[Nautilus-list] Notebooks [Was: Re: Installation-time...]

[Reinout van Schouwen <reinout cs vu nl>]

Maciej Stachowiak wrote:

> Yeah, the classic problem with notebooks is that when there are too
> many tabs, the whole thing sucks. I think a list is a better choice
> than a conventional notebook widget when there are many
> categories. See the UI hall of shame for what happens when you have
> too many tabs (multiple rows of tabs and tabs that scroll off the side
> are an utter disaster; even without either of these long rows of tabs
> are bad because it's easier to scan a long list vertically than
> horizontally ).

I feel urged to point out how the Notebook widget in OS/2 Warp 4 
approaches the many-tabs-problem. Perhaps it has its weaknesses but I 
feel it's certainly elegant, and some ideas could be borrowed.

Anyway, the deal is this:

* There is only one row of tabs, that are visually distinguised not only 
by form but also by color. If the number of tabs is larger than the 
available screen space, a small tab with an arrow pointing left and one 
with an arrow pointing right is placed on the corresponding ends of the 
visible tab row.
* you can have multiple sub-pages per tab. This is indicated by a small 
indicator 'Page 1/3' on the top right corner of the tab page. Clicking 
on an arrow as mentioned above will first take you to the next subpage, 
if the last subpage has been reached it will take you to the next tab.
* A vertical list of all available tabs can be obtained by 
right-clicking anywhere on the row of tabs. A pop-up menu with all tab 
names will appear. Sub-pages are handled in a one level deep submenu. 
Personally, I think this (great) feature should be made a bit more 
visually obvious. But this illustrates once more that in the Workplace 
Shell, the right mouse button actually has a function...!


For a small illustration of what I just described, take a look at 
http://www.os2ezine.com/v3n08/first1.gif

regards,

--

Reinout van Schouwen
e-mail    : reinout cs vu nl
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