3/26/02
Volume 1 Issue 3

Taskbars & toolbars & icons ...oh my.
Part 1 The Windows Taskbar.

Toolbars are rows of icons grouped together with similar functions. Every windows program has several available toolbars, which can be displayed and customized for your personal needs. The Taskbar is the primary windows toolbar that is always available from the desktop. It may vary in position and look but it will always be there.

In most cases the taskbar will lay across the bottom of you desktop. On the extreme right hand side will be the time and some icons that show any programs that are running in the background. On the left will be a section of icons that will start programs. In the middle are usually icons for any running windows with programs. This will also show any windows/program that are minimized. You have a great deal of control over how it looks, what it does and were it is located.

First we will look at what is actually on the task bar and how it is positioned.
Hit Windows-Flag + 'd'. This will minimize all open programs and expose your desktop. Remember this one!

Remove Auto-hide. (If you don't know what that is I explain it as the Bonus tip). Move your mouse down slowly into the task bar. As it crosses the top border the arrow will turn into a double arrow. When that happens, hold down the left mouse button and raise the mouse upward expanding the task bar into 2 then 3 then 4 rows high. This double arrow technique is the way to resize any window in any available direction. Once it has expanded a few rows the different toolbars will seem obvious. The extreme left will only have the Start icon and will always be there.

Move the task bar place your mouse in any area that has no icons. Hold down the left mouse buttons and drag the cursor to one side of your monitor. The task bar will move with it and snap against the side, or the top if you move there. Move it back to the bottom of your monitor for the rest of this lesson.

Now right click on any blank area within the taskbar, which should still be 3 or 4 rows wide. The top item on the menu that appears will be 'Toolbars' (the little arrow at the end indicates there are additional menu items for that selection. Move over the arrow and a list of possible toolbars that can be displayed on the task bar will appear. There will be a check next to any toolbars that are currently displayed on the taskbar. The most commonly used is the Quick launch. Turn some on and off and see what is displayed.

As each toolbar is activated and appears on the taskbar, you will see a double line at left edge of it. Use the mouse double arrow as a slider to widen and move the toolbar's location relative to each other. Make the entire taskbar bar to one or two rows high. As you move you mouse across the toolbars passing over an icon will give some indication it is selected. You can click and activate whatever action the icon represent for OR by holding down the left mouse key over the selected icon you can move it to a another location on a toolbar or on the desktop. If you move it on the taskbar a black line will appear between icons indicating the position it will occupy when you release the mouse.

Using Toolbars, moving the icons in the order you want on whatever edge of the monitor you want is pretty cool.

We will talk about customizing these and other toolbars in the next issue

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Bonus Tip:
Auto-Hide - Right click in any blank area of the task bar and select 'Properties' The check boxes are pretty self-explanatory. Auto hide means that the taskbar will disappear into whatever edge it is resting against and will scroll into view for use when your mouse moves against that edge. This allows you to have a maximum space available on your monitor for your applications.