Windows 11’s revamped taskbar design is controversial, to say the least. The original iteration removed a big chunk of features from the tried-and-true design that originated all the way back since Windows 95, which has draw ire among power users ever since. However, some of the features are slowly coming back, including this one.
Windows 11 Tests Smaller Taskbar Icons
User @phantomofearth, known for discovering upcoming Windows features, has reported on X (Twitter) that the recent Windows 11 inside build (version 22635.4291) has included a returning feature that shrinks taskbar buttons. In the screenshot, the dropdown menu offers the choice of ‘Always’, ‘Never’, and ‘When taskbar is full’ – though this might be a placeholder as all previous iterations of this option is simply an on/off switch.
Another hint that this feature might still be far from completion is the actual behavior of the taskbar in the screenshot. While the icons do look smaller, the height of the taskbar remain the same; this should be reducing the overall height down to single line (which will hide the date) when it is correctly implemented.
It’s worth noting that ever since Windows 7 was introduced almost exactly 15 years ago, the default behavior has been large icons with hidden, combined labels; this has since been applied to Windows 8 and Windows 10, but in all cases, you have the option to revert to the classic, Windows XP-style layout that gives you a more detailed view on running applications (I swear by this feature, in fact).
While Windows 11 has removed this possibility officially, unofficial patches exist if you’re the kind of user who hates making extra clicks just to switch between apps – the same patch also offers the option to cut down on vertical height like aforementioned if you can’t wait for Microsoft to apply this feature officially in the coming months.
Pokdepinion: I for one never liked the combined icons layout even back when I was using Windows 7 – it’s just extra, unnecessary clicks, you know?
