I've been looking into ways for an app to add a custom DeskBand (or something similar) to the Windows 10 & 11 taskbar:
There are various references to IDeskBand2 and other taskbar extensions, but I'm getting conflicting information[2] as to whether DeskBand is simply deprecated, or is actually no longer supported, for example, Microsoft says:
You should use thumbnail toolbars in new development in place of desk bands, which are not supported as of Windows 7.
...but thumbnail toolbars require that you hover over a taskbar button before they are visible. That's not the same as an always-visible area on the taskbar.
Is there no official (non-hacky) way to create something like the "Screen Time" example above for Windows 10/11?
Can anyone shed light on this?
[2]: Here's an example where Microsoft implies that it's not supported after Windows 7.