Learning how to interface with Vista

...familiar with the list commands that appear on these context menus in Windows XP and had a major UI Shock the first time that I accessed the context menu on the Windows Vista desktop. However, I soon discovered that these new context menu items bring a lot of configuration power right to the forefront very quickly.

The first item on the menu is Choose Desktop Background, which is very intuitive and one of the more common reasons for right-clicking on the desktop. Selecting it brings up the new Desktop Background Control Panel page. I use the term page here because Desktop Background looks and feels more like a Web page than a typical Control Panel dialog box like those found in Windows XP.

The next item on the menu is titled View and provides most of the functionality found on the current Arrange Icons By menu in Windows XP. The View menu allows you to change the size of the icons, alter their arrangement, as well the ability to completely disable desktop icons altogether. The next menu item is titled Sort By and provides quick access to the other items on the current Arrange Icons By menu, thus allowing you to quickly organise the icon display and Name, Size, Type, and Date Modified.

The next major item on the desktop context menu is titled Look in Folder and will very quickly patch you through to the root of the new Virtual Folder paradigm, which is destined to augment Windows Vista's Search capabilities by providing preconfigured and always available search results. I wrote about Virtual Folders early on in an in-depth look at Windows Vista's Virtual Folders technology. I'll be writing more about Virtual Folders and how to take advantage of them in the near future.

The last major item on the desktop context menu is called Personalise Computer and provides access to the types of scenic configuration changes that you would expect from the Properties item on Windows XP's desktop context menu. Like the Choose Desktop Background item, the Personalise Computer item takes you to a new Control Panel application, but this one takes you to Desktop Background's parent page, which is simply called Personalisation. From within the Personalisation page, you can select Theme, Color Scheme, Screen Save and Sound Effects. Unlike Desktop Background, which appears as a web page, these other four items on the Personalisation page access standard dialog box configuration interfaces. However, I'll wager that these too will eventually be migrated to a web-based interface.

The sounds of Vista
Microsoft's Channel 9 is now featuring a video that takes you inside a recording session for the sounds that will be in Windows Vista. Check out this video and watch as Robert Fripp, from the 70's rock group King Crimson, records music for the Windows Vista operating system soundtrack.

Conclusion
I've only covered a few of my initial Windows Vista UI Shock experiences in this edition. There are more that I'll be sharing in upcoming articles as the December CTP is literally packed with new features. Keep in mind that Windows Vista's official release date is over a year a way and some of the information presented here may change. As always, if you have comments or information to share about the Windows Vista December CTP in general or some of these UI Shock experience, please use Talkback below, and let us know.