[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: KDE - own look-and-feel
From:       Eric Plante <plante () IRO ! UMontreal ! CA>
Date:       1998-02-24 19:29:53
[Download RAW message or body]

gary@stan.wavetop.net wrote:

> I agree that KDE should stand out from Win95/Mac/etc in it's look (and
> functionality!), but please... no left-aligned tabs by default (perhaps a
> configurable option).  I can't think of a left-aligned tab interface that
> has survived (if I'm wrong... let me know :) )

I'm sure that in saying this, you knew that OS/2 has them, and didn't consider it
as having survived. :-)

The problem with them is that they take up a _lot_ of window real estate: what they
need from the window is extra horizontal space instead of extra vertical space like
the top-aligned ones, and we all know that any reasonably sized string (ie:
certainly more than 2 chars) has a much greather width than its height.

Another problem with them is that, supposing that for the top-aligned case you only
have one row of them, then the distance from one to the other in the left-aligned
case is much smaller than in the top-aligned case, so the top-aligned case is
easier to click on even though it takes up less window space!

The final (major) problem I see with them is that this look is geometrically
incompatible with the current MS and Motif looks in Qt, and therefore could not be
integrated smoothly in Qt; what I mean by this is that right now windows can be
designed without any knowledge of wether MS or Motif look is chosen (in theory).
However with a KDE style that would have left-aligned tabs, that wouldn't work.

In all of the above I have assumed that text is written horizontally in the tabs.
If it is written vertically, then the first two arguments fall, but then it loses a
_lot_ of its practicality. Labels aren't really as efficient if you have to read
them sideways.


--
+-- Eric Plante ----- www.iro.umontreal.ca/~plante ------+
|     Laboratoire d'infographie, Université de Montréal  |
|                      Tél.: +1(514)343-6111 poste 3513  |
 \_finger_plante@greenberg.iro.umontreal.ca_for_PGP_key_/

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]