87528 - [RFE] Auto open sidebar option would be more platform like

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 45374

(SeaMonkey :: General, enhancement)

Description

[volkris]

I saw in bug 45374 that the idea of having the sidebar automatically open was
dismissed as a bad idea, but I don't think one thing was enunciated well. What
I'm talking about is something like the Windows UI where the taskbar unhides
when the mouse moves all the way to the bottom of the screen. Have the sidebar
open whenever the mouse is moved all the way to the left of the screen. It would
be very optional to have this work this way, perhaps a rightclick in/on the
sidebar would choose whether to "auto hide" or not.

The main reason to do this is to give Mozilla more of the "whole platform" feel
that it strives to have. I can invision many cases where programs running in the
sidebar would be well accessed in this way. It would also encourage use of the
sidebar when it might otherwise never be opened up (people without much screen
realestate). Basically, optionally removing the click to the opener thing and
having it work this way would streamline sidebar usage in a real way.

The arguments against it in the sited bug include that it is slow, which is very
much not the case as far as I can tell. I click on the opener thingy and it
flashes open on this only moderately fast computer no matter what window is open
in the sidebar. The other argument is that it is too big to be opened and closed
like that; the Windows taskbar is very small in compairison to the sidebar. I
don't think this matters much.

It is also worth considration of having the sidebar simply cover up the
navigation window when in this mode, just like the Windows taskbar covers the
windows when it is in auto hide mode. This would have the added benefit of not
having to rerender the webpage and would improve speed even more, I think.

I simply think this should be reconsidered as I was just now invisioning a case
where I would like to have things work that way and wondering if it was possible.

Comment 1

[Keyser Sose]

Marking NEW.

Comment 2

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Firstly, this would only work if the window happened to be maximized, and I'm 
leery of the confusion that could be caused by people trying to do it with non-
maximized windows.

> The main reason to do this is to give Mozilla more of the "whole platform"
> feel that it strives to have.

Ignoring the blatant anthropomorphism, whatever gave you that silly idea? :-)

Comment 3

[volkris]

Haha, fine, "that the people behind Mozilla seem to want it to have" :)

Anyway, I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying that Mozilla is set to
be a platform. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Mozilla engineers
go out of their way to allow Mozilla to be extended with XUL and such? Sure it
might have been a byproduct of Mozilla's evolution, but I was always under the
impression that it was an intended consequence. Once you have Mozilla where it
can become extended it can be a platform.

Regardless of intent, though, I got the "silly idea" because I want a webpad
running nothing but Mozilla and Java. It's that simple. Create whatever kernel
you need to handle IO and such, but I know that I can be very productive working
through Mozilla as my entire UI. Just look what it has right now: web browsing,
email, Java support, and potential for people to install extensions like the AIM
client that run right on Mozilla. 

Almost all common tasks can be done through the web (web applications), things
that can't can run in Java, and things that can't run there either can run
through XUL. By all of this I mean with the exception of most modern games,
which wouldn't work well on a lightweight device anyway.

This image of the future of webpads (or whatever you want to call them) has
always been a dream of mine. It's a good thing for users and it's also good for
companies that want something more solid and more open than the existing popular
<ahem> platforms.

So, having a more easy task switcher is almost a necessity, I think, and that is
why I propose that the sidebar open and hide more easily.

Comment 4

[Chris Carlin]

Perhaps auto-open tabs are something similiar to consider?

Comment 5

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 45374 ***