Windows 7 Taskforce

Indrek wrote on January 11, 2010, 3:57pm

But what if the drive's properties are accessed from outside Explorer (like the Device Manager or Disk Management console)?

.Chris wrote on January 11, 2010, 7:03pm

Glad you asked. There will ne a new properties window that will mock some what a mini control pannel or the office 2007 properties box,

patternjake wrote on January 12, 2010, 5:38pm

Nice idea :)
Indrek : If it was implemented this way, I am sure that it could be made as an applet, or even a tool window which could be accessed from any window.

A well deserved +1 from me.

.Chris wrote on January 12, 2010, 8:13pm

at first I thought of having the window slide down, but that was to mac-ish. This way, things are all in one and you have less clutter and windows

Indrek wrote on January 12, 2010, 9:05pm

patternjake:
"If it was implemented this way, I am sure that it could be made as an applet, or even a tool window which could be accessed from any window."

But that's how it's done now - a small properties window that can be accessed from any window.

I'm not entirely convinced about this. Currently there are two main places where you can manage your drives - the Computer shell folder (which gives some basic information, both in the content pane and the status bar, as well as allows access to basic tasks like renaming the drive, managing Bitlocker, etc) and the drive properties dialog which gives you everything else, including advanced tools, security permissions, hardware information, etc.

This submission, as I understand it, would add a third place - the dropdown window inside Explorer. And from what I can see in the mockup, it doesn't really add much that you can't do straight from Explorer already. I know we shouldn't vote based on mockups, but that's why I haven't voted at all yet - I'm unsure if the new window you're proposing is meant to replace the properties dialog for all but the most advanced tasks (in which case I'd personally add sharing info, links to defragmenter and checkdisk, maybe also quota management), augment the info displayed by Explorer, or something else.

Also, I'm a bit confused by the dropdown that currently says "Show icon and notifications". Do you mean the low disk space notifications? Sorry if I'm missing the point of it completely or something.

Generally though, I agree that the disk properties dialog needs to be replaced with something more accessible.

.Chris wrote on January 12, 2010, 9:18pm

I updated the submission with this:


note: The drop down window should say "general" and clicking it will allow you to access the options in the tabs, like "tools, hardware sharing, quotea etc"

I coulodnt edit the image (place a box over and add text) in word for some reason.

patternjake wrote on January 12, 2010, 9:25pm

A dialog is not an applet, indrek. By applet I meant like a pop out window or something.

patternjake wrote on January 12, 2010, 9:25pm

Woops double post.

Comment edited on January 12, 2010, 9:26pm

Indrek wrote on January 12, 2010, 9:37pm

patternjake: I know. But the purpose of the two is the same - to provide advanced options and settings via an auxilliary window. Doesn't really matter what you call it.

veer01_42 wrote on January 12, 2010, 10:54pm

Under organise there is an option to show a "preview pane" Why not just show the drive properties there?

Also, why is it in the drive properties, they are still using a pie chart that looks like it came out of office 98?

.Chris wrote on January 12, 2010, 10:57pm

office 97. There was no office 98. :)

I'm not sure. I did modernize the pie chart, but do we even need a pie chart? now that I think of it, we could do well with just a bar. I think the pie chart resembled a plate on the hard drive, well with flash drives becoming popular, there's no plate or moving parts.

patternjake wrote on January 13, 2010, 1:57am

Indrek : I am thinking along the lines of the new popouts that appear on the system tray icons. Something like that,.

patternjake wrote on January 13, 2010, 1:58am

.Chris : WRONG. I used Office 98 way back on my old iMac G3. It didnt exist as a windows product, it was Office 98 for Macintosh. haha ;)

So he IS technically correct.

Comment edited on January 13, 2010, 1:58am

.Chris wrote on January 13, 2010, 3:02am

meh.