Sidebar redesign idea

[David Gifford]

Hi all

Don't know what got into me. Just an idea to reorganize the tabs conceptually and move the control panel items into the tabs. This is just slapped together and is not done properly. More like a proof of concept than an actual thing. Looking for feedback more on the choices made rather than the behind the scenes execution.

https://giffmex.org/experiments/sidebar.concept.html

[David Gifford]

Oh and I am not trying to be conceited by my adding of my Toggle tab. Just thinking that some of those items could be in those two areas...

[clutterstack]

David,

I like it on my screen. I don't have strong feelings about it in general, but my first impression is that Control Panel access through the sidebar may be more intuitive than opening it in the story. That is affected by the sidebar width, of course. Then, given that you're putting more config stuff in the sidebar, it starts to make sense to have a hierarchy of tabs, and the Tools tab fits right in with the other Setup tabs -- except that occasionally it is useful as a collection of buttons I don't use a lot. That's the problem with a hierarchy...and not a specific problem with this idea.

I guess the Work tab would be filled with whatever the author likes to have one click away.

I think this is an interesting idea that caters for both newer TW admins and for wikis that have a separation between author and user, which are both good angles to explore.

Best,

Chris

[David Gifford]

Thanks Chris!

[Hans Wobbe]

David:

I think it's an interesting addition to "minimalist" design concepts in which folks have been trying to reduce what they see as visible clutter.  I've noticed my Tiddlers have been moving in this direction for several years.  However, I never really thought of applying this to the Sidebar area before now.  (Taken to its limits, a single pixel in the upper left corned of the focus area might be the ideal 'de-clutter'.)

Instead, in the Sidebar, I've used the standard Sidebar components to host CamelCase links to persistent entry points as a balance of the Ultimate possibility against practical efficienciess.

Your suggestion has piqued my interest in trying customizing the SideBar area.  I suspect this will end up being tailored by individual users for the own preferences and by Edition authors for their applications.

It will be interesting to see how far this proceeds.

Thanks for this idea "spark" as well as your many other contributions.

[David Gifford]

Thanks Hans!

I am now thinking about the top menu bar that is on tiddlywiki.com as a place to put buttons that change the sidebar content. Even more efficient! I will post here.

Yes, I was thinking that such a system should have instructions so users can rearrange tabs as desired.

My goals in doing this were:

1. Reduce or eliminate everything above the tabs and slide the tabs up so we can see more of the tabs (there is still that pesky space there, and even inspecting the page didn't help me see what it is...)

2. Reorganize the tabs by function: tabs for newbies, tabs to set up the file, tabs to work, and "stuff I never use"

3. Imagine what other tabs would be helpful. A help tab with links to the forum is one such tab.

[Hans Wobbe]

David:

Another (browser) technique to reduce "clutter" is to make use of the "Open in a new window"  capability.  This creates an effective popup that you can dismiss when doe, or k,keep open for reference by just positioning it in another area of your display(s).  It's very effective if you have large screens and even more so when using mutiple displays.