Change zone layout to optimize available width for tab titles

[Steven S]

In some of my workspaces, I tend to place secondary references off to one side in a zone that occupies about 20-25% of the total window width. In some cases, I find that the zone title takes a large amount of the available zone width, sometimes as much as 25%. This then makes it harder to know which tab I may want to activate because the tab titles are truncated due to insufficient horizontal space. This is especially a problem when the resources in the tabs start with the same text. For example:

 

 

Because the zone title is already rendered using a smaller font than the tab title, I'd like to propose an alternate zone layout whereby the zone title appears above the tabs instead of adjacent to them, as follows:

 

 

Personally, I find the reduction in vertical space available to the resource content (in the above case, 14 pixels) an acceptable tradeoff for an increase in horizontal space available to the tab titles (in the above case, 108 pixels).

 

Bonus feature: Since I realize the proposed vertical layout may not be optimal for very wide zones (just as the horizonal layout is not optimal for very narrow zones), consider dynamically switching between the current layout and the proposed layout depending on the current zone width. Or, alternatively, default to the current horizontal layout, but, if any tab title is truncated, switch to the vertical layout.

 

If changing the zone layout is not acceptable, please consider the following alternative proposals to help alleviate the confusion that can be caused when tab titles are truncated:

 

1. Allow the user to rename a zone so one can shorten the title manually.
2. Add a tooltip to each tab title that displays the complete text in the event the tab title is truncated due to insufficient width.
    

[dvdmoore08]

21 hours ago, Steven S said:

 

 

1. Allow the user to rename a zone so one can shorten the title manually.
2. Add a tooltip to each tab title that displays the complete text in the event the tab title is truncated due to insufficient width.
    

I would vote for #2. It shouldn't require as intensive a programming job as some of the other suggestions, and it would  be handy to be able to see the full text of a tab by setting the pointer over what is visible.

 

David Moore

[mgvh]

I have a similar setup. My proposed solution would be to allow for two rows of tabs.

Something like this (which is a mockup)

[Steven S]

Another possibility that would not require changing the layout is to replace the zone title text with an icon (ideally backed up by a tooltip that would display the existing text):

 

 

That would at least keep the zone title area a fixed width regardless of the zone content.

 

Looking at the Library window, it seems most of the tool classifications already have icons, so only a few more would have to be designed for categories like "Texts," "Mixed," etc.