ANN: Classic Shell 0.9.8 -now with skinnable start menu

[Orbidia]

3. As for the bug - I uninstalled Classic Shell and put the target for Windows explorer as:
%windir%\explorer.exe /root,::{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d}

Then I rebooted and confirmed classic shell was gone.

Yes - the bug is in windows. It still opens a new window when clicking a folder.
To focus on my computer instead of libraries, this seems to work properly as the target:
%windir%\explorer.exe ,/e

Guess that's one for microsoft. I've actually found classic shell to be surprisingly clean and very unbuggy so far. I guess that's a good reason to keep things simple.

2. I think a dropdown list next to the back button with the full path would be great. You could also make it an individual drop down button in the tool bar and that would also be nice. (just an icon with a down triangle). Of course, this feature is most useful when NOT using the navigation pane. Its a bit like having the navigation pane in a drop down button. That's why I requested the navigation pane toggle button as well (read below).

1. Is there really no way to add a button on the classic toolbar to toggle the navigation pane on and off? Ideally it would use the same icon as the explorer button in windows xp because its the identical function.

I don't understand why microsoft got rid of that button - it is useful in situations where you have two windows open for example and you quickly want to remove the navigation pane to make as much space for the files and folders to be seen. Its so annoying having to go through organize -> layout -> navigation pane each time I want to make the entire window available to files/folders!

Isn't there a way to just access that same function from the organize menu and stick it on a toggle button?

If not, I guess I'll just get used to always wasting all that space with the navigation pane all the time or going through the organize menu instead of hitting a toggle...

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Lastly, on the start menu- I haven't gotten to play with the startmenu.ini stuff yet so I don't know if its possible - but in XP, I used to love setting the control panel in the start menu to be a cascading flyout type of menu.
To make start menu control panel into a cascade menu in xp, use regedit as explained here (pictures too):
Tweak Library ? Cascading ?Control Panel? items inside the Start menu
(FOR XP -
"Go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced\] , right-click in the open area to create a String Value with the name "CascadeControlPanel" in "Advanced" key.
Next, right-click on "CascadeControlPanel" and click on 'Modify'.
Finally, enter the value User "Yes" in the text box and click on 'OK'. " )

I never understood why this isn't default behavior for the control panel in classic start menu. Is this behavior possible with the .ini files?

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To be honest, these suggestions would give back the last bit of functionality of XP that I'm used to but you've already got the main stuff. I love the cascading start menu and the folder up button. Breadcrumbs are fine but folder up is oftentimes easier.

 

[Greg S]

Request:
How about tabbed browsing similar to QtTabbar?

 

[Ivo]

2. I did some quick testing, and I think I can make the address bar behave like XP. You click on the drop arrow and it shows you a list of parent folders. It will be in the next version (hopefully this weekend, or next weekend the latest)

1. I could not find a way to show/hide the navigation pane from my code. Doesn't mean there isn't one, just that I don't know it at the moment.

0. If you are talking about having the Control Panel open as a sub-menu, simply check "Expand Control Panel" in the settings. If you are talking about something else, please provide a screenshot.

-1. @Greg S - I think somebody posted recently about a similar tool. Search this forum for it.

 

[bamajon1974]

QTTabBar is no longer actively updated and the latest versions (English or Japanese) are incompatible with Win7. There has been some speculation that the coder, Quizo, had died in a car accident last year as reported on the QTTabBar forums and the sudden lack of activity gives support. It's a real shame the author didn't open source the code otherwise someone would have taken over and updated the project.

So that leads to my question, is there a coder on these forums that would know how to incorporate tabs into Win7 Explorer?

 

[Ivo]

This is the one I had in mind: http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/57159-add-tabs-explorer-exe-little-similar-qttabbar.html
I haven't tried it and I don't know if or how well it works.

 

[Orbidia]

2. Great on the address bar.
1. Thank you for looking into the navigation pane toggle. What more could I ask?

As for the Control Panel... the screenshot is on the page I linked to here:
Tweak Library ? Cascading ?Control Panel? items inside the Start menu
Attached is the picture from the above page.

Note the black right arrow to the right of Administrative Tools, Fonts, Network Connections, Printers and Faxes etc. This is what the above regedit adds in XP.

With the Shell Classic setting to "expand control panel", it does cascade out the first level of the control panel. But the above regedit shows how to make the Control Panel submenus continue to cascade out. For example - Administrative Tools will also expand out from the Start Menu Control Panel. In XP, I often go:
Start/Settings/Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Computer Management (SELECT). With Classic Shell Start Menu it now stops at:
Start/Settings/Control Panel/Administrative Tools (SELECT)

It's probably not possible because the Control Panel is a special menu and the functionality would need to probably be in Windows 7 somewhere. Windows 7 seems to have changed the way the Control Panel works a bit. I can't find a way to do it to the Control Panel on the original Win7 Start Menu so I don't think it is possible on the classic one either.

No big deal really, but what exactly does microsoft have against cascading menus in general?? They seem so efficient in general. (I guess they don't work as well with pen input! Of course - take the functionality away entirely!

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TRY THIS: Open up an explorer window... Drag "Computer" icon into the Classic Shell Start Menu and place it on the very top. Now you've got a fully cascading menu which can drill down to any file on the computer in seconds... That's the kind of thing I love the Classic Start Menu for.

PS: Tabs on Explorer sounds like a great idea too. Good luck!

 

[Ivo]

I see. The thing is the Classic Start Menu purposely prevents sub-folders of the Control Panel to be opened. The reason is that many items are actually folders. Not just the ones you want (like Administrative Tools, Fonts, Printers, etc) but ones that make no sense (Windows Update, Programs and Features, AutoPlay, etc).
I can't find a way to distinguish between folders you want to be expandable and folders you don't want to expand. So for simplicity I made them all non-expandable.

 

[tuxplorer]

Of the above folders, Fonts expands on XP but doesn't show the actual name of the font but instead shows the file name. Printers and Network Connections are already there in a default Classic Start menu install outside of the Control Panel and administrative tools can be added to the Start menu using Microsoft's settings or editing the Classic Start menu INI files. Scanners and Camera and Scheduled Tasks are no longer shell hosted folders and like Ivo said it would be difficult to differentiate between ones that expand to show meaningful info and ones that don't like Windows Update.

 

[Ivo]

2. In XP, there was a way to make the drop down box of the address bar just show all the file tree so one could select from a single list instead of individual breadcrumbs. Is this possible to implement when clicking the address bar drop down icon. It seems like its always just blank now which makes no sense to me.

The latest version 1.0.3 fills the dropdown with the parent folders like in XP. See the screenshot here: http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/72519-ann-new-classic-shell-versions-1-0-3-1-9-0-a.html

 

[GEORG]

he latest version 1.0.3 fills the dropdown with the parent folders like in XP. See the screenshot here: http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/72519-ann-new-classic-shell-versions-1-0-3-1-9-0-a.html

Thanks 1.0.9 Smoked Glass skinn is perfect for me !!!

 

[jerrytom]

Show Desktop

Maybe having a show desktop icon next to the Start button is another feature Windows 7 removed that would be worth incorporating into Classic Shell.

 

[Ivo]

You can do that easily with the quick launch bar. Search for "Quick Launch" in this forum.