Re: Get rid of the scrollbars

[Jeremy Perry <jeremy perry redhat com>]

On May 14, 2009, at 8:14 AM, Jon Nettleton wrote:

> On 5/13/09, foss[ilized] <fosslistmail googlemail com> wrote:
> > Just a thought: one of the ugliest graphical items I see on almost  
> > all
> > of today's desktop environments is the scrollbar.
> >
> > I think it's time to get rid of scrollbars. With the push toward
> > "touch" computing, the scrollbar becomes a hindrance rather than an
> > aid to navigation. Users with large, wide or "clumsy" fingers are  
> > at a
> > disadvantage when trying to click, press or drag a scrollbar to pan
> > (move) a window up, down, left or right.
> >
> > I propose putting the navigation icons on the window itself. The
> > arrows could be mere indicator arrows, directional triangles, or plus
> > signs. The actual panning can be done by dragging the window itself.
> > Alternatively, the arrows could be "small" icons located at the top,
> > bottom, right, and left edges of the window that needs to be  
> > scrolled.
> > Bringing the mouse pointer close to the edge of the screen or  
> > pointing
> > at the arrow will magnify or enlarge the arrow, which would give the
> > user a larger "clickable" area.
>
> The scrollbar on a desktop does more than just provide navigation.  It
> is also a quick visual clue to the user about how long a document is
> and approximately where the user is in the document.
>
> Perhaps we could look at taking your idea and change it a bit.  Have
> the up down arrow get smaller as you near the end of the document, or
> something along those lines.  We might want a button next to the
> navigation arrows like the history button in firefox that when click
> drops down a quick scrolling bar.
>
> Jon
Another option is to reduce what we already have today into something  
very minimal when not in use. The scrollbar could be represented as a  
simple line down the right side, giving a clue that there is  
scrollable area and a sense of how much, as indicated by the length of  
a  highlighted portion of the line. When the user gestures over the  
scrollbar area, a fuller, more conventional scrollbar would appear  
with arrows, etc.

Jeremy