[Design] Search - Adjustable-width sidebar

[Mimi Yin]

Splitting off into separate thread.

On Feb 1, 2007, at 3:48 PM, D John Anderson wrote:
>>>> 4) As for the sidebar, we discussed this issue on the list over  
>>>> the summer and agreed that coming up with a good design to deal  
>>>> with an adjustable sidebar was beyond the scope of Preview. See  
>>>> discussion here: http://wiki.osafoundation.org/Journal/ 
>>>> WhyTheSidebarIsFixedWidthForNow
>>>
>>> I read the link, but didn't understand the details of the design  
>>> you're proposing. The main thing I'm confused about is this passage:
>>>
>>> 1. An alternate layout for the mini-calendar so that it doesn't  
>>> float in the middle of a sidebar that is much wider than the mini- 
>>> calendar itself.
>>> 2. A custom splitter tha won't make the divider between the  
>>> sidebar and the summary pane take up more pixels. (see Apple  
>>> Mail, iTunes and iPhoto as examples).
>>> 3. The ability to 'snap back' to the original width.
>>
>> These are design issues that would need to be dealt with if we  
>> introduced an adjustable width splitter between the sidebar and  
>> summary pane. Could you elaborate on what in particular is  
>> confusing for you?
>>
>
> I don't understand what the screen looks like as you move the  
> splitter between the sidebar and summary view, e.g. "an alternate  
> layout" doesn't make it clear what the alternate layout is. I think  
> a screen shot of the sidebar/minicalendar and summary view with  
> different positions of the splitter would help me understand the  
> proposal.

That's the work I'm trying to avoid doing before Preview :o)  
Basically, if the sidebar gets wider, there are unsightly gaps of  
white space to the right and/or left of the mini-calendar. Right now,  
the sidebar is exactly the right width to fit the mini-calendar.

>
> If on the other hand you're not making a concrete proposal, but  
> instead pointing out the "design issues that would need to be dealt  
> with", I was thinking about solving the issues by either scaling  
> the minicalendar to take up the extra space or tiling it to fill  
> the extra space.
>

Yes, I'm saying that I don't have time before Preview to explore /  
evaluate visual designs to solve this problem. Given how hard it was  
to make the minicalendar we have today look decent (thank you again  
Jeffrey and Jed for your patience), from a visual design standpoint,  
I don't have a lot of confidence that we can make it look right with  
an adjustable-width sidebar for Preview.

Essentially if I were tracking my design bugs in bugzilla, I would  
say I had Low confidence and SWAG: Medium. Just to reiterate, the  
rationale for keeping the sidebar as is for Preview is:
+ We're not sure how dire it is to provide an adjustable-width  
sidebar: We have yet to hear complaints from dogfooders about not  
being able to fit collection names in the sidebar.
+ Given that the summary and detail panes are already too small, my  
feeling has always been that the sidebar is going to be the last  
place users want extra space.

Nevertheless, I understand your desire for an adjustable sidebar.  
You've mentioned this before and I understand that you have this  
concern. I too would like to see the sidebar be something users can  
manipulate...along with a laundry list of other sidebar  
enhancements ;o) We are on the lookout for similar feedback from  
dogfooders, but haven't heard anything yet. We will continue to watch  
for this. One thing I would like to understand better is:  In what  
situations will users want the sidebar to adjust automatically? In  
what situations will users want to exert manual control?

In the meantime, it seems like concatenating the collection name is a  
viable solution for solving the immediate issue at hand, making sure  
the user can see the search results #s.

Mimi
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.osafoundation.org/pipermail/design/attachments/20070202/4920a05c/attachment.htm