Re: [Usability] Tab implementation review

[Philip Ganchev <phil ganchev gmail com>]

Should a right-click select the target? I certainly think that tab
buttons are more like window list buttons than like file manager icons
or window title bars. Both are buttons, and tab buttons represent
tabs, which are more like windows than like files (for example, mostly
non-persistent). More importantly, raising the tab would be too
intrusive, too distracting and thought-derailing. Similarly, I think
it would be too intrusive to raise a window when the user only wants
to access its window menu.

On the other hand, you can highlight the tab button without raising
the tab itself to the top. When the tab button is highlighted, there
is a dotted rectangle inside a button. But it can also be shown more
subtly when you point to the tab, similar to the highlight of a window
list button when you point to it.

We can also discuss whether right-clicking on file icons should
de-select the existing selection. This is a hard one to predict
without trying it out.


On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 4:46 PM, Florian Ludwig <dino phidev org> wrote:
[...]
>
> While it "feels wrong" for me that the tab is focused as I think of tabs
> as the little brother of the window list or similar to nautilus
> "location button list" I think we should look at the use cases of the
> context menu to form an opinion.
>
> If there would be functions in nautilus like "paste into folder" or
> "properties" I would expect them to not focus the tab. Would you? Would
> you not?
>
> Right now there are just two functions in the context menu everywhere:
>  * move left / right
>  * close tab
>
>  * Moving a window with left mouse focuses the window and it "feels
>   right" to me and I guess to most people it does.
>
>  * Closing a tab should not change the focus I got right now (like
>   clicking the X on the tab itself).

Agreed.

> What other use-cases of the context menu of tabs will show up? Should
> come up in future?

Maybe "Move to new window" (focus)

On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 12:43 PM, Calum Benson <Calum Benson sun com> wrote:
>
[...]
> Depends which 'people' you're talking about, of course :) In GNOME, Ctrl
> +Alt+PgUp/PgDn is really the current standard, as that's the only
> keybinding that works in all situations (because some focused controls
> in tabbed dialogs will eat Ctrl+PgUp/PgDn).

Then let's hard-wire Ctrl+Alt+PgUp/PgDn and also provide Ctrl+PgUp as
another default key bingding, but configurable.

> And Mac users will likely be more familiar with Cmd+Shift+[ and Cmd
> +Shift+] (aka Cmd+{ and Cmd+}, depending on keyboard layout), as used in
> the likes of Safari and Terminal.app.

Only users of Safari on Max, right? Mac users of Firefox will be
familiar with Ctrl+PgUp. So, OK there are different standards, but I
would guess that most users who know that you can switch tabs using
the keyboard know Ctrl+PgUp; few know Ctrl+{.