Netbook Network

The new Windows 7 Taskbar is undoubtedly miles ahead of the taskbars found in previous versions of Windows, and the ability to “pin” applications to the taskbar makes launching your favorite or most used programs a snap. Opening your favorite website/webapp, however, requires launching your browser, then opening your bookmarks, then going to the site – which is quite a tedious process. Native to Google Chrome is the ability to create shortcuts on your taskbar, start menu, and/or desktop of whatever website/webapp your choose.

Pinning a website to your taskbar, start menu, or desktop is the same thing as pinning an actual application – click it, and the site or webapp will launch – rendered via Chrome. It works best with web applications, such as GMail, because the toolbars on Chrome are nonexistent when launching a pinned site to create a more “software-like” atmosphere. This does not, however, prevent it from working for any website you choose.

It’s dead simple to do – visit whatever website you want to have shortcuts created, click on the wrench icon in the upper right, open tools, and hit “Create Application Shortcuts“. A window will appear asking for shortcut placement, whether it’s the desktop, start menu, or taskbar. You can remove and manage your shortcuts just like an ordinary shortcut.

Keep in mind that creating shortcuts to websites as web applications requires Chrome to work, so if you pin a lot of sites to your taskbar, don’t uninstall Chrome. The ability to pin websites is also a feature that’s going to come in Internet Explorer 9, so those who like IE, sit tight, or get the beta.