This Bugzilla instance is a read-only archive of historic NetBeans bug reports. To report a bug in NetBeans please follow the project's instructions for reporting issues.

Bug 105495 - Closure icons on tabs a bad idea
Summary: Closure icons on tabs a bad idea
Status: RESOLVED INVALID
Alias: None
Product: platform
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Window System (show other bugs)
Version: 5.x
Hardware: All All
: P3 blocker with 1 vote (vote)
Assignee: issues@platform
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: 134670 151003
  Show dependency tree
 
Reported: 2007-06-03 04:07 UTC by ericarmstrong
Modified: 2009-02-10 19:30 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Issue Type: ENHANCEMENT
Exception Reporter:


Attachments

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description ericarmstrong 2007-06-03 04:07:59 UTC
Arguably, this could be considered a bug. But let's call it an enhancement request.

Closure icons ("X") on tabs are a bad idea, for a couple of reasons:

  1. They're non standard. Standard location is at the right edge of the
     window.

  2. They're really easy to hit by accident. Especially given that they cover
     too large an area, and there is no box around them that lets you see 
     what that area is.

  3. Given interface latencies, it's also possible to accidentally visit the 
     tab next to the one you're trying to close. (I haven't done that, but the
     existence of multiple tab-closure icons makes it possible.)

  4. Right click on a tab brings up a variety of "all document" options at the
     top of the list. If I wanted to operate on all docs, I wouldn't click on
     a tab. If they're in the list at all, they should be at the bottom.

Bottom line: I'm constantly closing tabs by accident. For that matter, it's no
accident at all that the standard location is off at the edge of the window.
There's a reason for it, and accidental closures are probably at the top of the
list. (Organizations like MS invest a lot in user-interface testing, and they
have a huge base of users who are familiar with their standards, so it is
generally unwise to do things in arbitrarily different ways.
Comment 1 Peter Pis 2007-08-17 09:07:02 UTC
Reassigning to "core". AFAIK, Firefox also used the edge corner location for "X", but for latest release it's placed in
all tabs by default.
Comment 2 David Simonek 2007-08-17 09:38:16 UTC
This is difficult UI question - it seems that majority of people like close icons on tabs - see new Firefox, as
mentioned. However it might be usable to make close icons optional if more requests like this will appear...
Comment 3 David Simonek 2008-10-23 12:36:39 UTC
Making relation to configure support for tabs. No plans to work on it currently, inviting community to step in.
Comment 4 ericarmstrong 2009-02-10 10:30:30 UTC
Ok, color me convinced. After getting used to the UI, I find it more convenient.
Maybe the icons got smaller, or my filenames got bigger, but I'm no longer closing things by
accident, and I frequently find it convenient to close a single tab or two using the icon on the tab.

The one time I don't find it convenient is when closing a whole series of tabs, because then the
cursor moves all over the place. So I guess a desirable enhancement would be to /also/ have a
close-tab icon in the upper right. But I certainly wouldn't remove the close-icons in the tabs.
Comment 5 Stanislav Aubrecht 2009-02-10 10:32:22 UTC
> The one time I don't find it convenient is when closing a whole series of tabs
menu 'windows - documents' is probably better suited for that...
Comment 6 ericarmstrong 2009-02-10 19:30:28 UTC
Just replied via email, but don't see the comment reflected here:

> menu 'windows - documents' is probably better suited for that...
>
Possibly. But the fact that I didn't even think of that option suggests
that a user, once conditioned to use icons in and around the tabs, is
not going to be looking at the menu for other options.

Basically, interface styles are language, icons, keyboard gestures, and
menus. People tend to stick with one style, as much as possible.

Still, it's fair to say that there are too many icons over in that area,
and another one would only be confusing. That's a reasonable response.
(That's the major reason I left the possible enhancement as comment here,
rather than opening a new ticket.)