Editing Taskbar (section)

{{short description|GUI desktop bar used to manage applications}}
The '''taskbar''' is a [[graphical user interface]] element that has been part of [[Microsoft Windows]] since [[Windows 95]], displaying and facilitating switching between running [[computer program|programs]]. The taskbar and the associated [[Start menu|Start Menu]] were created and named in 1993 by Daniel Oran, a program manager at [[Microsoft]] who had previously collaborated on [[great ape language]] research with the [[Behaviorism|behavioral psychologist]] [[B. F. Skinner|B.F. Skinner]] at [[Harvard University|Harvard]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lehmann-Haupt |first=Christopher |date=1998-07-09 |title=Books of the Times; A Jungle? It's Murder, It's a Conspiracy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/09/books/books-of-the-times-a-jungle-it-s-murder-it-s-a-conspiracy.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322215943/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/07/09/books/books-of-the-times-a-jungle-it-s-murder-it-s-a-conspiracy.html |archive-date=2023-03-22 |access-date=2023-03-22 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Weinberger |first=Matt |date=2015-07-30 |title='He was literally a rocket scientist. And even he couldn't figure out Windows.' |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-the-windows-start-button-2015-7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807192250/https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-the-windows-start-button-2015-7 |archive-date=2015-08-07 |access-date=2024-04-26 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Andrews |first=Paul |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/40820951 |title=How the Web was won : Microsoft from Windows to the Web : the inside story of how Bill Gates and his band of internet idealists transformed a software empire |date=1999 |publisher=Broadway Books |isbn=0-7679-0048-0 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=244–5 |oclc=40820951}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45226466 |title=Inside out : Microsoft--in our own words. |date=2000 |publisher=Warner Books |others=Microsoft Corporation |isbn=0-446-52739-4 |location=New York, NY |pages=30 |oclc=45226466}}</ref>

The taskbar is an exemplar of a category of always-visible graphical user interface elements that provide access to fundamental [[operating system]] functions and information. At the time of its introduction in 1995, the taskbar was unique among such elements because it provided the user with a means of switching between running programs through a single click of the [[pointing device]].

Since the introduction of Windows 95, other operating systems have incorporated graphical user interface elements that closely resemble the taskbar or have similar features. The designs vary, but generally include a strip along one edge of the [[computer screen|screen]]. [[Icon (computing)|Icons]] or textual descriptions on this strip correspond to open [[Window (computing)|windows]]. Clicking the icons or text enables the user to easily switch between windows, with the active window often appearing differently from the others on the strip. In some versions of recent operating systems, users can "pin" programs or files to this strip for quick access. In many cases, there is also a notification area, which includes [[Interactive computing|interactive]] icons that display real-time information about the [[computer system]] and some of the running programs.

With the [[History of operating systems|rapid evolution of operating systems]] and graphical user interfaces, items that are native to each operating system have been included in the various designs.