Solved Taskbar button height

alienglow · Dec 12, 2008

Hi Guys,

My Setup: Vista Home Basic 32Bit
Recently I downloaded a visual style Black by ~dimage on deviantART which I later removed as I didn't quite like it. The one thing I liked about the visual style is it had smaller taskbar button height. I have reverted back to the vista default visual style but wanted to know if its possible to reduce the button height using some advanced appearane setting or registry hack. I googled a lot and found this Change taskbar program button size which allows to change the button width not height. Can anyone please help. I have a screenshot of the buttons here, the left one is vista default visual style and the right with the custom visual style.

Thanks in advance,

Alienglow

acdcfan · Dec 12, 2008

you can try this TweakVista.com - Adjust taskbar preview size but it is additional software.
Unless some one comes with registry fix......

alienglow · Dec 12, 2008

acdcfan said:
you can try this TweakVista.com - Adjust taskbar preview size but it is additional software.
Unless some one comes with registry fix......

Thanks for the prompt reply. But the fix mentioned is for the Taskbar thumbnail preview. I am looking for a fix to adjust the size of the taskbar buttons. Check the screenshot.

Thanks!!
Alienglow

Brink · Dec 12, 2008

Hello Alienglow, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You can use the Advanced Appearance settings to change the item Caption Buttons size (step 6A) to a larger number (step 6B) to accomplish this.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

alienglow · Dec 17, 2008

Brink said:
Hello Alienglow, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You can use the Advanced Appearance settings to change the item Caption Buttons size (step 6A) to a larger number (step 6B) to accomplish this.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Sorry but this didn't work either. The height of the taskbar button remained the same, although the size of the icon on it did change. Any other suggestions or is this something which has to be done using a custom msstyle and cannot be tweaked by itself.

Thanks,
Alienglow

Brink · Dec 17, 2008

Sorry AlienGlow. To make the taskbar taller or wider to help make them bigger also, you will just need to unlock the taskbar and drag it to the size you like and lock it again.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Airbot · Dec 17, 2008

alienglow said:
Hi Guys,

My Setup: Vista Home Basic 32Bit
Recently I downloaded a visual style Black by ~dimage on deviantART which I later removed as I didn't quite like it. The one thing I liked about the visual style is it had smaller taskbar button height. I have reverted back to the vista default visual style but wanted to know if its possible to reduce the button height using some advanced appearane setting or registry hack. I googled a lot and found this Change taskbar program button size which allows to change the button width not height. Can anyone please help. I have a screenshot of the buttons here, the left one is vista default visual style and the right with the custom visual style.

Thanks in advance,

Alienglow

Hi alienglow,

When you say "taskbar buttons" do you mean the icons on the taskbar? Your link to your screenshot doesn't work. Have you thought of auto hiding the taskbar itself?

johngalt · Dec 20, 2008

The taskbar itself. If anyone looks at the link the OP posted in the first post, it is evident that the taskbar is thinner there than in a standard Vista install.

@alienglow - As for fixing that in 'standard' Vista, I do not think it is possible without some serious resource editing, or else hacking the native Vista style. What you could do is to reinstall that theme, and then revert all your icons and such back to the normal Vista style, thereby getting a hybrid of your thinner taskbar and the rest of your Vista style.

coolnewyorker · Dec 20, 2008

If you want a thicker taskbar, do what BRINK said (always do what he says) and all the icons in it will fill up (get taller) with the widened taskbar. Make sure, as BRINK said, the taskbar is unlocked before it can react to your arrow placed on top edge of taskbar. You know taskbar is ready to be dragged up when arrow morphs to a two headed arrow.

And always lock taskbar when done ...or you can accidentally misplace/displace it all over the screen.

johngalt · Dec 20, 2008

alienglow said:
Hi Guys,

My Setup: Vista Home Basic 32Bit
Recently I downloaded a visual style Black by ~dimage on deviantART which I later removed as I didn't quite like it. The one thing I liked about the visual style is it had smaller taskbar button height. I have reverted back to the vista default visual style but wanted to know if its possible to reduce the button height using some advanced appearane setting or registry hack. I googled a lot and found this Change taskbar program button size which allows to change the button width not height. Can anyone please help. I have a screenshot of the buttons here, the left one is vista default visual style and the right with the custom visual style.

Thanks in advance,

Alienglow

Not thicker, OK?

coolnewyorker · Dec 20, 2008

Oh, ok, then just do the opposite....drag it down.

johngalt · Dec 20, 2008

It won't drag down smaller than the default size, which is larger than the size used by that theme.

alienglow · Dec 22, 2008

johngalt said:
The taskbar itself. If anyone looks at the link the OP posted in the first post, it is evident that the taskbar is thinner there than in a standard Vista install.

@alienglow - As for fixing that in 'standard' Vista, I do not think it is possible without some serious resource editing, or else hacking the native Vista style. What you could do is to reinstall that theme, and then revert all your icons and such back to the normal Vista style, thereby getting a hybrid of your thinner taskbar and the rest of your Vista style.

Thanks everyone for your responses. Johngalt has understood my problem correctly. I basically need a thinner (height) taskbar. I don't like icon grouping and I like to have atleast three rows of taskbar icons. Problem is I have a widescreen laptop and vertical area as it is is less, and with a 3 row taskbar, I hardly get left with any area for my appliactions. With the stlyesheet I mentioned I could have 3 rows in roughly the same height as the default Vista uses for 2 rows. Guess there isn't a simple fix. Will keep you guys poseted incase I come across any.

Thanks again. And yes, here is the screenshot again

alienglow · Jan 13, 2009

Hi Guys,

Just an update. Finally I managed to get what I was looking for. This tutorial proved handy. http://www.deviantart.com/download/60297439/Vista_Hex_Editing_Tutorial_0_7_by_UkIntel.pdf.
Although it involved a bit a hex editing etc, but finally I managed to reduce the Taskbar button height.

Thanks all for your help.

Alienglow

Airbot · Jan 13, 2009

Thanks for the update alienglow. Glad you found a solution.

Solved Taskbar button height

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