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Modifying the IDE Appearance
Figure 1-8 is usually enough to jog your memory. However, if you still don’t
understand the purpose of the property, you can press F1 for additional
information. Highlighting a new property always changes the property infor-
mation in the lower half of the Properties Window.
As you change selections in Solution Explorer, the content of the Properties
Window changes to reflect the properties of the newly selected object. Some
objects, such as the Header Files folder, won’t have any properties you can
modify, but it’s helpful to look at the property values anyway to understand
how the Solution Explorer object works.
Visual Studio normally opens the Properties Window by default. However, if
you don’t see the Properties Window, you can open it using any of the fol-
lowing techniques:
✦ Click Properties Window on the Standard toolbar
✦ Choose View➪Properties Window
✦ Press F4
Modifying the IDE Appearance
It’s possible to bend Visual Studio to your will. If you don’t like how
Microsoft arranged the display, change it. You can add or remove menus
and toolbars, create new menus or toolbars, change the position of win-
dows, hide windows from view, or make windows disappear completely.
You’re the master of everything to do with the appearance of your Visual
Studio setup.
Because the IDE is so flexible, your screen may not always precisely match
the screenshots in this minibook. The important thing is to look for the fea-
ture or option illustrated in the figure, rather than a precise match of every
figure element. The following sections describe how to work with toolbars,
menus, and windows.
Changing toolbars and menus
You can modify any menu or toolbar that Visual Studio provides. In addition,
you can create new menus and toolbars as needed. Most developers leave
the Visual Studio menus alone and work exclusively with toolbars because
toolbars are easier to use. However, you have the option of performing any
kind of change you want to the IDE.
It’s important to modify menus and toolbars with care. In most cases, you
don’t want to remove existing commands from menus or toolbars because
people won’t be able to help you with problems. For example, if you remove
the File menu, someone won’t be able to tell you how to create a new project
of a specific type. Experienced developers create custom menus or toolbars
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