The Windows 7 Task Bar
The Task Bar in Windows 7 is broken up into 2 parts by default. You have your pinned program shortcuts and open programs in the middle (much like the OSX Dock) and to the right you see the Task Tray which shows individual running programs as well as programs running in the background.
Now let’s break this down and take a look at each segment:
Quick Launch
The Quick Launch bar isn’t included in the Task Bar by default (unlike WinXP) but, since Windows 7 allows you to pin program shortcuts to the Task Bar, I feel like it is confusing to have open programs mixed with unopened programs. So I like to keep them separated by having program shortcuts in the Quick Launch and open windows in the main area of the Task Bar. If you would like to enable the Quick Launch bar then you can follow this guide.
Open Programs
The middle section of the Task Bar shows your open programs. This is the biggest change from the WinXP days and I think it’s a change for the better. It basically functions like the OSX Dock with a couple of differences:
To indicate that the particular program has more than one window open, it shows a stack behind the icon while the OSX Dock only shows a dot underneath the icon indicating that it is open.
Clicking a stack will display a small thumbnail and textual representation of the open window while OSX requires you to right-click the icon and will only display a textual representation of the window.
And for those of you who think Windows always copies OSX, it is obvious that they both take ideas from eachother, though some are more blatant than others. Either way, I’m not going to hold it against Microsoft for taking what Apple did and making it better and vice-versa.
Conclusion
Although I can give OSX points for their Dock being a bit prettier than the Windows 7 Task Bar, I do think that the Task Bar is a little more realistic and productivity oriented. When I have 8 programs open, each with a window or two open within them, I would take the Windows 7 Task Bar over the OSX Dock any day of the week. To me, it’s just easier. What are your thoughts?
The reason why I like the OSX doc better is because it works well in conjunction with spaces and expose. Windows 7s taskbar is good for what it is, but to me isn’t really better.
The representation that there is more windows open by showing extra glossy glass box lines is a little obscure to me. I also would much rather just see textual representations or just hit a hot corner for expose to find what I’m looking for.
Although the argument for this is that expose is obscure, but in reality the windows7 taskbar mouse over effect to show open programs is just as obscure as expose preview, except its showing you a small representation of all windows associated with a specific program. So really if you have 5 plus windows of anything being opened up in expose or windows 7 rollover popup, you still aren’t going to be able to tell what your really clicking on.
Another reason why i like OSX better is the white dot in OSX also lets the user know the program is actually running in the background, and you don’t have to have one single window or instance of that program open to have it running in the background. In windows 7 as soon as you close the application window (lets say firefox or iTunes) the application is actually stopped. If I am listening to a song on itunes in OSX and want to close the window, the application will still keep playing the song. Makes for less clutter on the desktop.
If you have 8 things opened its much easier to use spaces. If one has two monitors, then its even more beneficial as you can view two spaces at once, hold cmd+1,2,3,4 and switch to another space with all your windows. Instead on windows 7 you are left with a gazillion icons on your taskbar and all your windows have to live on space spanned across two monitors. With everything organized in spaces its much better to get a bigger preview in Expose as your window count is now limited as they are spread out in different spaces.
But I know you don’t like spaces or Expose since you have stated they are useless with a second monitor. I however think they are more beneficial with the addition of a second monitor.
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Hah I should have known you’d have a bunch of input on this. Well here’s what I think:
The representation of a stack indicates that there are multiples. How is that obscure? You’re telling me that a blue dot below the icon is a better representation?
If I have 3 windows open under Firefox in the Win7 bar, clicking it shows a live thumbnail of the 3 windows. Then holding over it will show that window’s location. The difference between this and expose is that expose has to deal with every single window that’s open, which IMO gets confusing (especially when you’re a developer), while the Win7 preview only deals with the Firefox windows. To me, this is a big point for Win7.
I don’t see how closing the window on OSX is any different from minimizing it in Win7. Either way, the music still plays and the window isn’t cluttering your desktop. I might also add that there are many programs in Win7 that actually do stay running when you click the x to close the window.
First off, you’re right as I have never used spaces even when I was working on my mac full-time
. However, most users won’t have a gazillion items opened at once and, if they do, the new taskbar is made to organize those better. Having 10 different windows open might only take up 3 inches of room on your taskbar and use 5 icons to represent it all. Oh and I think that Vista and XP do have a spaces-like addon that you can install.. not sure about Windows 7 though – just an FYI.
Anyways, thanks a lot for the input!
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Ho! the classic Mac v. PC arguments rage on.
I honestly don’t think that the Taskbar is any better than the Doc, although recently it has *gotten better*. It has improved a bit over the old XP Taskbar, but ultimately it hasn’t solved any problems and is, in reality, total rubbish.
The main problem that the Taskbar has tried to address is window management. Unfortunately, the same problems still exists, just masked under pretty icons and shiny graphics with too much lens flare.
We actually have a couple separate issues here. One issue is with the windows on the desktop, and one is with the windows minimized in the Taskbar.
This has been a problem for Windows since… well always: you’ve only got 1 desktop. If you’re lucky enough to have a second monitor, this eases the pain, but its still a huge problem. When I work, I need to see Photoshop, Textmate, 2 browsers, a Terminal window, a SVN client and possibly an FTP client. Not to mention extras like iTunes or a calendar up. I also frequently need to see several of these windows simultaneously (Textmate and Terminal, or Textmate and Firefox, Firefox and Chrome, etc). Windows simply doesn’t afford you this luxury because all your windows are STACKED UP ON THE SAME GODDAMN SPOT. Sure you’ve got Aero, but it shows you only a sliver of each window. Hardly useful and more of an annoyance than anything.
I run 6 desktops with dedicated apps to each one (Firefox only opens on 1, iTunes on 2, Textmate and Terminal on 3, SVN and FTP on 4, Photoshop and Illustrator on 5, 6 for extra working space with Finder or misc).
What about the Dock? You only need to click on the icon of the app you want to use (or CMD+TAB if you’re a real hipster) and voila! you are instantly brought to the desktop with only a few windows to sort through (which then of course you can use expose to see a full screen representation of these windows, not a 200×200 image attached to the taskbar). Alternatively you could use Spaces to preview all the windows at the same time, then jump to the Space with the app you need. This still gives you bigger thumbnails and a more dynamic approach the problem.
Of course, Windows seeks to address the window problem changing the Taskbar functionality (icons instead of window titles, stacked icons, window preview thumbnails, etc). But this DOES NOT fix the problem. When I run a full screen app such as Photoshop I cannot see my editor without first minimizing PS, then maximizing E (TextMate for windows), providing there aren’t any other windows in the way such as Firefox, Windows explorer, etc. Its really just rubbish. You end up doing a lot of extra clicking trying to find the window you want. There is no hotkey support to get where I want to be, which means constantly going back and forth from the mouse and keyboard. It’s just not efficient.
Sure the Taskbar gives you a thumbnail on hover instead of the Dock’s textual titles, but is this really better? It might be one approach, but this is an attribution error! The real problem does not lie in how fast you can get your minimized windows. Users should not have to be minimizing windows in the first place. If you are minimizing windows (on any system), either your have poor workflow organization or your OS hasn’t progressed out of the Stone Age.
To be honest, I don’t use the Dock much. _Because I don’t have to_. Any good application will let you solve a problem multiple ways. Windows, on the other hand forces me to use a subpar system to manage my windows in a way that is neither convenient or efficient.
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Hmm interesting points.. here’s what I think
Maybe I’m mis-understanding but.. If I have PS open and I need to get to Firefox I can either click ALT+TAB (which will switch to the window you had open last) or just click the icon in the task bar and it’s opens above every other window. There is no need to minimize or maximize anything. Am I missing something?
Minimize is no different than hide on a Mac. On either system, your open windows are just sitting behind the actual program you are using or they are hidden (minimized), whether you prefer expose or simply clicking the icon in the task bar, I just don’t see a huge difference (I never use expose when using my Mac anyways though, just doesn’t feel practical when I can just click the icon).
Also, you have yet to mention window snapping. I use it every single day to quickly organize 2 open windows when I need them to interact, be it FTP, SVN, explorer or what have you. It may seem like a small feature but it saves me a lot of time and effort. Very useful
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ALT+TAB or CMD+TAB is annoying on both systems because it constantly rearranges what’s going to be next in the queue. If you switch between three apps you can’t go back to the first without hitting tab twice. This problem is compounded with more trips to more apps. I rarely use it because it can’t be don’t quickly every time. I can’t always know what the result is going to be. If a user can’t predict what the outcome of an event is going to be, there’s probably a usability issue.
You are correct, minimize is no different than hide in practice. And I find Hide just as worthless as minimizing. Expose really is a good way to manage windows. Maximum control with minimal effort. Tis a good thing
I’d love to see something similar to this for Windows, as well as multiple desktops. Every Unix-based OS has multiple desktops now. Why cant Windows have it natively too?
I’m not familiar with window snapping. How does it work? Sounds like something I could use…
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With practice, I find that Alt-Tab, even with more than two applications, can still be very efficient. However, if the switching is complex enough that it becomes hard to remember how many tabs are needed to get to the application you need, then you’re falling back to the mouse. You like using Exposé — well, starting in Vista, the Alt-Tab display shows miniatures of all the windows, and they are clickable! You can also use Windows Key+Tab to get a stacked view of the windows, and those are clickable too. Neither one has the tiled view using up as much screen space as possible that characterizes Exposé, but they both show you the windows.
In my own personal usage, I find it relatively easy to remember the positions of the windows in the Task Bar; if Alt-Tabbing isn’t working for me, my approach is simply to click the task bar icons to bring up the windows I want. Again, starting with Vista, if I am unsure of which document or web site a given taskbar icon is for, I can simply hover over it and in short order I’m given a preview of the window.
I believe the window snapping feature referred to is some new behaviour that Windows 7 has for when you are dragging windows around. If you drag a window to the left or right edge of the screen, it “docks” there using exactly half of the width of the monitor. This makes it very easy to grab two applications and have each one use half of the screen. There are other mouse gestures as well; dragging it to the top of the screen automatically maximizes it, and shaking it back and forth minimizes everything else, giving you a clean desktop with only the application you have “grabbed”.
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Good points. I feel like most Mac users underestimate the usefulness of some of these new windows UI features. Just my opinion though
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