Submission details
'All Control Panel Items' list should be sorted top-to-bottom, not left-to-right
The sorting of Control Panel items in the classic view is hard to follow. By sorting the names left-to-right rather than top-to-bottom, finding an item requires more effort than necessary.
Since there is only room for a few entries on each row (4 for me), to read the list one's eyes must constantly travel back to the left side (to get to the start of the next row). On the other hand each column has many entries (14 for me), so one only has to flick back to the top of the columns a few times.
Sort the items top-to-bottom, not left-to-right, or at the very least provide this as an option.
Medium
Low
Not fixed
Discussion (5 comments)
+1 I've always been confused by that view.
+1 Don't know why they didn't do it this way in the first place.
if 7025 is real, then dont expect this anytime soon
http://w7info.com/articles/wp-content/images/controlpanel.png
I noticed this the first day I installed Win7. How on earth did it get shipped this way? Was a custom control written just for this window or something? Why are the items in green text and not black and sorted top-down? This is how *every* list in Windows *ever* has worked - so why reinvent the wheel and confuse the user?
xombie wrote on January 17, 2009, 7:33am
You're right, makes it easier to follow, since the names are now on the right side instead of below the icons.