(revised: titlebar dragging, tabs!!!) Re: [Bf-funboard] Suggestions for 2.29 panels

[Luke Wenke]

Hi,
I've revised some of my answers..... but I didn't repeat the things I
haven't changed my mind on.

> .....By the way, I prefer that
> drag options work on Titlebar only, not background space, as it would
> be too easy to miss your button and accidentally drag your panel if
> background dragging was used.
I agree now that dragging panels should just be done by clicking on the
titlebar - but not for the reason you gave (I explained why I'm not
convinced by your reason in my last post) My reason is so that the dragging
and panel combining things are consistent. To separate combined panels
you've got to drag the appropriate title - so therefore to combine
individual panels (or move panels at all) you should have to drag the
titlebar. That way when users accidently combine panels together, they'll be
able to work out how to undo it - by just dragging the titlebars. (If they
could combine panels by just dragging the centre of the panel, it would be
difficult to work out how to uncombine panels).

> * Combined panels' title bars become "title tabs."
I agree.... they should look like the tabs here:
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/uibook/chapters/fog0000000060.html
That link shows that users often get confused when tabs aren't used.
"When Microsoft first usability tested the tabbed dialog interface,
usability went up from about 30% (the old Mac way) to 100%. Literally every
single testee was able to figure out the tabbed dialogs."
Though that Mac screenshot also involves a scroll bar in the menu... but
still, they should look as much like tabs as possible. The panels in Blender
2.29 could look like they have a single tab (so that part of the titlebar
cut away) and then you drop the tab into another panel to create a group of
tabs.
Here's a single panel
 ________________
/ Panel Title               \_______________
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
|_______________________________|

Here's a double panel:
 ______________    ___________
/ Panel Title           \_/_Panel_Title__\____
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
|                                                               |
|_______________________________|

In the last diagram the left tab is active. The right tab could be a darker
colour. I think you should also be able to drag on the tabs and rearrange
their order.within the combined panel.

"What about the minimization arrow?" people might say....well it could be
included.... but actually I don't think it is necessary....
Disadvantages of minimization: (in the buttons window panels)
1) You've got to click a little arrow - then some space is freed up
2) To use the panel again you've got to click the little arrow again
3) There is still some space taken up by the titlebar
4) Sometimes the titlebar goes vertical and only the first letter of the
title is shown (could be fixed)
5) If it is a combined panel, only the last clicked on panel title is shown
(could be fixed)

To do a similar thing to minimization you could just drag a tab (panel) onto
another tab (panel).... then start using the other tab in the combined
panel... then to go back, just click on the other tab - the area to click is
much larger than the minimization arrow - and would be even bigger if the
minimization arrows were removed. (And there would be less clutter on the
screen) Though it involves a little bit of trouble to drag the tab onto the
other tab in the first place (which would be minimized if panel combining
problems were removed), after that, it is easy to change the states of the
sub-panel (tab)... and less screen space is used this way too (with
minimization the titlebar takes up some of the screen).
I talk about fixing the combining panel problems here:
http://www.blender.org/pipermail/bf-funboard/2003-October/001068.html
Also, without those small little minimized panels, it would be easier to
auto-arrange the panels. In my first email on the 2.29 panels I talked a lot
about how to deal with different sized panels here:
http://www.blender.org/pipermail/bf-funboard/2003-October/001060.html

- Luke.

- Luke.