Showing Application Wizard in the menu bar

If you prefer not using the menu panel, Application Wizard lets you display the Open, Quit, Switch and Special menus from the menu bar.

Open the Application Wizard pane in System Preferences and click the General tab. Make sure Application Wizard is turned on and select the Show buttons in menu bar checkbox.

The Application Wizard buttons will appear in the menu bar: click the blue button to display the Open menu and open applications and System Preferences panes, the red button to display the Quit menu and quit one or more applications, the green button to display the Switch menu and activate, show or hide applications and the yellow button to display the Special menu and quickly navigate volumes and folders, preview documents and easily access favorite files, Address Book contacts and your iPhoto or Aperture library.

Note that the Application Wizard buttons in the menu bar are disabled in full screen mode.