[sugar] Mini-Conference Proposal: Toolbars & Tabs (or lack thereof)

[Gary C Martin]

On 5 Apr 2008, at 16:44, Tomeu Vizoso wrote:

> What if on rollover would appear a normal palette with all the buttons
> that would be in the subtoolbar? This palette would have an option for
> pinning it, and that would mean inserting a subtoolbar between the
> toolbar and the canvas like in the mockups.
>
> Benefits:
>
> - palettes don't disturb the layout of the underlying window,
> - existing UI component,
> - buttons are grouped closer to the main button, requiring less  
> mouse travel,
> - buttons are in an area not as thin, making easier to move the mouse
> without going out (thus hiding the palette),
> - we could keep the toolbar label.
>
> Thoughts?


Hmmm, a regular palette pop-up will often end up being way too tall,  
with the (usual) screen orientation a full row of buttons would not  
fit. And it gets messy when the buttons are not simple square icons,  
say like in Write where font size is represented by two element (an  
icon and a pop-up size list), or the font family picker (a wide pop-up  
text list). Trying to arrange these vertically in a pallet is going to  
fill up a good chunk of the display with mainly empty black space  
padding.

After much musing, I think Eben's designs at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Designs/Toolbars 
  are a good compromise, but they would need to (as mentioned by  
another list member):

A) On mouse hover over a tab button, float the new toolbar over the  
existing activity canvas (obscuring some content), and not moving/ 
resizing the activity canvas area.
B) A click on a tab icon would lock it in place (pinning), and than  
cause the main canvas to reflow/resize.

Sub toolbar buttons still get to have their mouse over textual hints,  
but the top level tab buttons have none ? I know this is an issue for  
some folks... I guess, and it's a flakey guess, with the above A&B  
alteration, you could; during hover state A, show an extra horizontal  
strip with the tab name below the new toolbar strip; then after click  
state B, you'd just insert the new toolbar strip and loose the extra  
text row to save space.

Does anyone build working prototypes of these kind'a interactions?  
makes all the difference (usually a pretty instant, yuck or fine  
reaction). Would be quick to do, Eben is that me I hear you  
volunteering??

Gary