Quick Launch

Anderton Prime

Anderton Prime

2,760
Hey everyone, I was having an argument with a friend of mine about the Quick Launch feature in Microsoft Windows.

First, I should explain how I have my desktop set up. I never use Desktop Icons, because I find it tremendously annoying to minimize the two to three programs I have running at a time to access the desktop. I also like to design my own wallpapers, and don't see the point of having a nice wallpaper if all you're going to do is cover it up with 30+ icons. I thought of using the Start Menu to launch all programs, but even this sometimes takes a little too long to open and select what I want.

The logical solution, therefore, is to utilize the Quick Launch toolbar. The problem, though, is that in its default setting, it only allows you to see a couple of icons, and you have to select the two arrows to bring up a small menu of the other programs you have put in there.

But I found a solution to this as well, and that is to increase my bottom toolbar by one line (you would do this by unlocking your toolbar and using the pointer to drag the top of it up one notch). Now I have room for 10 Quick Launch icons, I can show all the icons in my Status Bar, and I have more than enough room overall.

Now, the argument. My friend says I'm an idiot, and that no one else on Earth ever increases the size of their bottom toolbar. I want to know if anyone else out there is like me.
 
At first I say that I have six icons in my Quick Launch, so it takes up quite a long bit of my bottom toolbar.

But I don't like making the bar two rows tall, mainly because it looks plain stupid with a huge junk of blue in the bottom of the screen. Yes, I'm using the XP Blue theme.

The whole thing is a two-bladed sword, it has advantages but it has downsides too. But you're definitely not an idiot, if someone is, it is your friend if he doesn't appreciate your opinion.
 
I can understand why it might look bad with the Blue theme, but that's why I always use the XP Silver theme, it looks less cartoony, which has always been an issue of contention for me with XP. The Silver theme has nice shadowing which textures the bar and makes it look less conspicuous.
 
Solution: Auto-hiding toolbar!
Create a new folder for all your quick launch shortcuts and copy them all into the new folder. Remove your quick launch, unlock your toolbar and minimise/close all open windows. Add the new folder you created and drag it to one side of your screen. Then once it's standing at the side, right click it and enable "Always on top" and "auto-hide". Then it'll sit there almost out of view (i.e. not messing up your desktop) until you mouse-over it, at which point it pops up to serve you.
 
My father has lots of icons in his quick launch as well as lots of icons on his desktop.

I personally like a minimalist style, of as few icons as possible on my desktop. As for my quick launch i have 4 visable, and 3 hidden by the twin arrows.
 
My Task Bar is only one row high, but I think it all depends on your resolution. If you're running a low resolution (800*600 or 1024*768) then having the Task Bar two rows high might start to encroach on your screen quite a bit.

A friend of mine runs a high resolution on his laptop. He has his Task Bar 3 rows high, and 30+ icons in his Quick Launch! (I fail to see how it can be a Quick Launch when you have to search for the icon you need!)

Anyway, there's nothing wrong with having your taskbar two rows high - It doesn't take up that much room and in Silver theme it looks OK. You're not an idiot, that's for sure. I run a 'double-tier' Task Bar at work where I routinely have 6+ windows open for testing etc. Just a matter of practicality really.
 
Anderton Prime
Now, the argument. My friend says I'm an idiot, and that no one else on Earth ever increases the size of their bottom toolbar. I want to know if anyone else out there is like me.
Click to expand...
I don't increase the size of my bottom toolbar. I use small icons and have shortcuts to my 15 or so most-used programs on the left side of my Start menu.

I fully agree with you that the road to Hell is paved with desktop shortcuts. Users that depend on a thousand desktop icons almost never have any idea how to actually launch their programs the real way, so if a shortcut gets lost or their profile has issues they are dead in the water.

This really should be in Computers & Internet but it's OK here for now.
 
Sorry Duke, thought this would be an interesting topic for people to compare how they customize their desktops, and give others who are "in the dark" some tips on how to make their OS work for them a little better. You can move it to Computers if you want though...

Hey Impreza04, looks like it's just me and you who keep our taskbars engorged more than the rest of the world! Long live double-sized Taskbar users!!
 
Fonce Diablo
In my Quick Launch, I have the Show Desktop Icon.

Clears the multiple minimizing problem right up.
Click to expand...

Yeah I used to have that, but I found that it still takes two clicks and a lot of mouse movement to launch a program, whcih you can do it in one click fairly fast with Quick Launch.

I found I didn't have any use for the Show Desktop icon, since I keep my 10 most-accessed programs in Quick Launch, and the others I keep pinned to my Start Menu like Duke.
 
I'm a left sider, too, Duke. Nothing is in my Quick Launch except the volume control.

At present, there are 7 things that are always on my Desktop - (2) versions of AutoCAD, a lighting program and the other usual XP stuff. At any given time there may be up to 15 CAD files, images or who knows what else hanging out until I decide where to put it.
 
Anderton you're not alone - but I'm not with you.

I don't particularly like the windows task bar, and I do use the quicklaunch feature, but I also use desktop icons (though only at a minimal capacity).

I launch programs from the start menu - which I access using the keyboard.

(Windows Key + Down Arrow + Right Arrow = Accessories)

I keep my start menu clean to help make that quick. Under programs I have categories (Games, Internet, Graphics, Audio, System etc.) and below those I have shortcuts - NOT FOLDERS. My start menu only goes three levels.

At one point I got really geeky and had a linux emulator pop up on boot up and ran programs within it to launch all of my applications. I've calmed down since then, but there really isn't a good solution without giving explorer the axe.

My suggestion - if you really care about this, get litestep.
 
Increasing the size of the toolbar is outrageously... ugly. I only have about 6 programs I use a lot, and that's Photoshop, PSP8, MS Word, iTunes, Firefox, and Outlook Express. I use FF and OE the most, so those are the two program icons I have on my desktop. I also have (of course) the Trash Bin on it, and a folder that holds all the stuff I rarely use. And then with my other 4 programs I use a lot, they're in the quick launch.

I say you put your most used programs on the desktop, put the things you use commonly (3 times a week), and put the rest in a folder.
 
Well, here's my setup:
I do use the quicklaunch taskbar, and it contains IE, Windows Media, and the Show Desktop button, for when I'm too lazy to press the 'minimise' button a few times. My taskbar is only one, umm, one line high. I do use desktop shortcuts, but I only have 13 shortcuts on it, 1/2 being games, 1/4 applications, and the rest being access things (My computer, Recycle bin, etc.). The rest of the stuff is used infrequently enough that it doesn't bother me to go through the start menu.
 
I try to keep mine as neat and tidy as possible, I barely even use the quick launch, definately not a fan of the two times width toolbar.
 
Anderton Prime
I can understand why it might look bad with the Blue theme, but that's why I always use the XP Silver theme, it looks less cartoony, which has always been an issue of contention for me with XP. The Silver theme has nice shadowing which textures the bar and makes it look less conspicuous.
Click to expand...

Would this be any better?

royale2nv.jpg


I love it.
 
Hell no. Again, I point to the simple equation of which takes less clicks. Quick Launch takes one click, the Start Menu takes two. And desktop icons take a minimum of two.
 
For my home computer, I use XP, and I prefer to "pin" my most used apps and folders onto the left pane of the Start Menu. I don't like the taskbar to get too tall. Although I've used Quick Launch since it was available in Win95 w/USB support ('97), it's just clutter to have that extra space holding up the taskbar, when it can just be pinned (although it's slightly more cumbersome than Quick Launch) to the Start Menu.

However, at work, we used Win2000, and I liked using a double stack on the taskbar, since the app we use for 75% of my work reads easier that way for some reason. The open apps are on the bottom, and about 15-20 Quick Launch icons are above it in a neat line.

Of course, 2K evolved into XP Pro, and somehow the Admin-only features at my job reared thier ugly head, and thus won't me to modify it since the change to XP. But it works fine, except the app buttons are usually an icon with 2 letters since I use about 10 apps at the same time at work.

As for the "extra clicking", I use the keyboard keys most of the time, especially at work. Step saver...

On themes, I'm stuck with Luna at work (see above for reason); although Silver is better looking, I can't read the window title too easily. I use the Classic style for home. Less strain and less time on my old processor for useless baubles. The work computer is much faster.

And icons, the less on the desktop the better. My Comp, Network, Docs, and a shortcut or two. Anything else that goes on there is temporary (recent downloads, stuff I'm syncing to the flash drive or via FTP, and nothing else). My wife has about 35-50 icons on her desktop at any given time...tsk tsk.
 
I don't mind clicking a bit more if it keeps my desktop neat. I always hide all the desktop items and hide the bottom taskbar. You're not an idiot for doing the double height thing, i just don't like it.
 
I have my bar double sized and use it to get to most of my programs that I use a frequently.

On the top are a bunch of applications, in order
IE, Show Desktop, Windows Explorer, Word, Excel, Outlook, Acrobat, WMP, WinAmp, iTunes, LimeWire, AIM, Trillian, Skype, shortcut to an Access db, calculator, Google Earth, shortcut to a program, LiveMessenger

Below is where the windows open - on the far right of this I have a shortcut to my playlist folder to open them easily.
 
I've pinned the 8 programs that I use the most to the start menu. [Firefox, Thunderbird, X-Fi Audio Console, Everest Ultimate, Photoshop CS2, Winamp, GAIM, and Notepad] I've slimmed down the start menu as much as possible. I don't use the quick launch, as I like a clean taskbar, so I have as few tray icons as possible and a Windows Classic-esq (XPMC) theme. I also have some icons on my desktop, which include some often-accessed folders. I've had this configuration for about a day now after my most recent format, and it's working fantastically. It seems very natural. I use the desktop for launching programs after a reboot, or if I don't have anything open.

Start Menu with Pinned Items > Quick Launch

 
Start Menu with Pinned items = slower than Quick Launch.

I've pinned all the programs I need on the Quick Launch bar (all 14 of them) because I have a two layer taskbar on the bottom. This helps me keep track of the tray icons better, too, and is a help when I have (as frequently I do) six or seven separate applications and files running. I've usually got Coreldraw, CorelPaint, Photoshop, Excel, two or three Word windows, Firefox, and two or three Explorer windows running. It used to be more, but Firefox keeps my browser clutter to a minimum.

I keep my Desktop icons hidden most of the time. This is because I frequently pin working files to the Desktop for easy access, and what use is a pretty wallpaper if you can't see it?
 
Yeah Pako, I was inquiring about a program comparable to the Mac OS Dock, and Stardock has one called ObjectDock. It's very similar to the bar found on newer Macs which magnifies programs as you scroll the mouse over them. Very cool. In fact, Stardock is excellent. Their WindowBlinds program has the best skins and themes for PC Desktops available I think.
 

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