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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Pooling task bar buttons.
From:       James Davies <james_m_davies () yahoo ! com>
Date:       2002-02-08 7:08:13
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I like that idea a lot. The current system, which Windows XP copied (Or
vice-versa, I dunno), can be a little annoying at times, but the 
example you illustrated looks a lot better. A cool thing would be if
when you minimized an application, it's task bar area "collapsed" to
just the one icon. When you switch back to it, it expands again, and the
other programs areas all collapse into just the icons. 

i.e. When your using Konqueror, all your browser windows are displayed
individually on the taskbar, and all other apps are groups into the one
icon. When you switch to another program, all Konquerors windows get
grouped into the one icon, and the other programs icon opens up to
display all the windows.  (It would also be great if this feature didn't
turn on until the task bar became cluttered as well). You should also
have the option of making a particular window stay visible no matter
what. 




On Thu, 2002-02-07 at 01:25, Sean Pecor wrote:
> 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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