Tab (interface)
In interface design, a tab is a
Tabs are modeled after traditional card tabs inserted in paper files or card indexes (in keeping with the desktop metaphor). They are usually graphically displayed on webpages or apps as they look on paper.
Tabs may appear in a horizontal bar or as a vertical list. Horizontal tabs may have multiple rows. In some cases, tabs may be reordered or organized into multiple rows through drag and drop interactions. Implementations may support opening an existing tab in a separate window or range-selecting multiple tabs for moving, closing, or separating them.[2]
History
The WordVision
Don Hopkins developed and released several versions of tabbed window frames for the NeWS window system as free software, which the window manager applied to all NeWS applications, and enabled users to drag the tabs around to any edge of the window.[5]
The
While
Users have quickly adopted the use of tabs in web browsing and web search. A study of tabbed browsing behavior in June 2009 found that users switched tabs in 57% of tab sessions, and 36% of users used new tabs to open search engine results at least once during that period.[12]
Numerous additional browser tab capabilities have emerged since then. One example is visual tabbed browsing in
Development
Tab behavior in an application is determined by the underlying widget toolkit (for example Firefox uses GTK) framework. Due to lack of standardization, behavior may vary from one application to the next, which can result in usability challenges.
In 2021, researchers published the first in-depth study of Web browser tab interfaces in over a decade. They found that many people struggle with tab overload and conducted surveys and interviews about people's tab use. Thereby they formalized pressures for closing tabs and for keeping tabs open. The authors then developed related UI design considerations which could enable better tools and changes to the code of Web browsers – like Firefox – that allow knowledge workers and other users to better manage – and make use of – their browser tabs.[13][14]
See also
- Comparison of document interfaces
- Microsoft Internet Explorer marks tab families with different colours
- IDE-style interface
- Ribbon (computing)
References
- ^ Khola, Vivek (2023-02-17). "Tab (interface)". www.blogger.com.
- ^ Elliott, Matt (2014-01-28). "How to manipulate multiple tabs in Chrome or Firefox". CNET. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
- from the original on 2015-03-17. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
- ^ ISSN 0888-8507. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
- ^ Hopkins, Don (October 1989). "The Shape of PSIBER Space: PostScript Interactive Bug Eradication Routines". Don Hopkins' Web Site. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
- ^ Hopkins, Don (1988-08-17). "Email from Don Hopkins to James Gosling, David S H Rosenthal, Owen Densmore, Jerry Farrell about Text selection in NeMACS". Don Hopkins' Web Site.
- ^ Hopkins, Don (2005-09-29). "HyperTIES Hypermedia Browser and Emacs Authoring Tool for NeWS". Don Hopkins' Web Site. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
- ^ Hopkins, Don. "HCIL Demo - HyperTIES Authoring". YouTube.
- ^ corwyn. "Boeing Calc - The first truly 3-D spreadsheet". Archived from the original on 2006-02-19.
- ^ van Rantwijk, HJ. "Mozdev.org - multizilla: history". Mozilla. Archived from the original on 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
- ^ Jeff Huang, Ryen W. White (2010). "Parallel Browsing Behavior on the Web" (PDF). Proceedings of the 21st ACM Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia (HT '10).
- ^ "Overcoming tab overload: Researchers develop tool to better manage browser tabs". techxplore.com. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
External links
- TabPanel Widget
- ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit
- Scriptaculous AJAX tabs
- Tab Window Demo deDevelopmentmo of the Pie Menu Tab Window Manager for The NeWS Toolkit 2.0 (1991).