- High-priority new functionality to allow the repositioning of Windows 11’s taskbar is now in testing
- Changes to resize and customize the Start menu are coming to testing soon
- These look to be well-thought-out and nicely implemented features, but the top item on my wishlist for Windows 11 probably won’t ever be addressed
Windows 11 is finally getting some of the most-wanted features for its interface, namely the ability to move the position of the taskbar (and make it smaller), along with the option to resize and further adjust the Start menu.
Microsoft’s blog post on ‘Making Taskbar and Start more personal’ explains that the taskbar changes are rolling out now in the Experimental channel for Windows 11 preview builds, with the Start menu overhaul arriving soon, over the “coming weeks”.
Users will be able to move the taskbar to the top, or either side, of the desktop, which has been one of the most-wanted features for Windows 11 since it arrived. (Windows 10 has this functionality, and people were dismayed to see it get left by the wayside in the successor OS).
Microsoft is also letting folks choose the icon alignment (centered, or not) for any taskbar position. The likes of coders, or those with ultra-widescreen monitors who would prefer to have the taskbar located at the side of the screen, will be very pleased to see this feature is now inbound.
A further addition is the ability to manually choose a small taskbar (with smaller buttons), which has previously been a mode that’s selected automatically (for small displays).
Another major moan of late has been the fact that the Start menu has gotten too large – in some cases, spanning much of the desktop and effectively becoming a Start screen (as seen in Windows 8, if you recall).
To avoid this, Microsoft is going to give users control of the size of the Start menu in Windows 11, with small and large settings. Another change is clear and simple toggles to turn off any section you don’t want to see – whether that’s Pinned, Recommended or All (the full list of apps).
You can turn off the Recommended panel now, but that also switches off jump lists and recent files in File Explorer, so Microsoft is decoupling that, meaning you can keep those latter bits in place while ditching recommendations.
All of this is useful, and the upshot is that if you want a compact Start menu which only displays your pinned apps and nothing else — a bare launcher for all your favorite applications — then you can have just that (as was previously rumored).
As noted, the Start menu changes haven’t arrived in testing yet, but they’ll be rolling out soon enough.
Analysis: a challenge to prove me wrong, Microsoft
It’s good to see this happening, as Microsoft has promised, previously stating that the taskbar change was a top priority. I’m also pleased to see a thoughtful implementation of the Start menu changes, too, giving folks plenty of options to streamline this part of the interface considerably.
Yes, this should have been the case from the get-go, but I can’t keep banging that particular drum — at least Microsoft has realized its previous mistake in burying its head in the sand regarding complaints about the Windows 11 interface.
With Microsoft now listening more intently to feedback from the Windows 11 userbase, and directly enlisting the help of testers to fix various facets of the desktop OS, I’m feeling more hope for the future of the operating system than I have since, well — since it was first launched.
So, what do I personally hope Microsoft fixes next? I’d love to see Microsoft bring back the option to install the desktop OS with a local account, and not force a Microsoft account to be used when setting up Windows 11 (or make people fudge their way around this). The good news is that we’ve seen a hint that this change may be in the works, but it hasn’t been officially announced yet.
That would be a crowd-pleasing move for many, and even though I use a Microsoft account myself – and I’m not looking to change that — I want to see this implemented as a broader sign that Microsoft is going to stop forcing people into certain behaviors in Windows 11.
If this move were to happen, my real hope is that it could lead to Windows 11 being freer of the various promotional bits and pieces that you see for Microsoft’s services (whether that’s OneDrive, Edge, Bing, or indeed games like Avowed). Again, that’s something Microsoft has hinted at already, but what would please me no end would be the introduction of a system-wide switch to kill all such promos and veiled adverts in Windows 11. (Or a bank of options where you can leave certain recommendations on, if you wish, but where it’s possible to turn everything off, and I mean the lot).
Despite all the good work that Microsoft is doing at the moment, and my renewed faith in Windows 11, to a point, I can’t for a moment believe that such a thing would ever happen.
If it did, though, it would truly be a sign that this is a completely different Microsoft behind the wheel of the OS.
So, come on, Microsoft – prove me wrong. You’re listening to feedback – and surely you must have noticed the complaints that you shouldn’t get any ads or promos in an operating system that you paid for? Act on this front, and you’ll win my faith back completely, and likely the trust of a whole lot of people out there.
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