Build 7000

Feb 26, 2009 18:43 GMT  ·  By

Even though Windows 7 is feature complete as of Beta Build 7000, Microsoft will continue to hammer away at the operating system in the evolution from Beta to Release Candidate. And even though the company failed to mention a specific pre-Release Candidate build, through the voice of Chaitanya Sareen, a senior program manager on the Core User Experience team, it has identified no less than ten changes affecting the graphical user interface and the desktop experience of end users. The examples offered by Chaitanya are relevant only for Windows 7 Builds from the Release Candidate branch that supersede Beta Build 7000.

In the Release Candidate of Windows 7, users will be able to take advantage of Windows Flip (ALT + TAB) in conjunction with Aero Peek (1). “We’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback about Aero Peek and how it helps customers switch windows with increased confidence,” Chaitanya stated. “We decided to make this change since we heard many requests for it. One can still quickly flip between and cycle through running windows using the ALT+TAB keys, but when more window information is needed Aero Peek will appear. This is triggered by a time delay as you pause while keyboarding through running windows.”

In Windows 7 RC, windows that will need the user's attention will make sure that they get it. Microsoft has made the visual signals synonymous with a window in Needy State (2) stronger, enhancing the visualization in order to make sure that an item needing to attract attention will in fact be able to do so. “We’ve made three changes that should address the issue,” Chaitanya explained. “First, we changed the flashing animation curve to make it more noticeable (from a sine to a sawtooth wave). Second, we used a bolder orange color. Finally, we wanted to double the number of flashes which is currently set to three. As a nod to Windows 7, we decided to go with seven flashes instead.”

The advent of the enhanced Taskbar, or the Superbar, as it is referred to, is synonymous with the killing of the old Quick Launch area. With this move, Windows 7 users are no longer capable of dropping a file onto a pinned item in the Taskbar and have it open with that specific application. Windows 7's Superbar treats such an action from the user in a new manner and, in fact, pins the file under an application's Jump List. But in order to bring back the old behavior, in Windows 7 RC, dragging and dropping a file on top of a Taskbar item while holding the Shift key pressed (3) will launch the respective program and open the file.

“We’ve reclaimed lots of space on the taskbar by unifying launching/switching, by collapsing open windows and by cleaning the notification area. Still, some have asked for even more room to pin the programs they use regularly. We’ve made a change to squeeze in 24-39% more icons before the taskbar scrolls (4); depending upon your resolution, icon size and assuming the default notification area. [The table on the left] illustrates the new button capacity before the taskbar begins to scroll as well as the capacity growth since Beta. We believe customers will find more than enough room to pin their common programs,” Chaitanya said.

Microsoft has also changed the behavior associated with an active group of thumbnail previews with their corresponding application icon on the Taskbar. In Windows 7 RC, Superbar items that have opened thumbnails will continue to feature their specific color hot-track effect (5) even when the mouse moves over the preview mini-windows.

“Customer in control” is so strong a mantra for Windows 7 we don’t even allow programs to pin themselves to the taskbar when they are installed,” Chaitanya explained. “This is a task expressly reserved for the customer. We’ve gotten some requests to make this goal a bit easier so now when a program is installed, it is automatically and temporarily surfaced at the bottom of the Start Menu (6). The customer can easily discover this new addition, launch it directly and optionally drag it to the taskbar for convenient access in the future.”

In Windows 7 RC, the length of Jump List will be limited to 10 items (7). In this manner, Microsoft is aiming to make it as simple as possible for mend users to identify and navigate to their favorite, or commonly accessed files, folders, links and tasks. By default, Jump Lists will only suggest ten items, in addition to pinned items and tasks; however, this behavior is customizable.

“For organizational, scaling and identification purposes, the taskbar is designed to hold files, folders and links in a program’s Jump List,” Chaitanya explained. “Items can only be pinned to the Jump List of programs registered to handle that file type. Based on feedback we’ve received we now allow one to pin items to a Jump List belonging to a program that isn’t registered to handle that file type (8). Better yet, pinning the item in most cases will create a new registration so that launching it from the Jump List will always open the file with that specific program. For example, one can pin an .HTML file to Notepad’s Jump List and when clicked on from the menu, the file will always open in Notepad even though IE by default handles the file type.”

Windows 7 Release Candidate will allow end users more control over the items they want to see on their desktop. In this context, while in Windows 7 Beta, application items and gadgets were governed by the same mechanism, and could only be viewed or hidden together, in RC branch builds, users will be able to choose hiding application icons independently from gadgets, and vice versa (9).

At the same time, Windows 7 RC will deliver new keyboard shortcuts. Chaitanya explained that Microsoft receives constant feedback to introduce new keyboard shortcuts in order to streamline common tasks and increase efficiency. As a consequence, Microsoft introduced what it referred to as “per-program ALT +TAB shortcut for the first 10 items on the taskbar (10).” In this context, pressing the Windows key along with 1 will launch the program whose icon has been pinned in the number one spot on the Superbar. If the application is already running, Windows plus the numeric key corresponding to the program's position to the Taskbar from left to right, will permit users to navigate through the opened instances. Letting go will select the specific windows viewed at that time.

“A program’s Jump List may also be accessed via ALT+ Windows Logo + <#>. Finally, you can even flip back to the last active window of a program by using CTRL+ Windows Logo + <#> (this also works by holding CTRL with a mouse click on a taskbar button). Keyboard aficionados rejoice!” Chaitanya added.

Photo Gallery (4 Images)

Windows 7
Windows Flip (ALT + TAB) with Aero PeekMaximum taskbar button capacity before scrolling
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