Getting the icons right
By Simon Bisson & Mary Branscombe in Editorial
Posted in Windows 7, Applications, Enterprise, Windows, Email on
User experience is a complex thing, with the smallest elements affecting everyone differently. Big changes in an OS UI can have significant impacts of applications that were designed to work with another version. Take Office 2007 for example. It’s a productivity tool that ends up running your online world. I spend most of my time in just three Office applications (and a web browser) - running Outlook, OneNote and Word.
It’s Outlook where the problems appear. If you’re using XP or Vista the option to hide minimised windowx from the task bar, you’ll end up using Outlook’s status bar icons to show if new mail has arrived and to open and close your inbox. It’s a simple way of working, and one that completely falls apart once you upgrade to Windows 7.
It’s purely down to the new task bar. Icons in the task bar are large and compelling. They show when an application is running, and when it’s closed. Unfortunately they don’t show an application as running when it’s hidden - so using the old “hide Outlook” approach fails. The task bar icon becomes the place to click for new windows, and suddenly your PC is running multiple Outlook instances, chewing CPU and memory, and slowing shutdown times.
There is a simple answer - turn off the hide when minimised option, and move the Outlook status bar icon to Windows 7’s new status bar overflow bubble. Suddenly you’re back to doing everything with the task bar icon (albeit without all the information you used to have). One Outlook, one window - and a task bar preview to help you find the things you need to run your day. It’s just a pity that you had to throw away all the useful information you got from the status bar.
One thing occured to me a while back: the icons on the Windows 7 task bar are large and clear - so why shouldn’t they be a tool for displaying information about running applications. After all, my iPhone uses dynamic icons to show me how many messages are unread, and even just what day it is… The keynote at Microsoft’s TechEd here in Los Angeles showed that Microsoft has been thinking the same way, and is adding subtle status icons to the task bar in Office 2010.
The most obvious was in Outlook 2010. There’s no need to keep looking at the status bar for new message indicators - they’re now an overly on the task bar. New mail shows as the familiar envelope image - but as part of the Outlook task bar icon. Read the message, and the envelope vanishes.
It’ll be interesting to see how many other software vendors start using dynamic icons in the Windows 7 task bar. It’s a technique that makes a lot of sense, turning placeholders into a means of delivering quick hits of contextual information, simplifying interactions and giving developers a new way of delivering content to users. You can imagine workflow applications that display current tasks, or to do lists that alert you out of the corner of your eye. The Windows 7 task bar will become what it really needs to be - a dashboard for your PC.
–Simon
Not yet rated
Loading ...Trackback by - February 9, 2012 on 5:30 am
greenpeace flag photo…
[…]well as fencing leader Per Henrik Ling (1777-1839), who examined massage on China[…]…
Trackback by - February 9, 2012 on 7:12 am
sopa de pollo boricua…
[…]actually listen to true experts other than people more than compensated […]…
Trackback by - May 8, 2012 on 10:58 pm
Online Article……
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
Make a comment
Tag cloud
Archives
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
Most commented posts
- Java's SSVAGENT.EXE: training the monkey
128 comments
- When Windows 7 upgrades won’t hibernate (the solution)
- Do you need IPv6 for DirectAccess? Yes and No
- Chrome OS: what happens when "always connected", isn't?
- The ColdFusion Renaissance
- Make Adobe Acrobat Pro deactivate
- Is there a showstopper bug in Windows 7 CHKDSK?
- There’s a reason smartphones are locked down
- At sixes and Windows 7s
- The LHC isn
Highest Rated Blog Posts
- Songs of distant satellites (100%)
- Nobody knows what Web 2.0 really is (100%)
- Log in and lock in (100%)
- Top tips for speeding up Vista (100%)
- Mommy, why is there a home server in the office? (100%)
- Employees are our most valuable asset (snigger) (100%)
- Locking down IT or blocking creativity (100%)
- Consumer BlackBerrys are good for business (100%)
- HD Trek (100%)
- Join the (beta) community (100%)
