[Adium-devl] Source list in the message window (vertical PSMTabBarControl)

[Evan Schoenberg]

Ick, I should have been more clear:  There is not a single thing  
about the screen shot in the previous email I *do* like as-is - I was  
just demonstrating that I had the skeleton of a source-list style  
vertical tabs implementation. No widgets are in the right place or  
sized properly or anything like that :)  That said, I'm glad to have  
sparked some discussion with it.

> I think going with the hybrid close button/status icons is more
> elegant than having both of them visible at once. I *really* don't
> like have the close button appear only on the active tab, as it makes
> quickly closing an inactive tab harder, since you don't know exactly
> where the other close buttons are. Even if you have closing inactive
> tabs disabled, doing a quick double-click to close isn't always a
> guarantee to close a tab.

I think I agree.  What would you say to badging the icon with the  
close button/status icon combo?  It might look cluttered... I'm not  
sure though.

> - Are we going to throw status icons in here somewhere?
Definitely... I think Kent's right about the close/status combo.

> - That's a weird place to put the close widget, try on the left or  
> right.
*nod* if not the badge, far right, I think.

> - What are we doing at the bottom of the sidebar?
Hm.  Could this handle the overflow?  Show a sidebar with an action  
button (it'd have the contents of the contextual menu for the active  
chat, or something like that), and add an overflow chevron next to it  
when there are more tabs than can fit?

> Something like this? http://brok3n.org/rawr/LeftSidebar.jpg
>
> Or more like this? http://brok3n.org/rawr/RightSidebarFull.jpg
>
> Everyone knows I'm a fan of this one: http://brok3n.org/rawr/Old/ 
> MessagePane.png
OldMessagePane is definitely more modern looking :)  We can make it  
look like a traditional source list as that suggests... the 'popping'  
tab is an artifact of not avoiding some of the tab drawing code, but  
I think it's a neat take on emphasizing which chat is selected.  Any  
strong 'for' or 'against' feelings on it?

(Those are Adam Iser's mockups, btw, for anyone who hasn't seen them  
before).

> - Try it without a dividing line between contacts.

*nod* Looks much better without it - since I started with the  
vertical tab drawing code, there are several things, like that, which  
just need to get modified for a source list appearance.



On Apr 8, 2007, at 10:58 AM, Kent Sutherland wrote:

> You could take that one step further and try to combine the unread
> message count, the close button and status button together. That
> probably wouldn't work out, since the status icons are customizable.
> It would certainly reduce tab clutter though. The tabs should probably
> be a bit smaller, like the mockups Chris has. Unless we want some
> iChatty special effects in the tabs, the larger tabs are mostly dead
> space.

I like that idea... we already combine the close and the status icon,  
and the number alongside an 'unviewed content' status icon is fairly  
duplicative anyways.  It shouldn't be too hard to code, and it solves  
the problem of where to put the unread count so as not to lok really  
cluttered.

> The blue background and bigger tabs alone helped a lot, but I think we
> could do better than slavishly copying iChat 4 :)
Agreed!  iChat 4 is worth looking at for what's good and what's not  
good... but copying is no fun :)

Based on feedback so far and such, here's what I've got now:


The close widget is a little high and a little close to the right  
edge... what else?

-Evan

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