Forum Discussion
OMG - They DO listen! Pin it right on
sambul95 There are many different ways that individuals work and what they work with also differs. From just the people around me, some people rely on Start to access tools. Others pin many things to the desktop. Others keep many open tabs in the browser. Others, like me, use the taskbar as a quick launch.
Most of my working day is spent in Outlook, Word or Excel. I don't have active browser windows for a large percentage of the day. From time to time I need or want to take a quick look at something in a browser window, which I then close. Examples would be operational dashboards or a weather site.
For my particular work environment and way of working, when using an item pinned to the taskbar one click takes me straight to the site I need. I keep my taskbar on top and disable autohide. For me, other approaches take more clicks.
Bookmark in Browser - click to open browser, click to open bookmark. Actually usually two clicks since I organize my bookmarks in folders.
Desktop - click to get to the desktop if the shortcut is behind my active window, click to open the shortcut.
Start Menu - click to open the start menu, click to open the shortcut (tile).
While there may be other approaches or shortcuts, this is what works for me. And to address the other part of your question, I have about five items pinned to the taskbar and have used this feature in Internet Explorer, Edge Legacy and now Edge Canary.
In my view the browser is like any other application which I can pin to the taskbar, such as Word, Excel or Outlook.
In my view the browser is like any other application which I can pin to the taskbar, such as Word, Excel or Outlook.
I've 4 browsers pinned to the Taskbar, and plenty of other frequently used apps. Adding webpage shortcuts to the Taskbar seems redundant to me, or requiring some vertical Favorites Bar (similar to Desktop Toolbar) pinned to the Taskbar with all webpage shortcuts added to it. If you add 5 webpage shortcuts to the Taskbar plus frequent app shortcuts, on a laptop screen there would be no extra space on it for currently open apps.
Your use of webpage shortcuts from Taskbar rather resembles using web apps instead of browser. That's why they are also added to Start Menu. 😉 How big is your monitor? On a laptop, would you benefit from a vertical Favorites Bar added to the Taskbar, which opens on mouse hover?
sambul95 I use this same approach on a number of different form factors. Resolutions range from 1024x768 through 4k. Screen sizes vary from 10.1" to 65". Types of display include tablet, laptop, TV.
I have different combinations of browsers (up to about five) and sites (up to about five) on different systems, but I have yet to run out of room on my taskbar, even with regular (not small) icon size.
While the usage may be similar to web apps, it works better for me to have the item opened as a tab instead of in what seems to me to be an artificial new framed window that hides normal browser controls. To me I am accessing a web page, not a packaged app, so I prefer normal browser navigation.
It is not clear to me how a vertical favorites bar opening on hover would be an improvement. I would need two actions (hover to expand, point and click) to accomplish what I can do with one click by pinning the specific site to the toolbar (point and click).
It is not clear to me how a vertical favorites bar opening on hover would be an improvement.Thanks for clarifying your usage case. It looks like you use just a few apps, and don't launch those from Taskbar anyway. Therefore, you have plenty of space left on Taskbar for webpage shortcuts, assuming its one row or hidden on smaller screens.
However, even in this scenario it seems faster to open a shortcut from Desktop rather than Taskbar, since on Desktop each shortcut has a Name, but on Taskbar one must hover a shortcut to get its name, and they all have same icons. Hence, starting a webpage from Taskbar is slower than from Desktop.
In case of using Favorites Bar pinned to Taskbar, when you hover the bar, it opens and shows all shortcuts with names, so its still faster to start a webpage this way.
But I never do any of this since doing so many things on a PC at once, so using proper apps for each task becomes a habit. I don't see benefit of scattering ANY shortcuts all around PC, they must be in proper places. For webpages either in Browser Sessions, Favorites, or New Tab Speed Dial depending on use frequency. In fact I don't use app desktop shortcuts either. Most programs are started from Search, a few from Taskbar, Win Service apps from Start Menu, then I open "recent" files from the Program. 😊
However, I can see your point which covers very limited PC use scenario: a few programs and 3-4 frequent webpages. Probably either workplace (SOHO) or older age scenario.
With regards to " you use just a few apps, and don't launch those from Taskbar anyway", I do use just a few apps (e.g. Outlook, Yammer, Teams, Calculator), but I do launch them from the Taskbar. The ones I use less frequently, I resort to the Start menu.
With regards to "on Taskbar one must hover a shortcut to get its name, and they all have same icons", the pinned websites have unique icons so I do not need to hover over them to identify them. Here are two examples:
Even for some sites that do not have an icon, Pin to Taskbar has created a visual based on a letter. I have two that I can differentiate because one has the letter C and the other has the letter V. Since I don't have many, I have not yet encountered a situation where I have duplicates. If I did, I could differentiate by where I place them on the taskbar.
With regards to "Probably either workplace (SOHO) or older age scenario", my view is it has to do with the requirements of a particular role (including large corporations) and personal preference (regardless of age). People around me in common age groups have different styles they prefer when using their computers.
ms4132
I'll just add a wee bit which I think supports what's been said. There are so many easy ways to navigate & access things in 10... drawing an implication out of Pin to taskbar that it means crowding it up with oodles of icons. No reason to suggest one breed the other, it doesn't. So, a specific site is pinned, on occasion and maybe, not even, going to be left or kept there forever. Certainly, we are not talking about putting a whole raft of sites there. But, more fundamentally, there is no need to have millions of icons on the taskbar initially irrespective of any pinned sites.
Oh, yes, and the screen size isn't the point, laptop, PC, small or big monitor... as was said, there is no need to have a whole pile of icons on the taskbar, in the 1st place. And this is coming from Users conducting many activities on their machines simultaneously.
As for the mentioned hoover vert Favs: The Favs Bar serves fine, for now. In the old IE days the Links toolbar could be used & it meant the Favs Bar could be hidden. But, Edge doesn't play nice with Links toolbar. Instead, we can easily open & close the Favs Bar (Ctrl+Shift+B), at the moment. I say at the moment because the Favs icon of Edge is, still, missing from Edge C. Ctrl+I will, also, do the same in Edge, but, has no effect in Edge C, right now. Once that icon & function with Favs (of Edge) is in Edge C viola, there will be of what you speak.
The other place a vert list IS cool is the Desktop toolbar since it means desktop icons can Not show (Yay).
And the notion oft suggested that pinning sites to the taskbar will create an overcrowded taskbar is a myth. If a person, really, wants to place heaps of icons there, make the taskbar wider & double row the suckers 😉
Just a 2 cents, fwiw.
Cheers,
Drew
