On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 3:38 PM, Luke Benstead
<kazade@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It's because of this shortage of space that I believe "minimize to
tray" exists. Minimize to tray is essentially "I don't need this
window cluttering up my taskbar, but I need to leave it running" and
the only reason I can think that normal bog-standard minimize isn't
suitable here is because the window-switcher is cluttered and the
window gets in the way.
I haven't used DockbarX and I have no idea what form a good solution might take, but I agree completely with your take on the 'purpose' of minimize to tray. You hit it right on the nail.
A better functioning taskbar would eliminate the need for yet another desktop metaphor. There are too many on the desktop at the moment (double click icons, oh-no, that's a toolbar shortcut, single click that one, single click menu entries and web-links - oh, sorry forgot to mention, that feature is in the right click menu - got all that?!)
These are all concepts that work fine individually, but collectively, they are a barrier to achieving fluency and productivity on the desktop for new and experienced (but confused) users. Even experienced users have never mastered these, but rather learned to live 'in the mystery'. I've seen this in large corporate environments where the computer was a means to the end and not a part of the actual business' product or service portfolio.
Get rid of minimize to tray? Yes. But not by adding another desktop metaphor. Let's improve on an existing one, or eliminate a few with a superior one.
Jarlath