Choosing categories in dialogs

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

Hi all,
we need to find a common solution to a recurring interaction problem: 
Switching between different categories (or sets of items) in a screen (dialog 
or application). There are many cases for this problem already. These are the 
ones that jump to my mind:
- Application categories in the app launcher (we have the tag cloud but it's 
hidden because it's not good enough yet)
- Item categories in the "Add Items" dialog (currently icons on the first 
screen, back arrow to return to selection screen. Not good.)
- Settings modules (currently list on the left. Works but requires scrolling 
if list is longer than the dialog)
- Different screens in the About App (tabs on top)

As we can see, we currently have three different solutions for the same 
interaction problem. This is bad™ and it would help consistency a lot if we 
came up with a general solution. 
The solution should meet the following requirements:
- Work with a larger number of items (I'd say up to 20 or 30)
- Allow easy and fast switching between sets without having to go back to an 
overview screen
- Show an icon and text for each set
- Work both in dialogs and fullscreen

So this is something we have to think about pretty soon. I think it would make 
sense to talk about this in real-time (ideally in person, telco or chat would 
be better than via mailing list) first and then put a draft somehwere to be 
discussed on the ML.

Regards,
Thomas