Microsoft details the Windows 7 Taskbar

Chaitanya Sareen, Windows Team at Microsoft, has produced a blog post detailing the new Windows 7 Taskbar.

In the post Sareen highlights the following areas of evolution:

Refreshed Look
Pinning
Unification
Interactive, Grouped Thumbnails
Aero Peek
Jump Lists
Custom Window Switchers
Thumbnail Toolbars
Notification Area
Overlay Icons and Progress Bars
Color Hot-track
Start Menu

In the post, Sareen also posts screen shots of one of the latest builds of Windows 7 at Microsoft, Build 6948.fbl_shell_dex.081112-1755. Most of the features we already know about from PDC but one interesting addition, that Microsoft didn"t demonstrate at PDC, is overlay icons and progress bars in the taskbar. Microsoft now allows application developers to give feedback about progress by having their taskbar button turn into a progress bar. This is particularly useful for file copy progress, as shown below. An icon can now also be shown over a program"s taskbar button.

If you are interested in the Windows 7 development or the new taskbar then it"s a worth while read and explains some of the design decisions that Microsoft have made.

If you"re interested in all the features being demonstrated on video then we recorded several videos at PDC where members of the Windows team demonstrated the new Taskbar, you can view them here.

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