Can LBC be transformed into a task bar

[Dochappy]

I'm wanting to remove the windows taskbar all together and was wondering if it's possible to have a dock in lbc where open windows would sit like the taskbar ?

[Vurbal]

The short version is yes. The videos linked in this post would be a good starting point. My setup is quite a bit different now but the concept is mostly the same:

http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=18759.msg339703#msg339703

The somewhat longer version is the one thing I can't do with LBC yet that would allow me to totally eliminate using the taskbar is bringing up a list of open windows. Or actually it's not that I can't do it from LBC - 7+ Taskbar Tweaker has an option to do just that. The problem is I want to do it from a launchbar button rather than accessing the tray icon (which I can do from LBC) first.

One of these days I should contact the author of 7+ Taskbar Tweaker to see if he can add something (a hotkey maybe) to do that.

[mouser]

The main job of a task bar is to show entries for running programs -- LBC won't do that.

[Vurbal]

No it won't, but 7+ Taskbar Tweaker's Task Inspector combined the Tray Popup program from Total Taskbar Controller is almost close enough to be a replacement for me. At the end of the day I decided it was a little too kludgy, but if I could bring it up directly via a single LBC button that would probably be close enough for me.

[Dochappy]

thanks guys. I'll check out those videos for sure. right now I have two docks  one is one icon that pulls up the contents of my start menu. it's hidden at the top of my screen and another dock on my right side set to slide out with my mainly used programs.  I also minimize it to my systray while playing games in full screen.

as it is now I could probably get rid of the taskbar and just alt tab between open windows.

[mouser]

my advice (to everyone) would be to not mess with such core functions as the main windows taskbar.  if you are running out of space on screen, buy a new monitor.

[Vurbal]

I don't know that I'd characterize the taskbar as a core Windows component. It's definitely a core part of the default UI but from the system's point of view it isn't particularly important except for sending certain messages to the user. I'm not suggesting it's something anyone should do without good reason or forethought. Before I even started experimenting with my customizations I backed up my system and then made a restore point. That was after using a couple different docks that kept it hidden at all times.

In any case a second monitor wouldn't have addressed the various problems I was looking to solve. I wanted the taskbar at the top of the desktop for ergonomic reasons but needed to use autohide to avoid accidental mouseovers on running programs. Hiding it wasn't much good if I was regularly triggering it by accident so I also needed a delay. Since I didn't need the Start button but routinely fill up the taskbar to the point items get combined, it was pretty much a no-brainer to reclaim that extra little bit of room.

[Dochappy]

I've came to a happy balance for myself.
I have a doc at top and one to the right(hidden). I have the taskbar hidden(i can access it when I need it)

I'll try to find a good systray program and I should be set. but I have a problem
the text in the dropdown list is too big. It's using the same font and size that I set for the dock itself. What I'm after is to have the list of programs in a small font, but changing the font  does nothing unless I change the dock font too.

heres a screenshot:
Screeny

[mouser]

Hmm that's interesting -- you can overide image sizes and other stuff in the "Node overides" tab of the menu, but you can't override the font size.
Does seem like it might be a nice idea though.. Let me put it on my todo list and see if i can implement it easily.
At the very least it seems like i should be able to provide a way to specify two fonts(+sizes), one for root level of dock bar and one for the submenu items, etc.

[Dochappy]

awesome! thanks

[Vurbal]

There actually is an option to set different fonts for the main dock and menu items already but it would be a lot better if you could set a per-node override. It would be particularly helpful for my main dock captions so I could adjust the longer ones to fit more easily.

It would also be nice for dealing with menus set to display as root level items. Since they're still menus, they use the Menu Font setting rather than the Dock Font. That's understandable, but also problematic if you want to use a different font for regular menus.

[Vurbal]

I've came to a happy balance for myself.
I have a doc at top and one to the right(hidden). I have the taskbar hidden(i can access it when I need it)

I'll try to find a good systray program and I should be set.

I use the ShowTray docklet from Total Taskbar Controller. It's not perfect. It will only show you the hidden tray items and the popup doesn't necessarily appear above the dock node. It's the best solution I've found so far though.

[attach]

[app103]

I'll try to find a good systray program and I should be set.

I use PS Tray Factory.

[mouser]

Just FYI for those who have been putting off upgrading to Windows 7, Windows 7 has a good built-in tool for this.

[app103]

Just FYI for those who have been putting off upgrading to Windows 7, Windows 7 has a good built-in tool for this.

Good, but not great. 

The built-in tool doesn't allow you to set a custom order, use custom icons, or send any app to the tray...which is why I am still using PS Tray Factory on Win7.

[mouser]

At the very least it seems like i should be able to provide a way to specify two fonts(+sizes), one for root level of dock bar and one for the submenu items, etc.

I went to go implement this but found it already exists: