Re: [Libreoffice-ux-advise] some thoughts on the Sidebar

Hi Cor,
I share your sentiments about the sidebar. It should definitely be hidden
by default, as it adds minimal value in return for a bunch of wasted space
and a less focused, messier interface. The exception to this would be
Impress, because it already relies on the task pane for key functionality
and the sidebar is the replacement.

My vision for the sidebar is a bit different, though.
First and foremost, I'm hoping that the sidebar will be made modular,
allowing the user to undock each individual panel (represented by a tab)
from the sidebar. Keep just a single panel docked, the tab bar would
disappear. That would mean that we'd get rid of the awful panel duplication
we have with the Sidebar now -- there would a single Navigator, a single
Gallery, and a single Style pane, and all of these could be docked/undocked
at any side of the window and grouped into tabs as one wished. This is all
standard panel behavior, btw -- if you want to try it, just take a look at
Gimp or Inkscape. (And I believe the Adobe counterparts work similarly.)

As for the Properties panel, I'm hoping it will gain Style dropdowns like
those in the toolbar (Kendy's working on this). I see no reason to fill the
Properties panel with styles, though, as we already have the Styles panel
for that.
Furthermore, it's the Properties panel, so I would expect it to hold any
and all of the object properties. That's the role dialogs play right now,
and I'm hoping that, over time, the Properties panel will gain all of their
functionality and replace them one by one. The advantage to that would be
fast and easy access to this functionality, and the ability to see the
changes happen live in the document. The concept is basically the same as
that of the Inspector window, which has long been used on Mac OS and is a
key part of iWork.

On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 5:33 PM, Cor Nouws <oolst@nouenoff.nl> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I took the freedom to post a blog about the subject.
>
> http://cor4office.blogspot.nl/**2013/09/sidebar-avoiding-it-**
> or-improve-it-for.html<http://cor4office.blogspot.nl/2013/09/sidebar-avoiding-it-or-improve-it-for.html>
>
> Of course I skipped some details about the Sidebar that IMHO are not so
> relevant for my point.
>
>
> Two quotes:
>
>   " So for me, two reasons to dislike the Sidebar: for eating space and
> for promoting bad habits :(  "
>
>   " it's clear that I would rather see support for the use of styles. So I
> mocked up a little version with various style categories shown at the same
> time. "
>
> Would appreciate your ideas :)
>
> thanks & ciao,
> Cor
>
>
> --
>  - Cor Nouws
>  - http://nl.libreoffice.org
>  - The Document Foundation Membership Committee Member
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