Classic Shell: Forum

I really like the style of the Windows 10 start menu, however it doesn't really have any customizability or any of the innovative features that Classic Shell offers. The Classic Shell Windows 7 start menu has been my preferred choice for a long time now while using Windows 10, but there's always been a part of it that bothered me. I really like the look of the borderless Windows 10 start screen and I'd love for that to be a toggleable option in Classic Shell.



Just that alone would be a great start as an optional toggle in the settings, but obviously to get the best results some formatting will need to be done with the All Programs menu and the search bar style. I do also understand that one of my arrows in the above image is pointing to a separator and this is because an option for a blank separator with nothing more than padding space would be much preferred. Sure, that can be done by adding a file with a blank character as its name, but then it's clickable and obvious when it's hovered over which distracts from the experience.

Speaking of the search bar though, that's also something that I desperately miss from the Windows 10 start menu. No matter what you're doing in the Windows 10 start menu, when you press a key on the keyboard it will display that character in the search bar. If a hover menu is open in the Classic Shell start menu, the keyboard keys default to the first letter of its contents instead of entering that character in the search bar. That means if I want to search after hovering over a menu (whether purposely or accidentally) that I have to manually click out of it and then click on the search box to search again. Further, if I don't click on the search box after it's no longer selected then the keyboard behavior is even weirder where some letters will highlight something and another will automatically open a program or folder that's listed in the start menu (e.g. E opens Eraser). I really do hope that these issues are fixed with search so that typing on the keyboard will type in the search box no matter what state the start menu is in with exception to it being closed obviously. Even still after learning how it works I'm often finding myself having to double-tap the Start button on my keyboard to have the start menu reopen and default back to the search box before I type which is more steps than it should be.

Those are my only two gripes with the Classic Shell Windows 7 start menu and I desperately hope that these things will be implemented in future versions of Classic Shell. Thanks for reading

TL;DR
- Add a toggleable option that makes pressing a key on the keyboard while the start menu is open default to the search function regardless of the start menu state (e.g with the current state of Classic Shell key entries don't search when a hover menu is displaying but rather skips alphabetically in the displayed list)
- Add a toggleable option that removes the borders in the Classic Shell Windows 7 start menu much like it is in the Windows 10 start menu. See the image posted above.

(I apologize if there are any weird formatting issues with the text here. I lost it all due to a webpage error and managed to recover it from a dump file of the Chrome process though HxD and I'm too lazy to proof-read again)

- The borderless Start Menu can be achieved by easily modifying the skin to remove the borders. You can read the skinning tutorial here: http://www.classicshell.net/tutorials/skintutorial.html and do it yourself. You seem to be an experienced user if you can recover data from a process with a hex editor. If you can't do it, one of the skinning experts, "juniper7", "jcee" and others might help you remove the borders.

- Accelerators to open menu items are a core feature of the Classic Start Menu. But you can press Ctrl+F key when no submenus are open to take the focus to the search box. Your suggestion is nice though. Ctrl+F can be extended in a future version to work even if a submenu is open, so the submenu will close and focus is taken to the search box.

Btw in the latest Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Microsoft has changed the Windows 10 menu again so the search opens only if you begin typing while the focus is in the LEFT portion. If any of the pinned tiles are focused or selected, typing does nothing.

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Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Adding to what Guarav said regarding the borders on the menu, one of the stock skins (Metro) has no borders. You might like it.

If not, just post a mockup of what you want and I'll be happy to try to make it happen ^-^

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I'm sorry for getting your hopes up, only to shatter them. Best wishes, wherever you're all headed next.