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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Pooling task bar buttons.
From:       Sean Pecor <sean () digitalspinner ! com>
Date:       2002-02-06 15:25:13
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Hey folks,

Gazing dumbfounded at my taskbar this morning I came upon an idea that I 
thought worthy enough to discuss here.

What about pooling task bar buttons per application, such that individual 
rectangular regions in the task bar are automatically defined. Each 
rectangular region would contain only buttons for similar applications. 
The idea is here to keep all buttons visible, but design visual groupings 
that the mind can navigate quickly. A "handle" for each grouping would allow 
you to move groupings around. Or perhaps an icon _inside_ each handle 
denoting the application could be pressed to maximize the group's button 
width; other grouping's would have their buttons shrink to make room.

As an illustration, here is my current task bar:

http://extranet.digitalspinner.com/bar1.png

Here is a very rough illustration of what I'm taking about:

http://extranet.digitalspinner.com/bar3.png

In the above, I omitted the redundant icons. But in retrospect I think 
showing them all would be better.

Does anyone have thoughts on this? I think in general there is something good 
here, but the visual framework would really need to be hammered out more.

Sean.

-- 
Digital Spinner, Inc.
Cutting edge web design and applications development.
sean@digitalspinner.com
http://www.digitalspinner.com
Phone: 802.948.2020
Fax: 802.948.2749

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