Windows explorer main toolbar

Much of the guidance still applies in principle, but the presentation and examples do not reflect our current design guidance. 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. Guidelines related to menus , command buttons , and icons are presented in separate articles.

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. 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 present only the most frequently used commands, whereas menu bars catalog all the available top-level commands within a program. 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.

In this example, clicking the 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.

Recognizable and distinguishable. 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. For toolbar commands, distinctive location, shape, and color help make icons recognizable and distinguishable. Given their characteristics, toolbars must be designed primarily for efficiency.

An inefficient toolbar just doesn't make any sense. Make sure your toolbars are designed primarily for efficiency. Focus toolbars on commands that are frequently used, immediate, direct, and quickly recognizable. 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. 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:. 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.

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. Although using a split button is an excellent compromise in this case. 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.

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.

If you hide the menu bar by default, don't assume that users will think of displaying the menu bar to find a command or even figure out how to display it. Designing a toolbar to work without a menu bar often involves some compromises.

But for efficiency, don't compromise too much. If hiding the menu bar results in an inefficient toolbar, don't hide the menu bar! 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. 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. Choose a suitable toolbar style based on the number of commands and their usage.

See the previous toolbar style table for guidance on how to choose. Avoid using a toolbar configuration that takes too much space from the program work area. Place toolbars just above the content area, below the menu bar and address bar, if present. The Windows Internet Explorer toolbar saves space by omitting labels of well-known icons, using a partial toolbar, and using an overflow chevron for less frequently used commands.

For the unlabeled icons toolbar pattern, use a default configuration with no more than two rows of toolbars. The results will come out with "Internet Options". FonePaw uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Click Privacy Policy to learn more. Got it! Windows Where Is Internet Options in Windows 10? Way 1: Using search to open Internet Options. Way 2: Open it in Control Panel. More question about finding Tools menu on Windows 10?

Leave your question in the comments. Jim Ptacnik. So stupid! Share Your Masterpiece on FonePaw. Featured Stories. Uncover the Truth Jan 14 , Nov 02 , August 5 Best apps for writing your first book Aug 20 , Oct 23 , The masses who are possibly want to make the switch to Linux will find this confusing and a deal breaker. Linux is still a niche OS for users that are savvy with using CLI for allot of the power user functions.

I feel that until this area alone is easier for the everyday Windows user, Linux will not be accepted as a simple alternative. I wonder when less convenience and more wasted time became benefits. Your work is greatly appreciated!

Make way, HOT garbage coming through. Microsoft published a detailed article about these changes some time ago. Installers just need to be updated, the options will then be in the menu, albeit in a much more organized fashion.

Screenshots ofnthe menu after appsnhwbe updated their installers look great. Current menus are a mess. Very excited for this change. I actually like it — simple from the start. There are enough even free alternatives available. I like to right click on a folder and press r open folder or file properties quickly.

None of that works! It sucks. Explorer is now glitching my new machine too. It lags and freezes. Why is this so hard for MS to fix? Specifically regarding the right click context menu. But note also that the items on the new menu are only keyboard accessible using arrow keys, whereas formerly one could type the first letter or the underlined letter.

Now, it must be told, that 3rd party junk was cluttering up that menu, which often was difficult or impossible to remove unless you download an application to clean it up for you. That handy Move to OneDrive feature for example, which liked M to be the shortcut even though M was for long the shortcut to Rename. This washes the hands of that problem, because now only the extreme power users are wanting to use the classic context menu.

There is another problem with the repeating of the arrow keys, notice how there are two pauses instead of one pause, before the arrow key rapidly repeats. Try that in notepad and you can see that this new double pause only affects the arrow key in windows explorer, fortunately, the two registry hacks have solved all of this. I am a power user I guess, it seems like the world left me behind, windows explorer stopped liking me long ago when you first had to unhide extensions for common file types, and then we stopped opening to the local file system because that all went under This PC, and like whoa people really dont mind the extra clicks to get there?

I guess not. How few people understand someone such as myself. I also use Classic Shell in 95 mode, with fully customizable hierarchical keyboard accessible folders and desktop shortcuts which support command line arguments.

I am back up and running with no terrible outrages against windows 11, after only 20 minutes or so, that is pretty good. Hey everyone try going back to old classic alt tab icons when you alt tab instead of thumbnails, theres a registry fix for that too, look it up. In particular File Explorer is now really clunky to use. You have to make changes in order to get mutiple panes open in order to easily transfer files from one location to another. Then on most attempts to copy a file it will freeze up and take an age to cancel, but does then usually work on the second attempt.

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Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers. Search for:. Martin Brinkmann. Windows 11 News. Windows 11's File Explorer has serious usability issues. Microsoft's Windows 11 operating system comes with a new File Explorer application that has several serious usability issues. Photos app update for Windows 11 rolls out with a new interface and editing options.

Here's how to install the new Media Player in the Windows 11 stable channel. The first major Windows 11 Update may be released in Summer Comments Dumbledalf said on September 10, at am. I think this is being blow out of proportion. Jeff M. Luzandro said on September 10, at pm. Redskyroad said on September 10, at am. That scaled down context menu is just useless and infuriating. Steve said on September 13, at pm. And glitchy….

Paul us said on September 10, at pm. Anonymous said on September 10, at pm. ULBoom said on September 10, at pm. ChromeFan said on September 10, at pm. Less choices the user has the better.

Windows Tre Stuges said on September 11, at am. Ever tried Total Commander? Herman Cost said on September 10, at pm. OH said on November 3, at pm. Yuliya said on September 10, at pm. Anonymous said on September 11, at am. Ryan F said on September 10, at pm. Well stated, and for the most part at the moment I agree with you. Gus said on October 1, at pm. Penuz said on September 10, at pm.