Hi Michael,
I hope you don't mind adding this discussion to mailing list.
On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 12:15 AM, Michael Barton <Michael.Barton@asu.edu> wrote:
These look nice. I will try to test late in the week when I have time to
recompile.A couple thoughts.
Multiple options like this give users more flexibility for customizing the
look of the program. And if it solves the hidden tab problem, that can be a
benefit to use. On the other hand, adding too many options adds more
complexity to an already very very complex GUI code, with more opportunities
for something to go wrong.
Once the initial bugs are fixed (I hope there are not many) the code
should be quite stable because all notebooks have very similar or
identical API so in the code you just switch classes representing
the notebook styles and that's all.
The other thing to think about is that there is an advantage to having a
consistent GRASS brand and look across all platforms. That was the idea
behind the gradient green bar behind the tabs. (I forget who first suggested
flatnotebook, but I liked them because they were distinctive and not as
'boring' as the normal rectangular ones that are on almost all other apps).
Perhaps there are better ways of switching pages than flatnotebook style.
Having the tabs go down the left may be better for example, though it makes
dialogs wider and hence eats up more screen real estate. Anyway, after some
experimentation, even if switching to a new tab style there is some benefit
to settling on a standard style that is the GRASS brand.
Can flatnotebook do tabs on the left?
I'am afraid that it is not possible.
The point is to let the user choose what he wants. The current tabs
don't look boring but I'm sure a lot of people would prefer standard
'boring' notebook. And still there is the issue with the hidden tabs
which can be very confusing for not experienced user. Another question
is which style should be the default one, if the nice but little
confusing or the standard one?
Thanks for comments,
Anna