Tabbed Interface on Gallery Settings?

SamirD

I'm usually a fan of hitting keys on the keyboard, but I've found that tabbed interfaces seem to work better if you're already at the mouse. A good example is the control panel interface where each set of settings is in a different tab.

I was wondering if this type of tabbed interface could be made for the gallery settings screen. I find myself alternating between the mouse and keyboard for settings, so it may just be easier to have everything on one screen and use tabs to make it all cleaner.

Thoughts?

Andy

No, we're not tabbing it but we do have some improvements in mind for the future, for that page. Thanks for posting Samir!

SamirD

Wow, amazingly quick reply! Good to know it's going to get some work. I just hope it doesn't end up like the new login screen.

Allen

Tabbing the gallery settings would be a huge mistake. Nothing worse then
having to go to multiple screens to view settings. Much easier to just scroll
down.

jfriend

Allen wrote: »

Tabbing the gallery settings would be a huge mistake. Nothing worse then
having to go to multiple screens to view settings. Much easier to just scroll
down.

Just guessing here, but I think the issue that Smugmug is dealing with is that there are too many gallery options for beginners. It seems more complicated to a newbie than anyone would like.

Meanwhile, we (non-newbies) keep pushing for more and more options so we can control things. The answer, in my opinion, lies in a layered presentation so the newbies can see a simpler set of options and advanced users can see a more complete set of options. For example, no newbie should have to see the sharpening options. Heck, not even I want to see those options.

There are many ways to implement a staged presentation. Tabs are one way, expand/collapse is another way, beginner mode/advanced mode is another way and so on.

I personally hope they don't do expand collapse because it's very slow to search for an option when you don't know where it is (you have to expand/collapse lots of different things one a a time to find it). Tabs are actually one of the best staged presentations for browsing the options to find the one you want. I have no idea what kind of solution Smugmug is considering and I'm just guessing that this is the problem they're trying to solve.