Classic Shell: Forum

I wonder whether there would be a possibility to have an option to remove desktop from task switcher (alt-tab).

I've been using win8 for more than a year now and while I do like the aero style there (with previews and spreaded over few rows) it's highly annoying when some app is mysteriously moved to he end of the window list and I can only quick-switch (with single alt-tab dab) to desktop instead of the previously used app, and everything vanishes from the screen

...or perhaps someone could point me to a registry setting that does the trick.

cheers.

Desktop cannot be removed from Alt-Tab but you can use a free Alt-Tab replacement like VistaSwitcher which doesn't have Desktop as a switchable location.

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I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

I installed it, and yes, it has its advantages, but also lacks what I like about original task switcher, i.e. application grid where I can see 30 tasks windows and easily switch from one to another with single click. With vistaswitcher there's that annoying list I'm forced to scroll through, but I think I'll but the creator to add win8-like grid approach to another version.
Thanks for pointing me into his direction

Hmm. The Windows Alt-Tab switcher seems to be limited to 35 windows after which it requires scrolling (of course you could tweak it with Winaero's Alt-Tab Tuner). In VistaSwitcher, you could try tweaking the values too. On my relatively low-res laptop, at Item width: 200, Item height:18 and Number of items: 35, I can see all 35 items without scrolling and the advantage is that I see full textual names of all windows. You can directly click an item too and the preview is large, making it clear which window it is instead of a tiny thumbnail.

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I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

That's the way to work around the issues but:

- To select the correct window you must read the caption (the smaller item theight the less distinguishable icons become) or watch preview while blindly hovering over the list, while in original task switcher I can see all the windows at once (albeit smaller, but still distinguishable - that's why tile-set is restricted to 7x5) and pick exactly the one I want. Selecting one picture out of many is much faster (eye does not see just single preview but many at once)

Its window sizing logic is strange and unpredictable. When I set item width I have no idea what that's affecting. I'd think it's list item width size, but preview is scaled accordingly to the list height and in the end takes much more space than it is supposed to.

-when I set it to 800px (my screen is 1280x1024), list is exactly half screen width (actually it's truncated from right side) and preview takes another half (also truncated from the left).
- Try to set number of items to 80 and you'll get no list at all.
- there's virtually no difference whether I set Item width to 400 and 1200... looks the same...

I'm not a big fan of ModernUI/Metro but I like the idea of grid/tiling. They (microsoft) did their research well, navigating between one item and another takes much less mouse movement, unlike list where you either bunch the items together (you loose readability and ease of picking an item) or you have to scroll through the pages

Hmm I guess to each his own. It's subjective because what works better for one may not work for the other.

Personally, I find traversing any list-style presentation easier than reading horizontally, one item's name at a time in Alt-Tab. I also find the Alt-Tab previews so small, especially when there are multiple windows of the same app (and the transparent glass behind in Windows 7), that I have to squint and I still can't make out which window is which without reading the text above. In fact icon+text is instantly recognizable for me, previews no matter how small or big take longer for me to switch.

I also hate scrolling unless absolutely required that is why list-style presentation in multiple columns is the best way IMHO (e.g. Win+Q All Apps view or even better, Classic Start Menu's multiple columns view.

Both switchers take different approaches. Windows Alt-Tab shows multiple previews but text of one window at a time. VistaSwitcher displays text of multiple windows at a time but one preview at a time. That said, yes tweaking VistaSwitcher isn't exactly easy. It's quite unpredictable. Definitely tricky if you run have 30+ app windows open at a time (I can't imagine how crowded the taskbar will be with 30+ windows). It certainly doesn't scale as well as the Windows Alt-Tab switcher does.

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I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Agreed. That's why it'd be nice to have option to use one or another.

In win8 it's flat, solid colour behind thumbs, much easier to distinguish previews from anything underneath.


Having two-tier taskbar and application windows grouping helps tremendously

I'm waiting for reply from VistaSwitcher creator, keeping fingers crossed for him willing to implement also grid-like approach there.