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Please bring back the option to switch between tabs on the bottom vs tabs on the top.
Please have a look at the attached pic, where the outline view has no toolbar or view menu, this creates a case where there is no separation between the top of the outline view and what is above it. Does this look acceptable? Please comment
Created attachment 8429 [details] outline view with nothing on the top
I have been using the integration builds with tabs on the bottom and haven't been terribly bothered by this. I would like to have the option of turning on title bars (and I'd use them with 2.x style tabs), but even without the title bar, having the option of keeping the tabs on the bottom is far more preferable than not having them. I've enclosed images of the same layout with tabs on the top and on the bottom. From my perspective the Plug-in Registry view in this example is less cluttered with the tabs on the bottom. Notice that in both images we have a row of tabs between the editor and the Registry view. In the tabs_at_buttom.jpg image it is much more clear which area these center tabs belong to. Adding the old-style gradient back to the title bar would further clean up the registry view since it would help distinguish the title bar from the area inside the view proper.
Created attachment 8431 [details] tabs at the top
Created attachment 8432 [details] tabs at the bottom
In the attachment with tabs at the bottom, the plug-in registry view looks wierd. Maybe the name of the view, "Plug-in Registry" can be repeated in that empty space to the left of the view toolbar. Then a right to left gradient can be added to make it look nice, stopping before the toolbar so that all the toolbar buttons are on a light background. This has the added benefit that if there is only one view on a stack, then the tab can be eliminated, freeing up some horizontal space, since the name of the view already appears at the top.
I was using the integration build with the new style and the view tabs on the bottom, I had no problem with the outline view. You think that displaying the view tabs on the bottom is bad, it's fine, but don't make a jugdment call for everybody. People got use to work one way (usualy view tabs on the bottom, editor tabs on the top, that was the default since when ? 1.0 ?), and then, you decide that the way they work is not good anymore, and they have to work the way you think is the best. Set the default to what you think is the better, but don't remove the possibility for the user to set it how he likes/is used to it.
Re comment 7... No! Leave defaults AS IS. It's incredibly frustrating to have defaults change whenever some developer decides their way of doing things is better. The comment-block option is a good example of this. I downloaded a new build of eclipse and control-/ didn't work any more. After digging through the "what's new" I find that someone decided the old way (that I've been using for a couple of years) is no good and I have to explicitly redefine the key if I want it to work like it used to. PLEASE! If you come up with new alternatives, MAKE THEM ALTERNATIVES, not the new default!!!
Hmmm... actually I just wanted to get opinions regarding users who prefer tabs on the bottom. The difficulty in the UI is to find a balance between having the list of preferences/menus/toolbars etc... grow constantly and removing some items that no longer have a place. I really don't have a strong opinion here, just trying to find logical places where things can be cleaned up.
Perhaps you've heard enough from us on this point, but... Another advantage to having tabs on the bottom is that they naturally more visible. The eye tends to gravitate toward the center of the screen and toward the bottom rather than the top. Note that the most frequently used perspectives place the editor area above viewers on the bottom. With tabs on the top, the editor tabs appear at the far top edge of the screen while viewer tabs are two thirds of the way down the page. The entire editor area (usually two thirds to three quarters of perspective height) lies between the tabs for editors and views making it difficult to see both at once. Whereas, with tabs on the bottom, the editor tabs appears just below the center of the screen, and the space between the editor tabs and view tabs is only one third to one fourth the screen height. I am not suggesting you change the default, but I think many users will find this configuration to be more natural visually, ergonomically, etc.
The default position for tabs should be towards the edge of the screen. There are two reasons for this: 1) To preserve the (valuable) center area of the screen for the users main task. 2) Because the mouse is naturally attracted to the edges of the screen (bump it randomly a few times and see where the pointer ends up), which makes it easier to point at things nearer the edge of the screen. (Look-up "Fitt's Law" for studies about this; this states in part: "The top, bottom, and sides of the screen are infinitely targetable because of the boundary created by the edges of the screen (unless a virtual screen exists). They should be fully utilized." - http://www.cs.umd.edu/class/fall2002/cmsc838s/tichi/fitts.html) Making the tab-location an option is fine, but the default location is important to get correct. (BTW, is usability testing being done on the new L&F? If so, can we see a pointer to the results?)
Preference for switching tab location to top and bottom for views and editors had been removed for a while. It has been put back in HEAD today based on comments here.
Needs to be put back in as of Juno 2.4.1 How do I mark this as a failed regression?
