Vista Start Menu is the convenient alternative to the plain Start menu you find in Windows XP and Windows 10. Features new to Windows Vista Part of a series on: Windows Vista; New. At the top level, the Start menu, as in Windows XP, has two columns of menu choices. If the File, Edit and View menus are missing, it is usually because the Menu Bar has been hidden, Firefox is in full screen mode or because the file storing your. Toolbars (Windows)Toolbars are a way to group commands for efficient access. Some typical toolbars. Use toolbars in addition to or in place of menu bars. Toolbars can be more efficient than menu bars because they are direct (always displayed instead of being displayed on mouse click), immediate (instead of requiring additional input) and contain the most frequently used commands (instead of a comprehensive list). In contrast to menu bars, toolbars don't have to be comprehensive or self- explanatory—just quick, convenient, and efficient. Some toolbars are customizable, allowing users to add or remove toolbars, change their size and location, and even change their contents. Some types of toolbars can be undocked, resulting in a palette window. For more information about toolbar varieties, see Usage patterns in this article. Is this the right user interface? To decide, consider these questions: Is the window a primary window? Toolbars work well for primary windows, but are usually overwhelming for secondary windows. For secondary windows, use command buttons, menu buttons, and links instead. Are there a small number of frequently used commands? Toolbars can't handle as many commands as menu bars, so they work best as a way to efficiently access a small number of frequently used commands. Are most of the commands immediate? That is, are they mostly commands that don't require additional input? To be efficient, toolbars need to have a direct and immediate feel. If not, menu bars are better suited for commands that require additional input. Can most of the commands be presented directly? That is, users interact with them using a single click? While some commands can be presented using menu buttons, presenting most commands this way undermines the efficiency of the toolbar, making a menu bar a better choice. Until Windows Vista, the Start menu was constantly expanded across the screen as the user. These appear in a separated section at the top of the Start menu. I had Windows Vista installed on my computer and created a. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top Add Windows Vista to the grub menu. Vista start menu free download - Start Menu 8, Start Menu Cleaner, Start Menu Organizer, and many more programs. Customizing Vista's Taskbar and Start Menu. If you enable the Auto-Hide The Taskbar option and disable the Keep the Taskbar On Top Of Other Windows option. Updated: July 20, 2012. Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2. Windows vista start menu free download - Start Menu 8, Start Menu Cleaner, Start Menu 10, and many more programs. Restore a start menu to windows vista settings. The Vista start menu should be. Are the commands well represented by icons? Toolbar buttons are usually represented by icons instead of text labels (although some toolbar buttons use both), whereas menu commands are represented by their text. If the command icons aren't high quality and aren't self- explanatory, a menu bar may be a better choice. If your program has a toolbar without a menu bar, and most of the commands are accessible indirectly through menu buttons and split buttons, this toolbar is essentially a menu bar. Apply the toolbar menus pattern in the Menus guidelines instead. Design concepts. A good menu bar is a comprehensive catalog of all the available top- level commands, whereas a good toolbar gives quick, convenient access to frequently used commands. A toolbar doesn't attempt to train users—just make them productive. Once users learn how to access a command on a toolbar, they rarely continue to access the command from the menu bar. For these reasons, a program's menu bar and its toolbar don't need to correspond directly. Toolbars vs. Toolbars present only the most frequently used commands, whereas menu bars catalog all the available top- level commands within a program. Immediacy. Clicking a toolbar command takes effect immediately, whereas a menu command might require additional input. For example, a Print command in a menu bar first displays the Print dialog, whereas a Print toolbar button immediately prints a single copy of a document to the default printer. Toolbar commands are invoked with a single click, whereas menu bar commands require navigating through the menu. Number and density. The screen space required by a toolbar is proportional to the number of its commands and that space is always used, even if the commands are not. Consequently, toolbars must use their space efficiently. By contrast, menu bar commands are normally hidden from view and their hierarchical structure allows for any number of commands. Size and presentation. To pack many commands in a small space, toolbars usually use icon- based commands (with tooltip- based labels), whereas menu bars use text- based commands (with optional icons). While toolbar buttons can have standard text labels, these do use significantly more space. Well- designed toolbars need icons that are mostly self- explanatory because users can't find commands efficiently just using tooltips. However, toolbars still work well if a few less frequently used commands aren't self- explanatory. For frequently used commands, users remember toolbar button attributes like location, shape, and color. With well- designed toolbars, users can find the commands quickly even if they don't remember the exact icon symbol. By contrast, users remember frequently used menu bar command locations, but rely on the command labels for making selections. An inefficient toolbar just doesn't make any sense. If you do only one thing.. Make sure your toolbars are designed primarily for efficiency. Focus toolbars on commands that are frequently used, immediate, direct, and quickly recognizable. Hiding menu bars. Generally, toolbars work great together with menu bars: good toolbars provide efficiency and good menu bars provide comprehensiveness. Having both menu bars and toolbars allows each to focus on its strengths without compromise. Surprisingly, this model breaks down with simple programs. For programs with only a few commands, having both a menu bar and a toolbar doesn't make sense because the menu bar ends up being a redundant, inefficient version of the toolbar. To eliminate this redundancy, many simple programs in Windows Vista focus on providing commands solely through the toolbar, and hiding the menu bar by default. Such programs include Windows Explorer, Windows Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and Windows Photo Gallery. This is no small change. Removing the menu bar fundamentally changes the nature of toolbars because such toolbars need to be comprehensive and change in the following ways: Frequency. Removing the menu bar means that all commands not available directly from a window or its context menus must be accessible from the toolbar, regardless of their frequency of use. Immediacy. Removing the menu bar makes the toolbar the only visible access point for commands, requiring the toolbar to have the fully functional versions. For example, if there is no menu bar, a Print command on a toolbar must display the Print dialog box instead of printing immediately. See Standard menu and split buttons for the standard Print split button.). In this example, the Print toolbar button in Windows Photo Gallery has a Print command that displays the Print dialog box. Directness. To save space and prevent clutter, less frequently used commands may be moved to menu buttons, making them less direct. Toolbars used to supplement a menu bar are designed differently than toolbars designed for use with a removed or hidden menu bar. And because you can't assume that users will display a hidden menu bar to perform a single command, hiding a menu bar should be treated the same as removing it completely when making design decisions. But for efficiency, don't compromise too much. If hiding the menu bar results in an inefficient toolbar, don't hide the menu bar! Keyboard accessibility. From the keyboard, accessing toolbars is quite different from accessing menu bars. Menu bars receive input focus when users press the Alt key and they lose input focus with the Esc key. Once a menu bar has input focus, it is navigated independently of the remainder of the window, handling all arrow keys, Home, End, and Tab keys. By contrast, toolbars receive input focus when users press the Tab key through the entire contents of the window. Because toolbars are last in tab order, they might take some significant effort to activate on a busy page (unless users know to use Shift+Tab to move backwards). Accessibility presents a dilemma here: while toolbars are easier for mouse users, they are less accessible for keyboard users. This isn't a problem if there is both a menu bar and a toolbar, but it is if the menu bar is removed or hidden. For accessibility reasons, then, prefer to retain the menu bar rather than remove it completely in favor of a toolbar. If you must choose between removing the menu bar and simply hiding it, prefer to hide it. Usage patterns. Toolbars have several usage patterns: Primary toolbars. A toolbar designed to work without a menu bar, either hidden or removed. A primary toolbar from Windows Explorer. Supplemental toolbars. A toolbar designed to work with a menu bar. Supplemental toolbars can focus on efficiency without compromise. A supplemental toolbar from Windows Movie Maker. Toolbar menus. A menu bar implemented as a toolbar. Toolbar menus are toolbars consisting primarily of commands in menu buttons and split buttons, with only a few direct commands, if any. A toolbar menu in Windows Photo Gallery. Customizable toolbars. A toolbar that can be customized by users. Customizable toolbars allow users to add or remove toolbars, change their size and location, and even change their contents. A customizable toolbar from Microsoft Visual Studio. Palette windows. A modeless dialog box that presents an array of commands. Palette windows are undocked toolbars. Palette windows from Windows Paint. Toolbars have these styles: Unlabeled icons. One or more rows of small unlabeled icon buttons. With this style, programs with complex functionality can have multiple rows, and therefore, this is the only style that needs to be customizable. With this style, some command buttons can be labeled if they are frequently used. An unlabeled icons toolbar from Word. Pad. Large unlabeled icons. A single row of large unlabeled icon buttons. Use this style for simple utilities that have easily recognizable icons and are usually run in small windows. Large unlabeled icons toolbars from Windows Live Messenger and the Windows Snipping Tool. Labeled icons. A single row of small labeled icons. Use this style if there are few commands or the program isn't frequently used. This style always has a single row. A labeled icons toolbar from Windows Explorer. Partial toolbars.
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