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Awesome Bar with small icons? Yes

Someone emailed me earlier today and asked whether you can make the icons in the new Windows 7 taskbar smaller. Yes. Yes, you can.

Published Nov 03 2008, 08:36 PM by pthurrott
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Comments

 

dmccall said:

I saw a video today that showed the icons of active programs in an expanded state (similar to classic taskbar wide icons). Another video showed active program icons simply as highlighted, as you are showing above. In both cases, the position of the icons did not change, so you apparently don't lose the order of the icons you've set up.

November 3, 2008 6:45 PM
 

patrick_stephens said:

Can you move the icons on the "awesome bar" closer together?  It seems like a waste of real estate with all that space between the icons.  I say this without actually using the beta at all.  Maybe it doesn't make sense to move them together.  I just feel like why leave so much space in between?

November 3, 2008 7:02 PM
 

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November 3, 2008 7:03 PM
 

shark47 said:

Patrick,

Read this:

www.dasmirnov.net/.../windows-7-superbar-can-function-like-the

"The little gap between Explorer and Internet Explorer is due to how jump lists work in this build (an arrow pops up when you hover over the gap), as far as I know these gaps and arrows are gone in later builds and you just right click to get a the jump lists."

November 3, 2008 7:21 PM
 

patrick_stephens said:

Thanks shark47 sounds good to me.  Seems like you can customize the awesome bar a lot.  I always liked the customization options available in Windows compared to the limited ones in OS X.

November 3, 2008 7:39 PM
 

djRob said:

Paul you are changing into Windows equivalent of Mac fan boy.

Small icons, who cares! I only care if its faster then Vista.

November 3, 2008 8:29 PM
 

geogray said:

djRob,

I, for one, am interested in all aspects of Windows 7, including whether or not the icons can be small or large.  Color me a Windows fanboy as well.

November 3, 2008 8:41 PM
 

shark47 said:

Two questions, Paul.

1. How does the performance compare to Vista so far?

2. How does the performance compare to XP so far?

3. Is there something that's actually become worse since Vista?

I know that's three questions, but who's counting.

November 3, 2008 9:24 PM
 

Xtreem0 said:

@mikegalos@msn.com i fixed that M3 beta problem. Apparently Live Mesh's driver which is suppose to be if you control your computer using the mesh service makes your skin change to the black theme. Removing Mesh fixes the problem. (i don't think it's a hard fix though... just have to modify how it controls the theme)

November 3, 2008 11:35 PM
 

cropje said:

I think the "awesome bar" looks far better when reduced to the same size of the Vista taskbar, personally.

November 3, 2008 11:40 PM
 

sjaak327 said:

This build seems to boot much faster then vista, but then again, that's compared to an OS that has a lot of programs installed, being on my HD for almost two years.

The jumplist indeed takes up space between the icons, but I believe that they have changed it to right click on that other build, loosing the space.

I basically use it as replacement of the quick lauch toolbar, indeed using small icons. That way, I can launch the apps I have there using the jumplist, which IS a nice feature.

Search form startmenu seems to be broken, as when you click see more results, a window pops up and disappears right after appearing, maybe a bug, maybe something on my machine.

IE8 sometimes hangs, for the rest it seems very stable.

November 4, 2008 12:39 AM
 

mikegalos@msn.com said:

xtreem0

Cool. Good to know. Not a big surprise that there could be interaction bugs between a pre-beta operating system and a beta service.

Still, make sure you log the bug because it could be a bug that actually only shows up with some other interaction as well such as a specific driver or two.

November 4, 2008 3:18 AM
 

Delmont said:

djrob: give it a rest.

I have been using LIve Mesh for months. Works fine for me. I have had 3 times my glass desktop not come back from the black screen when I have sat back down at my pc. I have logged a bug with this on the Live Mesh Forums.

Another issue I have is that if I'm using IE8 to remote back into my home pc, I lose the ability to expand the viewable area of the desktop in the Mesh top tool bar. I've logged this bug too about a month ago.

Well, time to drive my Jag to my polling location and vote for McCain :-)

November 4, 2008 5:50 AM
 

mikegalos@msn.com said:

Delmont

"Well, time to drive my Jag to my polling location and vote for McCain :-)"

Well, considering Jaguar's reputation for reliability, that's one less vote for McCain :-)

November 4, 2008 7:02 AM
 

pthurrott said:

The performance is pretty similar to Vista right now.

The Windows equiv. of a Mac fan boy? Huh? Am I lying about stuff now?  :) Please.

This is early on for Windows 7. I, like many others, are very interested in the small changes. If you're not, just ignore the posts. Obviously.

November 4, 2008 7:14 AM
 

Blakes7 said:

I watch the Channel9 video of the Task bar in action and I have to say I liked what I saw. Glad you can change to small icons too.

I'm interested in hearing about small changes, keep the posts coming Paul.

November 4, 2008 7:39 AM
 

Delmont said:

Mike G,

My friends in the U.K. tell me Jags are known as the best looing car in the mechanic's garage :-)

Mine is a 1993, from what I've learned it was made in U.K. but was the first model year to see Ford's quality.

Odd for me is this car has 6 ash trays, but not a single cup holder. But having one wiper does save me money for replacements! :-)

Back on topic, I can remember running a very early beta of Longhorn at the time...and it was very slow and would just idle and run the cpu at 60% or more...so I'm not concerned about how fast Win7 is right now due to the fact:  IT'S BETA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 4, 2008 7:55 AM
 

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November 6, 2008 7:05 AM
 

Special Windows 7 WrapUp said:

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November 10, 2008 9:41 AM
 

Awesome Bar with small icons? Yes | MS Tech News said:

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November 11, 2008 12:26 PM
 

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February 2, 2009 12:41 AM
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