Some of IE4's coolest shell enhancements are the
new and improved Start Menu and Taskbar.
The ability to add Toolbars to the taskbar is a
great example of this. In addition to the "normal" task
bar (which I'll refer to as the "Programs" bar),
you can add an Address Bar, Quick Launch bar, a Desktop
shortcuts bar, a Quick Links bar, and a generic folder
bar. The Address Bar is the same as that on Windows Explorer.
Folder bars display the contents of the folder you choose
(for instance, if you choose Toolbars | New toolbar, and select the
Windows folder, you'd get the contents of the Windows folder in a
toolbar!) To do this, just right click on a blank area of the
toolbar (or the handle) and choose Toolbars | <the toolbar you
want to add>.
Even cooler, however, is how you can customize
these new toolbars. Although the Programs bar isn't very
customizable, the other ones are. Let's use the Quick Launch bar for
an example. Right click a blank area of the Quick Launch toolbar (or
the little handle). View | Large / Small allows you to change the
size of the icons. Show text allows you to add captions to the icons
on the toolbar. Show title allows you to toggle whether "Quick
Launch" appears on the toolbar itself. These options are
applicable to the other toolbars, of course (except for the Programs
bar).
Additionally, after you start playing with all
your toolbars, you can resize them to whatever you please.
Obviously, the toolbars in the Taskbar work just like those in the
IE coolbar; by dragging the handle, you can resize them, put one
under the other, etc. Even cooler is the ability to make a toolbar
autonomous from the Taskbar (this won't work with the Programs bar
or the Quick Launch bar though). Just drag a toolbar off the Taskbar
onto the Desktop. The toolbar will open in its own window, which you
can resize and customize to your heart's content.
To top this all off, you can even pile your
autonomous toolbars on top of each other (took me a while to find
this myself :). Again, this won't work with the Programs bar
or the take a toolbar from the Taskbar and drag 'n drop it Quick
Launch bar. To do this, first, be sure that you already have an
autonomous toolbar on the Desktop. Then, onto the window of the
autonomous toolbar. Voila! From here, you can resize, etc.
The enhanced Start Menu now gives you more control
over your shortcuts. Most obviously, you now have the ability to
directly manipulate shortcuts in your Programs folder, etc. Try
dragging a shortcut around; then, right click a shortcut and you
have your usual options =). You'll probably also notice the
Favorites menu and the new options on the Find submenu (first
implemented with the FindX PowerToy).
Conclusion
That's all the time we have today =). Spend some
time customizing the toolbar to your liking, and have fun! If you've
got any questions, feel free to email me Byron
here at ActiveIE! Have fun, and enjoy IE4!
DVD
EXPRESS