Re: Upgraded tabbed_pane_widget

Mark Anderson wrote:
> Michael said:
> 
>> The funny thing is, after making all of these changes we decided we
>> didn't like the usability of the tabs and have now moved to using the
>> split pane (with a few mods).
> 
> 
> this is more a ui than a js development issue, but i'm curious what
> drove you from tabs?
> they do seem quite prevalent these days (google, amazon, etc.)

My original statement isn't exactly true. My use of the word 'we' 
implies 'us developers.'

A more accurate statement would be that the support personal for the 
current product (for which we are designing/implementing the 
replacement) don't think our users will 'get' the tabs and that they 
will interfere with users interaction with the application.

This is despite the belief of 'us developers' that the use of tabs will 
help clean up the amount of information presented to the user at any 
given moment.

> i'm also curious how you used the split pane to supplant it.
> 
> (and what does your app do anyway? :))

We're currently developing the next generation of an accounting system. 
The old system is a terminal based system that was originally developed 
on OpenVMS in DEC BASIC (~3 million loc). The rewrite is being done in Java.

Originally we were going to go with a Java client to do a rich front 
end, but then decided to go the route of a web client once we realized 
we could do all (or most) of the interactivity that we were achieving in 
the Java client with DHTML. Web deployments are a way, way easier sell 
than a Java client.

The current module (and first one to be done) that we're working on is 
the accounts receivable system.

Invoices, credit notes, customer maintenance, bank deposits, blah blah 
blah. They're all heavy on the data entry side. Our power users don't 
look at the screen in the current version of the application when doing 
data entry. They'll enter a screen (reading say from an invoice) and 
then check it once they're done typing.

The support people believe that adding tabs will confuse the issue of 
data entry. We were going to implement the functionality so that if you 
were on the last input box on a pane, that when you tabbed off it would 
it would automatically switch to the next tab and put focus into the 
first field on that pane. Anyway...

As far as how we're using the split pane, we've put functionality such 
as searches into the left hand pane of the search pane. We're really 
using more like a sliding pane. When you click on the dividing line 
between the two panes, the search pane hides itself. There'll be a 
global shortcut (Ctrl-Alt-S) to access it. Think of the dividers in 
Mozilla. Anyway, this lets us free up screen realistate and gets rid of 
some of what use to be tabs.

At some point in the future I believe the intention is to make the 
application available from the companies website so that potential 
customers can demo it. I'm looking forward to it as I think it'll be the 
first major netWindows application that will be freely viewable on the web.

Michael


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