[vip_students] Windows 7 tutorial: The desktop and taskbar!
- From: "Paul J. Traynor" <pjtraynor@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <vip_students@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:10:06 -0000
The Windows 7 Desktop:
When your computer starts for the first time, what you see is called the
Desktop. It will look something like this:
Description of the Windows desktop.
The Desktop is split into two areas. The strip at the bottom, with the clock
placed just on the right side and the round Start button to the left, is
called the Taskbar. I will give you a more detailed description of the
taskbar below.
The Taskbar :
Taskbar
The taskbar is a special toolbar that you use to start programs, switch
among your open programs and windows, minimize and restore windows, and
receive important alerts about certain programs and computer settings. You
can dock the toolbar along any edge of the Windows desktop, and you can
customize many aspects of the taskbar's appearance and behavior through the
Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box.
Taskbar Structure
The main parts of the taskbar include: the
*. Start button,
*. the taskband,
*. deskbands (if present),
*. the notification area,
*. the Show desktop button.
Start Button:
The Start button appears at the left end of the taskbar (or at the top if
you've docked the taskbar to a side of the desktop) You can move the taskbar
to the sides of your windows screen as well as its traditional area of the
bottom. You use the Start button to open the Start menu.
Taskband:
The taskband occupies the middle part of the taskbar. It contains taskbar
buttons that you use to start programs and switch among the programs and
windows that are already open. In the default view, the taskbar button for
each program appears as a single button, even when multiple windows are open
for a program. You can customize the taskbar to change how buttons appear
and how they group together when you have multiple open windows, or you can
choose to see individual buttons for each open window. You can also
rearrange the taskbar buttons by dragging them so they appear in the order
you prefer.
By default, when a taskbar button has the focus, Windows displays a
thumbnail containing an image of each open window for the associated
program. A thumbnail can also contain a toolbar below the thumbnail image
that lets you quickly access frequently used commands for a program without
restoring the window or switching to it. For example, the thumbnail for a
Windows MediaR Player window can contain a toolbar with commands such as
Previous, Next, Play, and so on.
Note Windows does not display thumbnails if you are using a theme such as
WindowsR 7 Basic, Windows Classic, or one of the high-contrast themes.
Each taskbar button has a Jump List that you can access by using the
Application key, which is labeled with the following icon:
The Jump List contains a list of recently opened items, along with lists of
frequently opened items, tasks, and websites. The bottom three items in the
Jump List are common to all programs. They include commands to start a new
instance of the program, unpin the program from the taskbar, and close all
of the program's windows (assuming that the program is running).
Note: I have found that jump lists only worked within the startmenu list
which is the first menu you access when you press the windows key. What
these jump menus do is for example if I have Internet Explorer on my
startmenu and use it frequently when I go to the startmenu and arrow down
to Internet Explorer it will also contain a submenu . Contained within this
submenu will be websites that I have frequently visited in the past. I can
then right arrow into this sub menu and arrow to one of those sites which I
may wish to revisit and press enter to open it up.
Deskband:
A deskband, an area to the right of (or below) the taskband, is a place
where a program can put a small icon that gives you access to the program's
important commands. The taskbar can include multiple deskbands, or none at
all. You can move deskbands to the left of the taskband if you want to.
Some programs that have used deskbands in previous versions are moving
taskband functionality to the thumbnail toolbar. For example, Windows Media
Player no longer has a deskband; instead, it provides buttons in the
thumbnail toolbar that you can use to control media playback. Thumbnails are
not really practical for those of us using screen readers as generally our
screen reader will have altered the theme of windows which then will cause
thumbnails not to be displayed.
Notification Area:
The notification area is near the right end (or near the bottom) of the
taskbar. It includes a clock and icons that communicate the status of
certain programs and computer settings. You can also keep the rest of the
icons on hand in an overflow area where you can access them by clicking the
Show hidden icons button. The notification area includes the Action Center
icon that provides important notification messages and helpful information
about security and maintenance settings. Other icons may also be present
depending on which programs or services you have installed and how your
computer manufacturer set up your computer. You can tab over to the
notification area if your screen reader doesn't provide some dedicated
keystroke to instantly pull up the list. Jaws for example uses keys, "insert
+ F11" to bring up a list of icons from the system tray while NVDA as far as
I am aware doesn't have a dedicated keystroke but windows offers the key
"Windows Key + B" to substitute for this.
Show Desktop Button:
The Show desktop button is at the opposite end of the taskbar from the Start
button, just on the right side. You can click it (or press the Windows logo
key+D) to minimize all windows to reveal the desktop. Clicking the Show
desktop button a second time restores all windows to their previous
positions.
The rest of the Desktop is the space where all your programmes will appear
when you start them up. This space contains a default background wallpaper,
but it can also contain shortcuts to programmes, documents and folder.
You can change the default background wallpaper should you wish to do so.
Below I have provided some keys for use in navigating the taskbar area of
Windows 7. Note that these keys are windows dedicated keystrokes and not
screen reader specific.
Windows Key + T = Bring up focus to the taskbar.
Note: Use arrow keys to move left or right to each of the icons present.
Windows Key + Numbers 1 to 9 = Activates a particular item on the taskbar.
Windows key + B = Set focus to the notification area.
Windows Key + D = Move focus to the desktop.
Windows Key + M = Minimise all windows.
Application Key = If a taskbar button has the focus, display the Jump List
for the button. If a notification icon has the focus, display the
application menu for the icon.
Enter or Spacebar Keys = Activate the item that has focus.
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