Posts Tagged ‘Aero’

Cinch Brings Windows 7’s Aero Snap to the Mac [Downloads]

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Mac only: Accurately named menu bar app Cinch lets you set windows up side by side, à la Windows 7's Aero Snap feature, just by dragging them to the side of your screen.

After installing Cinch, you are given the option of having it launch at login, and whether you want to see it in the menu bar. The app itself is very simple—to snap a window to half-screen size, just drag it until your cursor hits the side of the screen, and a dotted line will show you where the window will go. Releasing the mouse button will snap it into place, allowing you to have two windows side by side to work with. In addition, you can drag a window to the top of your screen to maximize it. After you're done working, drag the window away from its screen edge and its original size will be restored.

Cinch is free as nagware, costs $7 for the nag-free version, and is Mac only. Thanks, Jasmeet!

Cinch


The Master List of New Windows 7 Shortcuts [Windows 7]

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Windows 7 adds loads of great shortcuts for switching between apps, moving windows around your screen, moving them to another monitor altogether, and much more. Here's a quick-reference master list of the best new Windows 7 shortcuts.

We're nuts for keyboard shortcuts here at Lifehacker, and Windows 7 brings a handful of great new ones to add to your muscle memory. It's also got a few handy mouse-based shortcuts you'd do well to add to your repertoire. So let's get shortcuttin'.

Window Management Shortcuts

One of the best changes in Windows 7 is the ability to "snap" windows to the side of the screen, maximize them by dragging to the top of the screen, or even move them to another monitor with a shortcut key. Check out the video for a demonstration of how some of the keys work.

The full list of keyboard shortcuts includes:

  • Win+Home: Clear all but the active window.
  • Win+Space: All windows become transparent so you can see through to the desktop.
  • Win+Up arrow: Maximize the active window.
  • Shift+Win+Up arrow: Maximize the active window vertically.
  • Win+Down arrow: Minimize the window/Restore the window if it's maximized.
  • Win+Left/Right arrows: Dock the window to each side of the monitor.
  • Shift+Win+Left/Right arrows: Move the window to the monitor on the left or right.

You can also interact with windows by dragging them with the mouse:

  • Drag window to the top: Maximize
  • Drag window left/right: Dock the window to fill half of the screen.
  • Shake window back/forth: Minimize everything but the current window.
  • Double-Click Top Window Border (edge): Maximize window vertically.

Taskbar Shortcuts

In Windows 7, using the Windows key along with the numbers 1-9 will let you interact with the applications pinned to the taskbar in those positions – for example, the Windows key + 4 combination would launch Outlook in this example, or Win+Alt+4 can be used to get quick access to the Outlook Jump List from the keyboard.

You can use any of these shortcut combinations to launch the applications in their respective position on the taskbar, or more:

  • Win+number (1-9): Starts the application pinned to the taskbar in that position, or switches to that program.
  • Shift+Win+number (1-9): Starts a new instance of the application pinned to the taskbar in that position.
  • Ctrl+Win+number (1-9): Cycles through open windows for the application pinned to the taskbar in that position.
  • Alt+Win+number (1-9): Opens the Jump List for the application pinned to the taskbar.
  • Win+T: Focus and scroll through items on the taskbar.
  • Win+B: Focuses the System Tray icons

In addition, you can interact with the taskbar using your mouse and a modifier key:
  • Shift+Click on a taskbar button: Open a program or quickly open another instance of a program.
  • Ctrl+Shift+Click on a taskbar button: Open a program as an administrator.
  • Shift+Right-click on a taskbar button: Show the window menu for the program (like XP does).
  • Shift+Right-click on a grouped taskbar button: Show the window menu for the group.
  • Ctrl+Click on a grouped taskbar button: Cycle through the windows of the group.

More Useful Hotkeys You Should Know

The new hotkey goodness didn't stop with the taskbar and moving windows around—one of the best new hotkeys in Windows 7 is the fact that you can create a new folder with a hotkey. Just open up any Windows Explorer window, hit the Ctrl+Shift+N shortcut key sequence, and you'll be rewarded with a shiny "New Folder" ready for you to rename.

Here's a few more interesting hotkeys for you:

  • Ctrl+Shift+N: Creates a new folder in Windows Explorer.
  • Alt+Up: Goes up a folder level in Windows Explorer.
  • Alt+P: Toggles the preview pane in Windows Explorer.
  • Shift+Right-Click on a file: Adds Copy as Path, which copies the path of a file to the clipboard.
  • Shift+Right-Click on a file: Adds extra hidden items to the Send To menu.
  • Shift+Right-Click on a folder: Adds Command Prompt Here, which lets you easily open a command prompt in that folder.
  • Win+P: Adjust presentation settings for your display.
  • Win+(+/-): Zoom in/out.
  • Win+G: Cycle between the Windows Gadgets on your screen.

Windows 7 definitely makes it a lot easier to interact with your PC from your keyboard—so what are your favorite shortcuts, and how do they save you time? Share your experience in the comments.



The How-To Geek is quickly wearing out the keyboard on his new Windows 7 laptop. His geeky articles can be found daily here on Lifehacker, How-To Geek, and Twitter.



First Look at Firefox 4.0 Design Mockups [Firefox]

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Last week we took a look at initial design mockups for Firefox 3.7, and now the busy designers at Mozilla are back with some theme mockups for the even-further-into-the-future Firefox 4.0.

(Click any of the images for a closer look.)

As you can see in the screenshot above, the Firefox folks are toying with the idea of a Google Chrome-like tabs-on-top interface.

They're also looking at consolidating the Stop, Refresh, and Go buttons to save a little extra space in the toolbar—similar to a user chrome tweak we've been using for quite a while.

Keep in mind that all of the changes you see here are not final—they're just exploring different ideas for upcoming releases of Firefox. Similarly, it'll be quite some time before either Firefox 4.0 or Firefox 3.7 hits servers, so if you like the basic look but want to get it now, here's how to make Firefox 3.5 look like Firefox 3.7.

Firefox/4.0 Windows Theme Mockups [Mozilla Wiki]


7stacks Does OS X Stacks in Windows 7 Style [Downloads]

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Windows only: Application launcher 7stacks adds the Stacks functionality of Mac's OS X to Windows 7, including Aero transparency effects that blend into your taskbar perfectly.

To create your own stacks, launch the application, pick a folder and the type of launcher you want, create a shortcut on the desktop, and then right-click the shortcut and pin it to the taskbar. You can pin up to 10 shortcuts onto the taskbar this way, and you can choose between Menu, Grid, or Stacks (pictured). You don't have all of the functionality that the latest version of StandaloneStack gives you, but it blends into the desktop really well with the Aero transparency effects, making it well worth a look for anybody using Windows 7.

7stacks is a free download for Windows 7 only. For more, check out how StandaloneStack is an awesome file-browsing widget, or our other favorite methods of consolidating taskbar launchers with Jumplist and switching folders with Folder Menu.

Update: Numerous readers point out that you've always been able to dock folders to the Windows taskbar by right-clicking on the taskbar and choosing New Toolbar from the Toolbars menu. This application simply does it with eye-candy effects instead of a plain menu.

7stacks [Alastria Software via Into Windows]


The Clean Glass Firefox Customization [Downloads]

Friday, May 29th, 2009

Windows only: After we wrote about the All-Glass Firefox theme, reader bc//G_A wrote in with an even more impressive customization that enables the Aero Glass effect across almost every UI element.

Enabling the complete glass look requires more than a few steps—you'll need to install the Glasser extension, the Stylish extension, a number of user styles, and another extension to fix up the font colors. All of the instructions for setting up the glass theme can be found in the DeviantART guide, but the glass menus in the screenshot are thanks to the userstyles.org link sent in by reader Scott. Readers should note that the glass menus are a little buggy, and the overall style hides a lot of UI elements you might be used to, so while it's not for everybody it's an interesting customization worth a look for those serious about tweaking their browser.

You'll need to be running the latest beta of Firefox under Windows 7 or Vista to be able to use the glass menus, but you can install an older version of Glasser and use the rest of the glass effects. For more, check out All-Glass Firefox, or take a look at the more productive Aero Geek customization.

Clean Glassed Firefox [DeviantART]
Glass menus [userstyles.org]