"Vollmer, Thomas - CannonSA" wrote:

> Tal wrote:
> > Since we are comparing to the Windows task bar...
>
> 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.

I agree with Thomas on this point. The biggest problem with both colour and
icons when used as delineaters is that they do not scale. My current project has
about 1200 classes and the likelihood of my assigning anything to them beyond a
class name is zero. Topological orderings which I can rearange depending on
context however would be invaluable (eg. ClassX and ClassXHelper are always
adjacent when both are opened).

A quick confession - I have not been even close to keeping up to date with all
the releases, so I may be addressing something that already exists!

Back to the taskbar analogy. One of the things I do in one of my apps is akin to
the way that Windows Alt-Tab works. Ctrl-T brings up a dialog containing a JList
of applicable tabs, and Enter brings forward the selected tab. If you were to
take this approach one step further, this child dialog could employ either an
MRU or LastOpened sort order depending on a preference. This might be a happy
medium between the various ordering possibilities.

--
Shane



_______________________________________________
Eap-list mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.intellij.com/mailman/listinfo/eap-list

Reply via email to