5 ms·

I see a little computer icon on the top left of explorer windows in Windows 8.1. Double clicking that seems to close the window as well.

by antsam 10y ago

TobbenTM 10y ago
Same with Windows 10! Even works in all other programs using the Windows chrome.
- roblabla 10y ago
  Sadly, it doesn't work in Edge (Although it's a rather good thing : there's no space in the chrome without tabs, so it would've been awkward)
  - b15h0p 10y ago
    The same holds for all "Metro" apps, apparently. The "top-left-menu" is neither present in calculator, nor the new settings app (or weather, mail, calendar ...).
    - jnky 10y ago
      The menu itself is present. You just have to press Alt+Space to get to it. Alternatively, you can also right click the title bar - even in modern Windows apps.
aidos 10y ago
That's behaviour that's been around since Windows 3.1. There used to be a little menu there with a few options and if you double clicked the icon it would close the window. http://ux.stackexchange.com/a/55261 http://ux.stackexchange.com/a/55261
- b15h0p 10y ago
  Even the menu is still there if you click on the window icon in the upper left corner of the window (or the space where it would have been). Interesting tidbit: There is even a context menu on scroll bars - no idea who would use this, but it is there.
  - aidos 10y ago
    Is the menu still there on all the apps? So the icon is missing, but the menu opens up? That's brilliant. Haven't used Windows for a long time but every time I do I'm still amazed to find that close behaviour still works. The link I posted above links to another one with more historical context. I'd never clicked that the icon was meant to look like a space bar. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jensenh/2006/06/08/you-windows-3-1-lovers/ https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jensenh/2006/06/08/you-wind...
  - kayamon 10y ago
    Heh, yeah the context menu on the scroll bars is my go-to tell to discover whether it's a real scroll bar widget or an imitation one. (Gotta write an article on that too one day)
    - b15h0p 10y ago
      Yeah, I like that too. Makes you think twice about re-implementing widgets because of the insane amount of functionality that is tied even to the simplest widgets and still invisible. Think of how hard it would be to re-implement a dropdown, for instance: You would need to implement keyboard navigation (arrow keys), jump-to-entry (using the letter-keys), srolling with the mouse wheel, flipping through entries while the dropdown menu is closed and probably a thousand other things that I never used but some people do.
      - peteri 10y ago
        I did do this back in the VB5 days and it was a proper pain. From memory I couldn't get the listbox window to draw outside of it's hosting window (needed for controls at the bottom of a window) and allow moving of the hosting window at the same time. In the end I think I cheated and drew the list box on the parent with an option to go up or down depending on it's relative position. Certainly was complicated.

I see a little computer icon on the top left of explorer windows in Windows 8.1. Double clicking that seems to close the window as well.

by antsam 10y ago

I see a little computer icon on the top left of explorer windows in Windows 8.1. Double clicking that seems to close the window as well.

TobbenTM 10y ago

Same with Windows 10! Even works in all other programs using the Windows chrome.

roblabla 10y ago
Sadly, it doesn't work in Edge (Although it's a rather good thing : there's no space in the chrome without tabs, so it would've been awkward)
- b15h0p 10y ago
  The same holds for all "Metro" apps, apparently. The "top-left-menu" is neither present in calculator, nor the new settings app (or weather, mail, calendar ...).
  - jnky 10y ago
    The menu itself is present. You just have to press Alt+Space to get to it. Alternatively, you can also right click the title bar - even in modern Windows apps.

aidos 10y ago

That's behaviour that's been around since Windows 3.1. There used to be a little menu there with a few options and if you double clicked the icon it would close the window. http://ux.stackexchange.com/a/55261 http://ux.stackexchange.com/a/55261

b15h0p 10y ago
Even the menu is still there if you click on the window icon in the upper left corner of the window (or the space where it would have been). Interesting tidbit: There is even a context menu on scroll bars - no idea who would use this, but it is there.
- aidos 10y ago
  Is the menu still there on all the apps? So the icon is missing, but the menu opens up? That's brilliant. Haven't used Windows for a long time but every time I do I'm still amazed to find that close behaviour still works. The link I posted above links to another one with more historical context. I'd never clicked that the icon was meant to look like a space bar. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jensenh/2006/06/08/you-windows-3-1-lovers/ https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jensenh/2006/06/08/you-wind...
- kayamon 10y ago
  Heh, yeah the context menu on the scroll bars is my go-to tell to discover whether it's a real scroll bar widget or an imitation one. (Gotta write an article on that too one day)
  - b15h0p 10y ago
    Yeah, I like that too. Makes you think twice about re-implementing widgets because of the insane amount of functionality that is tied even to the simplest widgets and still invisible. Think of how hard it would be to re-implement a dropdown, for instance: You would need to implement keyboard navigation (arrow keys), jump-to-entry (using the letter-keys), srolling with the mouse wheel, flipping through entries while the dropdown menu is closed and probably a thousand other things that I never used but some people do.
    - peteri 10y ago
      I did do this back in the VB5 days and it was a proper pain. From memory I couldn't get the listbox window to draw outside of it's hosting window (needed for controls at the bottom of a window) and allow moving of the hosting window at the same time. In the end I think I cheated and drew the list box on the parent with an option to go up or down depending on it's relative position. Certainly was complicated.