Tal wrote: > Since we are comparing to the Windows task bar, in Windows, > the items are > easily distinguished because they have different icons (and > colors). In IDEA > all the tabs looks the same which makes it hard to find the > one you want. > Somebody mentioned earlier an idea of assigning colors to the > tabs. It sound like a good idea to me.
Tal, thanks for describing it this way. It made me realize even clearer that there seem to be different degrees of utilizing spacial relationships, locations, icons, colors and caption text when identifying the item you want. Naturally, different people value these things differently. I would also find different icons and colors helpful for identifying editor tabs, but I value spacial relationships and locations much higher. Using this, I quickly narrow in on the item I'm looking for and then use the visual features of the very few (1-2) items that are left to make sure I have the one I wanted. In this case, icons and colors are only of marginal utility an the caption text is usually sufficient. However, reordering and hiding items based on an MRU algorithm disrupts the search algorithm significantly. The same goes for having to click buttons or even move the mouse to be able to see all open editor tabs. Another way of identifying items seems to be to look at all visible items one-by-one and comparing the visual features of the items. In this case, it's very helpful if items have icons and colors, which are much quicker to compare than caption text. Spacial relationships and locations don't matter that much. But an MRU algorithm that puts most used items in a prominent location (or even hides least used items) seems to help a lot, because there are less items to look at. Sorry for the lengthy post, I think all this should rather be in a thesis about user interfaces. Nonetheless, the issue is of great importance to me and I think IntelliJ should exercise great caution when changing such a fundamental and central functionality of IDEA. Again, I really like the way it is now and the only thing I would suggest adding is reordering of the tabs. Tal wrote: > Another good idea is to have a quick way to close the one you > don't want. > Lime Wire for example (another Java application) uses a small > [x] on each > tab so you can close it with a single mouse click. Another way to do this is closing the tab with a double click. This is the way NetCaptor does it. (It also has reordering of the tabs by drag-and-drop. NetCaptor is a pretty cool Internet Explorer front-end, by the way.) I also like the "x" button though. Either way would work for me. Best Regards. -Thomas > -----Original Message----- > From: Tal Dayan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 6:07 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: [Eap-list] Annoying editor tabs 'feature' > > > Since we are comparing to the Windows task bar, in Windows, > the items are > easily distinguished because they have different icons (and > colors). In IDEA > all the tabs looks the same which makes it hard to find the > one you want. > > Somebody mentioned earlier an idea of assigning colors to the > tabs. It sound > like a good idea to me. > > Another good idea is to have a quick way to close the one you > don't want. > Lime Wire for example (another Java application) uses a small > [x] on each > tab so you can close it with a single mouse click. > > Tal > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > > Behalf Of Vollmer, Thomas - CannonSA > > Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 3:05 PM > > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > > Subject: RE: [Eap-list] Annoying editor tabs 'feature' > > > > > > I disagree with automatically reordering tabs based on usage. > > See my previous posts on that. If I need that kind of thing, > > I'll use "Recent Files" (Ctrl-E). > > > > I strongly think that what Mark proposed in his previous post > > (dated 11/27, 7:38PM) is the way to go. > > > > To make (almost) everybody happy, there would be options to > > configure the behavior. This way, people who like one row > > of tabs can configure: > > - Number of displayed tab rows grows and shrinks > automatically: false > > - Number of displayed tab rows: 1 > > > > An people like me can configure: > > - Number of displayed tab rows grows and shrinks automatically: true > > - Number of displayed tab rows: (disabled if previous set to true) > > > > To make even more people happy, another option to "auto hide" the > > "task bar" could be added. > > > > Additionally, I still strongly support adding reordering of the > > editor tabs and possibly changing the way they are rendered to > > make it look more like the windows task bar. > > > > Best Regards. > > -Thomas > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Joel Wijngaarde [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > > Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 11:52 AM > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Subject: RE: [Eap-list] Annoying editor tabs 'feature' > > > > > > > > > In addition it woul dbe nice if the first row of tabs > only shows the > > > 'most used' tabs. So teh tabs which you only use occasionally > > > are in the > > > dropdown. > > > > > > /Joel > > > > > > On Wed, 2001-11-28 at 20:14, Mark Swinkels wrote: > > > > My work style is like yours in that I try to keep tabs to > > > one line. I think > > > > that it would be kind of neat to be able to have one (or > > > more) lines of tabs > > > > with a drop down arrow to the right. If I clicked on the > > > drop down the tab > > > > window would pop down and show me all the currently open > > > files as tabs. > > > > > > > > -- Mark > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > > From: Ara Abrahamian [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > > > > Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 09:10a > > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Subject: RE: [Eap-list] Annoying editor tabs 'feature' > > > > > > > > > > > > > The windows task bar is actually a pretty good model for > > > what Thomas > > > > is > > > > > describing. > > > > > 1) There is one item on the task bar for every open > application > > > > window. > > > > > 2) The items on the task bar don't jump around. > > > > > 3) If the task bar get too many items on it it goes to > > > multiple lines > > > > with > > > > > up down scroll buttons > > > > > 4) You can resize the task bar to allow for multiple lines. > > > > > 5) You can hide the task bar so it only comes up when > you want it > > > > > > > > > > Missing are: > > > > > 1) being able to reorder the buttons > > > > > > > > Take a look at NetCaptor, it lets you drag tabs and > reposition them. > > > > Pretty cool stuff. > > > > > > > > > 2) the ability to have the task bar grow automatically to > > > accommodate > > > > > multiple lines. > > > > > > > > Currently when I open too many tabs and they are positioned into > > > > multiple lines I tend to close extra tabs to fit it into a > > > single line. > > > > The proposed tab rows+up/down button tries to solve > this issue. It's > > > > irritating to see the tabs and the window you're typing it > > > get taller > > > > and shorter all the times by opening/closing tabs :-) I prefer a > > > > single-line solution. > > > > > > > > Ara. > > > > > > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________ > > > > Do You Yahoo!? > > > > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Eap-list mailing list > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > http://www.intellij.com/mailman/listinfo/eap-list > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Eap-list mailing list > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > http://www.intellij.com/mailman/listinfo/eap-list > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Eap-list mailing list > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > http://www.intellij.com/mailman/listinfo/eap-list > > > > > > > ************************************ > > If this email is not intended for you, or you are not > responsible for the > > delivery of this message to the addressee, please note that this > > message may > > contain ITT Privileged/Proprietary Information. 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