What is the Vista Sidebar? Windows Sidebar Discuss What is the Vista Sidebar? in the Vista Features forums; The Windows Sidebar is a panel on the side of your screen that will be home for things like Desktop Gadgets, RSS feeds and other Internet driven applications. It’s ...

[ultralexy]

The Windows Sidebar is a panel on the side of your screen that will be home for things like Desktop Gadgets, RSS feeds and other Internet driven applications. It’s fully customizable and may be docked, or kept on top of the desktop. Though the Windows Sidebar has been previewed in some builds, at this time, it’s undergoing development, so we haven’t seen its full capability just yet. And as with Desktop Gadgets, the Windows Sidebar will be available for Windows XP as well.

More to come on this feature when we know more.

[W.Harbaugh]

I don't think it's much of a feature...Google Desktop does most of that and I still find it to be a large annoyance to me it makes the screen flicker when I game, it shows me things I don't want to see etc. etc...

[triumph]

Does anyone know if it will disappear and then you can bring it up by mousing off the side of the screen? I don't really want it up all the time, but I want to be able to access it quickly when needed.

[W.Harbaugh]

It will undoubtedly do that, Microsoft would be stupid(er) to not do that..if they don't someone will release a plugin for it or microsoft will with in the first month.

[dazzlin]

Windows Vista Sidebar is a panel on the side of the Windows Vista desktop that organizes gadgets and makes them easy to access. Windows Sidebar is the perfect complement to widescreen monitors and also works seamlessly on standard displays. You can easily customize Windows Sidebar to suit how you want to interact with it - whether you want it always on top or resting below maximized windows. You can also move gadgets off the Windows Sidebar and place them anywhere on your desktop.

There are also hacks to allow XP to use Vista Sidebar right now, so if you really want it on your XP box, you can make that happen. You have to jump through a few hoops, though. Just google vista sidebar and you'll find several explanations.

[W.Harbaugh]

Does anyone have any screen shots or videos of the sidebar? I'd love to see what it looks like and how it functions...more curious though is if it's any use....I still use my keyboard to go all the way to the end of a line instead of using "end" just because i have a shortcut doesnt mean I'll use it..

[ninikins]

The whole sidebar idea is really not that new like someone in this thread pointed out already...I dont like it with google and of course I will give all the Vista features a try but this one might be toggled 'off' soon...

[crabby]

My sidebar has been ditch and probably wont come back until my next build upgrade just in case its gotten any better

My major issue is the reasources it requires, they are just too high Increases my boot time by more than 6 seconds!! I would prefer it if the sidebar didnt exist and you could place gadgets where you like, which is theoretically possible due to the accelerated nature of the desktop

But even the gadgets are a tad sucky The picture viewer has no purpose, its just there for eye candy. The RMS viewer would be more useful as a task bar icon near the clock which pops up on update. The CPU meter reacts too slowly and doesnt reognise when an AMD coolnquiet chip is 'clocked down'. The recycle bin gadget is unrequired because its easier to put it in the quick toolbar. This leave Notes which is useful but to use it I need the whole sidebar acitvated

My two cents...

crabby

[felix8406]

Here's a snapshot of sidebar. It does take a big chunk of memory. U can right click it to close it.

[Znod]

OS X has widgets. So, it is obligatory for Vista to have gadgets. Both are a complete waste of time IMO, especially if they get in the way (it's worse in Vista). I turned Sidebar off and will never have a reason to use it.