Microsoft is considering a change for widgets in Windows 11 that could be controversial
Microsoft has deployed a new preview build of Windows 11 to the Canary channel (which is the first test channel) and it’s doing some work on the divisive widgets panel.
This is build 26200 and there are only a handful of changes made here, two of which are widget-related.
The main innovation here is Microsoft’s new idea to allow developers to send notifications from their widgets to the taskbar button. In other words, when something happens to a widget you might want to see, it waves at you from the taskbar to let you know.
Of course, not everyone wants the widget button in the taskbar to work this way, and thankfully Microsoft has added an option to disable this behavior.
It’s also worth noting that this is a limited rollout to begin with, and indeed most people won’t see these widget notifications yet β only those in the European Economic Area (EEA) will get this feature during testing. Of course, this rollout can be expanded in the future, depending on feedback.
Another related change in build 26200 is that Microsoft is changing the widget button to make the icons on the taskbar clearer.
Elsewhere on the taskbar, another icon changes, this time the power saver icon found in the system tray (far right). A few months ago this was changed during testing to look different for desktop PCs plugged in, but now Microsoft has decided to revert it back to the old look (a leaf icon).
Finally, Microsoft notes that there is a strange known issue with this preview build β and others, including in the Dev and Beta channels β where Copilot automatically starts itself after the PC restarts.
The software giant explains that this has nothing to do with the auto-launch behavior on boot, which has previously been tested in preview builds, the rollout of which has now apparently stopped since March (although we heard it has been restarted elsewhere) .
So this is a separate issue and Microsoft says it hopes a fix will be implemented soon. Meanwhile, increased visibility for Copilot is something the company is certainly moving forward with, to no one’s surprise.
Analysis: A more vibrant taskbar won’t be everyone’s favorite drink
Are notifications for widgets intrusive? Well, they can certainly be considered that way, but as noted, as long as the option to disable them is provided, it’s not that big of a deal. If you want them, you can get them. If not, press the off switch. Reasonable.
Many people probably don’t want their widgets to effectively wave their hands at them from the taskbar every time something new pops up with a widget in the panel. However, this taskbar-based handwaving seems to be a direction that Microsoft is exploring more deeply. We also recently saw an idea where the Copilot button performs an animation with its icon to draw your attention to the fact that the AI ββcan help with something you’re doing on the desktop.
This currently only affects copying text or image files – again, during testing – but in this case there’s no way to disable this.
All of this could potentially point to a taskbar that will be significantly more vibrant and animated in the future β and again, that’s not something everyone will appreciate.
If this is the path we take for the taskbar as we move towards the next generation of Windows (which might be Windows 12), Microsoft will hopefully also give Windows users enough granular control over the bar’s highlighting features and animations so that called them back appropriately.