Windows 11's Latest Experiment: Floating Widgets Next to the Start Menu

This week, Microsoft launched Windows 11 Build 26212 (Canary Channel), seemingly testing a new improvement: adding a floating widget window next to the Start Menu when it is opened.

Currently, in Windows 11, widgets are separate from the Start Menu. The widget panel only opens when a user clicks on a widget or hovers over it with the mouse. Otherwise, widgets remain closed and can even be hidden from the taskbar.

This new feature doesn't display all widgets due to limited space in the window, so it only shows specific content such as financial information and weather that the user is interested in. Whether it appears on the left or right side depends on whether the Start Menu is centered or aligned to the left.

Photo by Albacore

The good news is, at least for now, this is only in testing. This style doesn't look very appealing, so it might be abandoned in future tests and may not make it to the official version of Windows 11.

However, even if it's not removed later, Microsoft has provided a control switch. Users will be able to disable this floating widget feature in the settings under Personalization and Start Menu.

Oh, and this floating widget somehow reminds people of the dynamic tiles in Windows 10. Are we going full circle and stitching back old styles again? 🥲🥲🥲