oriented. Still it lacks some of the traditional functionality and finesse of Microsoft Word or WordPerfect, but is perfect enough for what it does. Writer 2009 does include familiar tools like Word Count along with Auto Link glossary support. Interestingly enough, I am surprised the Windows Live Writer Team didn’t apply the Office Fluent UI which was introduced in Office 2007 to this update since Writer has been through a few versions of the traditional standard and formatting toolbar UI already and it would be a natural improvement to the application. Writer is not really major in changes and it still lacks some common functionality you get for free in Word Pad, options like keyboard commands for aligning text or images. The ‘Open’ dialog does not feature the bread crumb menu improvements and search facility of Windows Vista (interestingly its supported under Windows 7 BETA).

Photo Albums are cool for professional layouts and you can link to a full slideshow

More Multimedia Support

Writer handles multimedia much better, which makes it easier for users to publish videos and photos to their blogs. A new Photo Gallery feature displays your photos in casual thumbnail preview with links to a full size slideshow when inserted onto the blank canvas. You also have the ability to post photos from existing albums on your Windows Live Photos page. New photo options include, border effects, crop and tilting. Videos is especially improved, the new Insert Video dialog features options for publishing videos to both MSN Soapbox and YouTube while submitting a post to your blog at the same time. Options include insert an embedded URL, locally, or from your account on both services, very convenient!

Formatting

Writer 2009 could work better with Microsoft Word, I notice I lose formatting when I copy over content from Word documents with Bullet points and tables. I don’t like the limited capabilities of Tables either, you can’t centre them, the formatting options are lack lustre, there could definitely be more capabilities. I am limited by what I can do with pictures in Writer too, as you can see in this blog post, image captions are below the photo, centred. I would like the ability to have text wrapped images with captions to display a more professional look. Photo Albums are too rigid, I wish they could be more scalable with the ability to resize using anchor boxes. Also, the Photo Album dialog could feature more customization, such as the ability to rearrange pictures, my work around for that is to continuously click in the Album Style: list box on the chosen layout until the desired image in the album comes to the foreground.

There is some inconsistency between between the ‘Insert Picture’ dialogs for Writer 2009 on Vista (top) and Windows 7 (bottom) – hint, I prefer Writer on Windows 7.

Plug in Architecture

What makes Windows Live Writer especially powerful is its Plug in architecture which allows third party developers to further enhance the application. Live Writer 2009 includes SharePoint 2007 support, new APIs enabling custom extensions by weblog providers, automatic synchronization of local and online edits, integration with Windows Live Gallery, and support for "Blogger Labels" are some of the features new and existing users can look forward to. Here are links to some popular ones you can add to your web log post.

FLICKR UPLOAD (Download)
Uploads an image to your Flickr account and inserts an inline picture into your post.

DIGG THIS (Download)
Automatically adds a DiggThis badge to your blog post after you publish it from Writer.

TWITTER NOTIFY (Download)
Automatically generates a tiny URL and sends a Tweet about your blog post after you publish it from Writer.

Windows Live Writer supports the new ‘Jump List’ feature of Windows 7, although I notice, there are a lot of duplicate post in my ‘Recent’ items.

Publishing

Sending your content to the web could be more informative. The same Publishing to ‘Blog Name’ displayed on a dialog doesn’t give user much to chew on, a progress bar would be a nice addition. The reliability is improved too, past versions of Writer often generated unrecognizable errors during failed uploads. I still encounter them, one in particular is when I am publishing post with .PNG files. Speed on my GPRS connection is quite good, I use to encounter numerous failures with previous versions, although sometimes I will still get a few, I have worked around it by ‘Saving Weblog Post’ as a draft to my Live Space and publish at a later date from Live Space summary page.

Conclusion

Windows Live Writer continues to improve rapidly and the new features will make publishing to the various supported blogging services and social networks such as Twitter more fun and easier. What I would like to see one day is a web based version of Live Writer so I can have access through the web browser on any PC instead of having the software installed locally. It would be great especially for environments where you cannot just install stuff without the Admins permission. Live Writer makes sharing your words and media with your audience attractive, that’s been the core focus of the program since its debut and that theme continues with this update.

Resources:

A Look at Windows Live Mail 2009

Instant and Social Communication with Windows Live Messenger 9

Managing and Sharing Digital Memories using Windows Live Photo Gallery 2009

Technorati Tags: Windows Live Writer,

Windows Live Essentials,Windows Live,Blogging,Online Journal,Blog,Word Processor,Web Site,Windows Live Spaces