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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Taskbar -> tabbar?
From:       Maurizio Colucci <seguso.forever () tin ! it>
Date:       2004-12-29 21:07:41
Message-ID: 41D31C9D.6040002 () tin ! it
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Aaron Seigo wrote:

> On December 28, 2004 16:16, Maurizio Colucci wrote:
> 
>>What about turning the taskbar into a tab-bar?
> 
> 
> mockups? prototypes? descriptions of what you mean, 

Here's what I was thinking, but this is only one way to implement the idea:

* before: http://onefinger.sf.net/before.png

* after: http://onefinger.sf.net/after.png

(In the screenshots, I didn't draw the kicker, which could be placed 
anywhere. The kicker would not contain the taskbar and pager anymore.)

---

Essentially, I was thinking of an *optional*, simplified window 
management system, where:

* the taskbar is decoupled from kicker and becomes a tab bar (like the
tab bar in konqueror, for tabbed browsing). Each button in the taskbar
becomes a tab.

* when you click a tab, the corresponding window is shown as maximized.

* (optional) The pager is detached too and becomes another tabbar, 
located immediately above the taskbar.

* (optional) the "tabified" taskbar has a button which allows setting 
the order of the windows: by creation time, by last usage time. (in the 
screenshot, this button is shown on the left end of the tab bar).

---

This approach has some (deliberate) limitations:

* the new "tabified" taskbar and pager can only be located on top of the 
screen. You loose the option to anchor them on the four edges of the screen.

* you loose the option "show window from all desktops".

* only one window is visible at a time.

* windows cannot be minimized. The only way to have a window disappear
is to click another one.

* you loose the option known as "taskbar grouping".

* the window bar only shows the full window name and the close button;
maximize/minimize/stay-on-top are no more there.

* The feature wouldn't work well for all apps (e.g. Gimp), so it should
be easy to turn off.

---

Rationale:

This proposal would make window management *much* more restrictive, and 
not appropriate for all styles of usage; but it would more usable for 
those people (like me) who want to see only one window at a time, and 
always maximized. It would also IMHO be more elegant.

---

Maurizio



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