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Taking a look at Windows 7 - Part 1: Visual Features

Windows 7 is an upcoming version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Unlike its predecessor, Windows 7 is an incremental upgrade to the Windows family. Windows 7 includes a number of new features and improvements such as improved touch and handwriting recognition, improved performance in multi-core processors, improved boot performance, visual improvements and kernel improvements.

For the first part of our series on Windows 7, we will be looking at the visual features in Windows 7.

When you load Windows 7 for the first time, you first thing you notice is the way the Taskbar looks. The Quick Launch toolbar that was in previous versions of Windows has been replaced with buttons. Buttons can be pinned to the Taskbar by simply dragging the program icon over the Taskbar or right clicking the program and selecting Pin to Taskbar.

The Thumbnail preview which was first introduced in Windows Vista has been improved to allow the user to interact with them. The peek feature also allows the user to see a preview of a window which turns all other windows transparent. All this greatly improves the efficiency for the user, for instance, you can play/stop music in Windows Media Player without actually switching to the Windows Media Player Window.

One feature worth a mention is the Aero Peek feature. Aero Peek is part of the vastly improved Aero and enables the user to make all visible windows transparent for a quick look at the desktop. This can be done by hovering over the rectangle box on the right of the system clock. Also clicking this button minimizes all windows and clicking it again restores them.

Users of Windows Vista will be familiar with widgets, also known as Windows Gadgets. The Windows Gadgets in Windows Vista were anchored onto the Windows Sidebar. Windows 7 see's the removal of the Windows Sidebar and allows users to drag Windows Gadgets anywhere on the screen without being restricted at a Sidebar like in Windows Vista.

In previous versions on Windows, the Notification Area was used to display system and program features without actually being visible on the desktop. Microsoft has redesigned this in Windows 7 and only the Volume, Network, Power and Action (formally Action Center) status icons are present. Users can add more icons if they wish and also have the ability to hide them. Unlike Windows XP and Vista, hidden icons are displayed above the taskbar and this can be done by clicking a triangle left of visible icons.

The next article in our series about Windows 7, we will take a look at the different versions available and compare the features in each version.

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