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Tab behavior with multiple tab rows


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QUOTE (george seifert @ Jan 14 2009, 11:10 AM)

So how do I display tons of information? I have way too much to put on one front panel. The only other thing I can think of is to have a bunch of different windows full of indicators. That seems a lot less desirable than a tab control.

George

It is hard to give you a silver bullet that cover all the use cases. Basically it depend of what type of data you are trying to display and what type of feedback you expect from the user.

My rule of thumb is that if I get to a multiline tab control I should figure out another way of displaying this info to the user.

One approach is the LV Option Window (or the LV build spec window).

I agree with CRelf that this is essentially a tab control, but it does not look and feel like a tab control.

Also, every time you can guide your user (instead of displaying multiple row of settings in a tab control) the better it is (see CRelf screenshot above where he has navigation buttons [next back...]).

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QUOTE (george seifert @ Jan 14 2009, 11:10 AM)

So how do I display tons of information? I have way too much to put on one front panel. The only other thing I can think of is to have a bunch of different windows full of indicators. That seems a lot less desirable than a tab control.

George

It is hard to give you a silver bullet that cover all the use cases. Basically it depend of what type of data you are trying to display and what type of feedback you expect from the user.

My rule of thumb is that if I get to a multiline tab control I should figure out another way of displaying this info to the user.

One approach is the LV Option Window (or the LV build spec window).

I agree with CRelf that this is essentially a tab control, but it does not look and feel like a tab control.

Also, every time you can guide your user (instead of displaying multiple row of settings in a tab control) the better it is (see CRelf screenshot above where he has navigation buttons [next back...]).

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QUOTE (PJM_labview @ Jan 14 2009, 03:11 PM)

Right - those buttons just select the previous/next subpanel as listed in the category list on the right.

QUOTE (Gary Rubin @ Jan 14 2009, 02:54 PM)

Trees also seem to be pretty common for that kind of thing (i.e. Matlab's Preference screen):

Hmmmmm - I might put that on the roadmap for a future release of our reuse component - thanks for the idea :thumbup:

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QUOTE (PJM_labview @ Jan 14 2009, 03:11 PM)

Right - those buttons just select the previous/next subpanel as listed in the category list on the right.

QUOTE (Gary Rubin @ Jan 14 2009, 02:54 PM)

Trees also seem to be pretty common for that kind of thing (i.e. Matlab's Preference screen):

Hmmmmm - I might put that on the roadmap for a future release of our reuse component - thanks for the idea :thumbup:

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QUOTE (PJM_labview @ Jan 14 2009, 02:11 PM)

I agree with CRelf that this is essentially a tab control, but it does not look and feel like a tab control.

That was my thought too. I couldn't really reconcile why it was being suggested to not use a tab control when the main workaround was a tab control.

So do you guys have the tabs enabled when editing and then hide them programatically? Otherwise it'd be a nightmare to edit.

George

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QUOTE (PJM_labview @ Jan 14 2009, 02:11 PM)

I agree with CRelf that this is essentially a tab control, but it does not look and feel like a tab control.

That was my thought too. I couldn't really reconcile why it was being suggested to not use a tab control when the main workaround was a tab control.

So do you guys have the tabs enabled when editing and then hide them programatically? Otherwise it'd be a nightmare to edit.

George

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QUOTE (george seifert @ Jan 14 2009, 03:24 PM)

So do you guys have the tabs enabled when editing and then hide them programatically? Otherwise it'd be a nightmare to edit.

Are you talking about the reuse component that we have? If so, it's not a tab control - it's a listbox and a subpanel that dynamically updates depending on what's selected in the listbox.

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QUOTE (george seifert @ Jan 14 2009, 03:24 PM)

So do you guys have the tabs enabled when editing and then hide them programatically? Otherwise it'd be a nightmare to edit.

Are you talking about the reuse component that we have? If so, it's not a tab control - it's a listbox and a subpanel that dynamically updates depending on what's selected in the listbox.

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QUOTE (crelf @ Jan 14 2009, 02:46 PM)

Are you talking about the reuse component that we have? If so, it's not a tab control - it's a listbox and a subpanel that dynamically updates depending on what's selected in the listbox.

I was just talking about using a plain old listbox and a tab control. For development I figure the tabs have to be displayed and then hidden when the program runs.

George

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QUOTE (crelf @ Jan 14 2009, 02:46 PM)

Are you talking about the reuse component that we have? If so, it's not a tab control - it's a listbox and a subpanel that dynamically updates depending on what's selected in the listbox.

I was just talking about using a plain old listbox and a tab control. For development I figure the tabs have to be displayed and then hidden when the program runs.

George

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QUOTE (TobyD @ Jan 14 2009, 08:34 PM)

That's what more people should do!

QUOTE

I installed https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122' rel='nofollow' target="_blank">Tab Mix plus (cool addon) that allows multiple rows. I think they use some sub-panel type of structure as well.

Just for every row a new set of 'ears', they all keep their default spot.

Now if we could shuffle pages.

Ton

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QUOTE (TobyD @ Jan 14 2009, 08:34 PM)

That's what more people should do!

QUOTE

I installed https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122' rel='nofollow' target="_blank">Tab Mix plus (cool addon) that allows multiple rows. I think they use some sub-panel type of structure as well.

Just for every row a new set of 'ears', they all keep their default spot.

Now if we could shuffle pages.

Ton

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QUOTE (PJM_labview @ Jan 14 2009, 04:37 PM)

I also like to use custom glyph as much as possible and I try to tie the tree/listbox glyph to the visible tab/subpanel (see VIPM screenshot below). This give visual cues to the user and it makes operating these UIs easier.

So where does that glyph come from? ie: is that dialog pattern dynamic? Does it get a list of the pages that you're putting in the subpanels from somewhere? If so, is the glyph just the preference page's icon? Now you've got me thinking...

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QUOTE (PJM_labview @ Jan 14 2009, 04:37 PM)

I also like to use custom glyph as much as possible and I try to tie the tree/listbox glyph to the visible tab/subpanel (see VIPM screenshot below). This give visual cues to the user and it makes operating these UIs easier.

So where does that glyph come from? ie: is that dialog pattern dynamic? Does it get a list of the pages that you're putting in the subpanels from somewhere? If so, is the glyph just the preference page's icon? Now you've got me thinking...

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