Should "combine when full" be the defalut option


Should "combine when full" be the defalut option  

149 members have voted

  1. 1. on the windows 7 taskbar?

    • YES!
      39
    • No way. I like the way it is now
      97
    • I could care less
      9
    • Whats combine when full?
      4


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Exactly.

Despite what Paul Thorrott may claim, Fitt's Law and muscle memory trumps textual labels. By far the best aspect of the improved taskbar in Windows 7 is the very fact that it's a grouping of static icons. By arranging your icons how you want and then them always staying in their exact positioning, muscle memory takes over. You can always rely on the icon to be there in the exact same spot, every time.

If you enable textual labels, you gain just a little bit more information (I would argue that you gain essentially nothing, though), but what you give up is the muscle memory. Suddenly, your icons are moving positions, creating an unreliable setting.

People aren't stupid, for the most part. They will have little trouble associating a certain icon with a program. (Especially one that they pin themselves.) Microsoft knows what they are doing, and they wouldn't have made the default what it is unless they were confident it was the better model. And it is. "Combine when taskbar is full" might be a good option for some, but it should not be the default.

+1 + the fact that winkey 1 opens first app on taskbar, winkey 2 the second and so on, it's very intuitive.

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The most annoying thing about the taskbar is that it takes too long for the thumbnails to show up, and there's no simple way to set this delay.

There's a fairly simple registry edit though.

althoug the delay is set for the majority of users comfort level. not for the instant reaction ADD power users

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While I'm not opposed to the "Always combine" mode, in its present state it's just badly done (e.g. running apps should be highlighted better).

That's why I prefer "Combine when full".

there's a big square around the icons of running apps. It's pretty obvious unless you're blind...

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there's a big square around the icons of running apps. It's pretty obvious unless you're blind...

yeah it was better in 7000 it was just a more subtle frame, but still clearly visible. In RC it' horribly overdone, and just makes the taskbar a light gray mess. it it even ruins the color mouse overs since they become so bright because of it.

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There's a fairly simple registry edit though.

althoug the delay is set for the majority of users comfort level. not for the instant reaction ADD power users

To change the system-wide hover time anyway. I would have liked it to be an option just for the taskbar.

Although I guess personally I will just turn combine off because I'm one of the millions that are used to quickly glancing at the taskbar text and having their window open in half the time it takes for the tiny little thumbnails to even appear.

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It takes you longer to read and understand what's on the label than it takes for the hover to appear.

and if you think the thumbnails take to long to appear, then you'd probably think the other hovers are to slow as well.

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It does not take me longer. After using the computer that way for a decade and half it becomes second nature.

All the new taskbar does for me is make me have to wait for the thumbnails to show up so I can read the text above them (the thumbnails are too small to be any use for a lot of stuff). Might as skip that step and have it right there on the taskbar.

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It takes you longer to read and understand what's on the label than it takes for the hover to appear.

and if you think the thumbnails take to long to appear, then you'd probably think the other hovers are to slow as well.

I dislike hovering in general, because it's such a difficult thing to get right. When the user is moving their mouse around, it's probably best to have a long delay, to prevent things from jumping around and popping out when they don't want it.

In other instances, like showing a group of thumbnails for window switching, it's probably best to cut the time as short as possible, since the user obviously wants to get to their program as quickly as possible.

But then those two are sometimes in conflict on this new taskbar, where in some instances, we don't want to have thumbnails setting off at the slightest gesture, but we would want it to activate as quickly when we know what program we're trying to get to.

Added to getting the delay on hovering just right, animations for these actions can't be too fast, or else they're jarring, or too slow, as yet in other instances with a more experienced user, they know what to expect, and any animation is general just slows things down.

The seemingly pointless fade animation in the Windows 7 start menu when I click on, "All programs" is a good example. There's already a delay for hovering, so there's no worry of accidentally activating the list just by moving the mouse over it, and users who want to get at it can just click on the button anyway. Yet even when clicked, there's this extremely short, but still odd fade animation added in before the list shows. It only slows things down by a fraction of a second, but why is it even there in the first place?

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+1 for the hover delay argument! That is most of the reason I have mine set to not combine. The other is that it is just SO much faster to switch between windows if I have less than 10 open if they are not combined. Just move the mouse and click instead of move the mouse, wait for the thing to pop up, move the mouse again, and click.

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I dislike hovering in general, because it's such a difficult thing to get right. When the user is moving their mouse around, it's probably best to have a long delay, to prevent things from jumping around and popping out when they don't want it.

In other instances, like showing a group of thumbnails for window switching, it's probably best to cut the time as short as possible, since the user obviously wants to get to their program as quickly as possible.

But then those two are sometimes in conflict on this new taskbar, where in some instances, we don't want to have thumbnails setting off at the slightest gesture, but we would want it to activate as quickly when we know what program we're trying to get to.

Added to getting the delay on hovering just right, animations for these actions can't be too fast, or else they're jarring, or too slow, as yet in other instances with a more experienced user, they know what to expect, and any animation is general just slows things down.

The seemingly pointless fade animation in the Windows 7 start menu when I click on, "All programs" is a good example. There's already a delay for hovering, so there's no worry of accidentally activating the list just by moving the mouse over it, and users who want to get at it can just click on the button anyway. Yet even when clicked, there's this extremely short, but still odd fade animation added in before the list shows. It only slows things down by a fraction of a second, but why is it even there in the first place?

it's impossible to even move your mouse to what you want to click before the fade is over and it's a very short and pretty much instant animation... It's there because it looks nice.

People find the stupidest things to complain about...

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it's impossible to even move your mouse to what you want to click before the fade is over and it's a very short and pretty much instant animation... It's there because it looks nice.

Wonder why there's no super quick animation for the opening of the start menu itself then...

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I prefer icons that don't shuffle around. But in the current state, switching to the previous window is a bit of a hassle. Move to the icon, wait for the thumbnails and then click.

While this is better when I have to choose between open windows of the application, its more work than needed when the application has only one window (or only one window I am interested for the most part). Why not make it so that when the icon is clicked, focus should move to the last open window for the application?

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I'd prefer using 'never combine' if the text was easier to read.

2n1et10.png

There must be a reason why it has never been an option to chang font color for the taskbar when it is possible for most 'items'.

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