Re: [Ayatana] Left close buttons on tabs

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Mark Shuttleworth wrote on 20/02/11 15:04:
>
> The close-multiple-tabs-fast behaviour just requires that the tab
> realignment be smart. If you look closely, Chrome realigns twice, once
> for fast closing, then for better spacing.
>
> In other words, if fast-closing is a goal, then it's perfectly possible
> to ensure that successive close buttons are placed underneath one
> another, and then the whole set are re-flowed once the obvious
> "closefest" is over.
>...

That would be correct only when none of the tabs you were closing was
the last one in the row.

If you did close the last tab, though, then putting the close
button for the previous tab under the cursor would require the developer
to choose one of three unattractive options.

1.  Widen all tabs to be even wider than they will be once you leave,
    and crop part of the last one:

    | ____  ____  ____  ____  ____ |
    |/x 1 \/x 2 \/x 3 \/x 4 \/x 5 \|
                              ↓
    | ______  ______  ______  ↓____|
    |/x 1   \/x 2   \/x 3   \/x 4  |\
                              ↓
    | __________  __________  ↓____|
    |/x 1       \/x 2       \/x 3  |    \

    | ________  ________  ________ |
    |/x 1     \/x 2     \/x 3     \| (after leaving)

2.  Widen all tabs except the last one to be wider than they will be
    once you leave, with the last one temporarily being narrower than
    all the others:

    | ____  ____  ____  ____  ____ |
    |/x 1 \/x 2 \/x 3 \/x 4 \/x 5 \|
                              ↓
    | ______  ______  ______  ↓___ |
    |/x 1   \/x 2   \/x 3   \/x 4 \|
                              ↓
    | __________  __________  ↓___ |
    |/x 1       \/x 2       \/x 3 \|

    | ________  ________  ________ |
    |/x 1     \/x 2     \/x 3     \|

3.  Make all tabs temporarily jump one place to the right, resizing
    back to the left when you leave:

    | ____  ____  ____  ____  ____ |
    |/x 1 \/x 2 \/x 3 \/x 4 \/x 5 \|
                              ↓
    |       ____  ____  ____  ↓___ |
    |______/x 1 \/x 2 \/x 3 \/x 4 \|
                              ↓
    |             ____  ____  ↓___ |
    |____________/x 1 \/x 2 \/x 3 \|

    | ________  ________  ________ |
    |/x 1     \/x 2     \/x 3     \|


Close buttons at the trailing end avoid any of these awkward choices.
And as a bonus, if all the tabs you closed were, when you closed them,
the last tab in the row, no further resizing is required once you leave
the area.

    | ____  ____  ____  ____  ____ |
    |/ 1 x\/ 2 x\/ 3 x\/ 4 x\/ 5 x\|
                                 ↓
    | ______  _____  ______  ____↓ |
    |/ 1   x\/ 2  x\/ 3   x\/ 4  x\|
                                 ↓
    | ________  ________  _______↓ |
    |/ 1     x\/ 2     x\/ 3     x\|

    | ________  ________  ________ |
    |/ 1     x\/ 2     x\/ 3     x\|

- -- 
mpt
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/

iEYEARECAAYFAk1r6qoACgkQ6PUxNfU6ecoXHwCgs/EA2wsDs1y7pstHoNeQWQVT
Ke0An0cR05yK1xapSBQOaoTaNjUL4+AQ
=JWlY
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----