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Can't live without Aero Peek
Of all the new additions to Windows 7, Aero Peek and the new taskbar are the biggest change from previous versions of Windows. If you haven't tried Windows 7 yet, then the new interface could use some explanation.
In Windows Vista, XP and all other versions of Windows since Windows 95, if you have multiple windows open for the same application, such as two Word documents, or three Firefox browsers, they each appear as individual entries on the taskbar. Windows 7 does away with this, in favour of a tidier taskbar where only a single icon appears, even if you have multiple documents open. Hover the mouse over the icon and it pops up visual previews of each window, so you can select which one you wish to view.
The new approach takes some time to get used to, and some early adopters found it confusing and immediately disabled it. However, after using Windows 7 for a few weeks, I now hover my mouse over the Quick Launch icons on Windows XP without even thinking about it, subconciously expecting the preview windows to pop up in the same way as they do in Window 7.
I find these visual popups improve my workflow, as there's little chance I'll forget which of my open Firefox windows has the tab open that I want to refer to, a problem I found with the old interface.
It's important to mention Firefox though, on Windows 7, it doesn't make use of Aero Peek as well as Internet Explorer. In IE8, if you have a single browser window with multiple tabs, Aero Peek will show each tab as a preview, so you can go straight to the open page. Firefox doesn't support this yet, so a single browser window with multiple tabs will only show as a single preview. It doesn't sound like much, but Aero Peek is a very useful tool and we think every Windows application should support it as much as possible.
In Windows Vista, XP and all other versions of Windows since Windows 95, if you have multiple windows open for the same application, such as two Word documents, or three Firefox browsers, they each appear as individual entries on the taskbar. Windows 7 does away with this, in favour of a tidier taskbar where only a single icon appears, even if you have multiple documents open. Hover the mouse over the icon and it pops up visual previews of each window, so you can select which one you wish to view.
The new approach takes some time to get used to, and some early adopters found it confusing and immediately disabled it. However, after using Windows 7 for a few weeks, I now hover my mouse over the Quick Launch icons on Windows XP without even thinking about it, subconciously expecting the preview windows to pop up in the same way as they do in Window 7.
I find these visual popups improve my workflow, as there's little chance I'll forget which of my open Firefox windows has the tab open that I want to refer to, a problem I found with the old interface.
It's important to mention Firefox though, on Windows 7, it doesn't make use of Aero Peek as well as Internet Explorer. In IE8, if you have a single browser window with multiple tabs, Aero Peek will show each tab as a preview, so you can go straight to the open page. Firefox doesn't support this yet, so a single browser window with multiple tabs will only show as a single preview. It doesn't sound like much, but Aero Peek is a very useful tool and we think every Windows application should support it as much as possible.
Good to know Orestis, thanks. I indeed had given up but if really one "can´t live" withouth Aeropeek I´ll try again, I´m curious.
Posted by Giulia Single | July 2, 2009 4:20 PM
Anything that increases productivity whilst minimizing screen clutter is a winner in my eyes.
Posted by Kev - LG | July 6, 2009 11:02 AM
Any operation that requires using a mouse is not productive. Taking your hands away from the keyboard (much the fastest and most accurate input device available) slows down input and work rate considerably. I always use ALT-TAB (Windows Key-TAB in Vista) to switch tasks, the task bar is redundant.
Posted by Tim | August 3, 2009 3:35 PM
Actually, with multitouch technology on its way, it will be very productive.
Posted by Triet | September 20, 2009 10:19 AM