RFC: Only place one "add tab" item in the Context View toolbar

[Mark Kretschmann]

Hi all,

I've just committed a usability patch (revision c44e3b), a change to
the context view toolbar, and I'd like to explain the motivations here
in more detail. What it changed is this:

With the old system, we used one "add tab" item (a "+" symbol) after
each tab in the toolbar. Clicking this item adds a new tab (i.e.
applet) to the context view. The system was designed like this
deliberately, but the approach has a number of advantages and
disadvantages. The new system only uses one "add tab" item at the end
of the toolbar, similar to Firefox's tab bar.

Old system (multiple add tab items):

Pros:
 * Allows placing the tab at right position immediately.

Cons:
 * Uses a lot of screen estate. Problematic on small screens, or when
using many applets.
 * Different from the way most other applications handle tabs.


New system (one add tab item):

Pros:
 * Uses less screen estate. Important e.g. for netbooks.
 * Works similar like many other popular applications, e.g. Firefox,
Chrome, Konqueror.

Cons:
 * Positioning the item requires one more step after adding it.


The idea for this change came about at OpenExpo, where Sven and I
discussed a number of small usability issues. We've concluded that the
change is worthwhile, especially because the old system uses far too
much space on smaller screens. I've attached two screenshots, one
before, one after. Please let us know your opinions.

-- 
Mark Kretschmann
Amarok Developer
www.kde.org - amarok.kde.org
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