Ways of adding sidebars

[mozdave]

I just checked in code that supports three mechanisms for adding sidebar panels in Firebird.

(1) The Seamonkey addPanel API is supported, so you can add panels to your bookmarks automatically now by clicking on the appropriate links.
(2) The Opera mechanism, rel=sidebar, is supported, so Opera sidebar panels should also work.
(3) The WinIE mechanism, target=_search, used to temporarily load links in the sidebar, is also supported, and will load the link in a sidebar without bookmarking it. This gives Web pages a way of targeting the sidebar with links.

Enjoy!
Dave
(hyatt@mozilla.org)

[neilj]

Thanks Dave! This is great work

I'd just like to add method number 4 for pages that aren't meant to be in the sidebar:

(4) Bookmark a page then right click on the bookmark, select Properties and check the box saying "Load this bookmark in the sidebar".

By the way, is there any chance you could put an icon for web panals back on the main toolbar? This would open the last web sidebar you had open when clicked on. Its a bit of a UI inconsistancy to not have it there.

Also, when you open the sidebar there is the name of the currently selected panal at the top. It would be great if you could click on the name and get a dropdown list of all the extra sidebars you'd bookmarked so you could easily switch between them without having to reopen the bookmarks sidebar and find the right bookmark.

Cheers,

Neil

[alanjstr]

You can get that button by installing http://basic.mozillanews.org/

[willll]

I've been away for a while and I'm not really grasping the concept of this sidebar. But i have one stupid question. How the hell do you open the sidebar? The old way that never worked (View>Sidebar>Web Panels) no longer exists and I can't find a toolbar button or any other way or any shortcut key to access it. Obviously, I'm missing something big here.

[banjobacon!]

Web panels sidebars are listed under bookmarks. There's no way of opening an empty web panel sidebar anymore.

And I too would like a way of toggling sidebars via a button on the header. If possible, not just web sidebars, but all sidebars, including History, Downloads and Bookmarks. This could allow for one icon to be placed on the toolbar for 'Sidebars', and then you'd select the sidebar of your choice.

[mozdave]

I thought about this for a while, and talked it over with Ben and Blake. Finally I decided that a dropdown clutters the UI for marginal gain.

The current system is simple and uncluttered, and it's easy to switch between sidebar panels.

You can use the key shortcuts, toolbar buttons, or menu items (for built-in panels). For sidebar bookmarks, you can organize them into a Web Panels folder on your Bookmarks Toolbar so that you can easily switch between panels that way.

Reasons I don't like adding a "switcher" include:
(1) UI clutter in the sidebar header.
(2) I'd have to add a Web Panels command (yet another toolbar button and menu item)
(3) The Web Panels sidebar could be shown when empty (e.g., you have no sidebar bookmarks), so it would need a place holder page (ick!). Now you're creeping back into Page Holder territory.

Remember, extensions exist for a reason.

Our design philosophy is to distill the essence of what makes a feature useful and pour it into the basic Firebird package, while leaving it to others to provide the maximally configurable power-user version of the feature in an extension.

[mozdave]

For any given feature, if we do our job right, 90% of users will be satisfied with what's in the basic package. The remaining 10% can then download the extension that enhances that particular feature.

If we tried to satisfy 100% of users with every feature, we'd quickly end up with a bloated mess that nobody would want to use (except the uber-power-users).

[willll]

Ohhh. I get it now. I think it would be a lot more convienent if, by default, all installed sidebars or web panels would go to a Bookmarks folder called Sidebar Pages or Web Panels or whatever its called now without the Add Bookmark doalog appearing. I found it really confusing that when I installed tried to install a Sidebar using the Mozilla method, it prompted me for a place to save in my bookmarks. Otherwise I think a lot of people who are unfamiliar with the feature will be as confused as I was. I suppose what I am talking about only applies to Mozilla-style sidebars.

[jilles]

I've tried out the 10-08 build and first of all: great to have the sidebar back. I understand the concerns about cluttering the UI. However, at the same time I would like to point out that the ui for sidebars is not very usable. So here's some suggestions/solutions/ideas/concerns:

- Sorting the sidebars into a webpanels bookmarks directory was a good idea, bring it back. It has another advantage: people can drag the folder onto their bookmarks toolbar. IMHO this is the ugly solution to the problem that most people want a dropdown box on the sidebar.
- Panels such as the bookmarks, history and downloads panel are not conceptually different from other sidebars. Treating them different only confuses people.
- The problem with mozilla sidebar was that the sidebar tended to fill up quickly because the sidebar panel was the only way to access them. Firebird solves this by offering an alternative way to display them. This does not mean the idea of stacking was bad!
- People might want more than one panel open: just stack the sidebars as you open them (make this optional if it annoys a lot of people). You can always close the ones you don't need. I'd love to have both the css and xhtml reference sidebars open at the same time.
- With the current implementation end-users are unlikely to ever see a custom sidebar. There is not a hint in the UI that the browser supports them (talk about decluttering)!
- If there's room for a search box, there's room for a dropdown sidebar selector.
- if a bookmark can be a sidebar, any page might turn into a sidebar and any sidebar might turn into a page. A nice extension would offer context menu options and maybe even drag & drop to support this (drag tab to sidebar)

[banjobacon!]

I don't see how a sidebar switcher would clutter up the header. If you don't want to add an icon, the header itself could be clicked to display a dropdown menu of all possible sidebars. This is more intuitive than having sidebars seperated in View>Sidebars and Bookmarks>Whereever. I know web panels and other sidebars are very different, but practically speaking, they aren't. As Jilles said, treating them different can be confusing, and it a bit annoying.

This isn't meant to be a debate, so don't get all mad at me just for disagreeing a bit with how it's being done. Some developers seem to have a bit of a temper at times.

[talou]

Ok, now sidebar use is very nice ! Many thanks Dave !
but I miss something :
What about adding a context popup menuitem like "view current page in sidebar" and "view current link in sidebar", because adding a link in bookmark before vewing it in sidebar can be too long.
And some links can be non permanent.
Examples :
I need to use a page in sidebar in a particular context, but no needs to keep it in bookmarks.
I need to test before bookmark.

The drag/drop can help too !