[jsword-devel] Tabbed BookDataDisplay

[Joe Walker]

On Tue, 07 Sep 2004 11:08:54 -0400, DM Smith <dmsmith555 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I would like input on some thoughts on improving TabbedBookDataDisplay.
> 
> The TabbedBookDataDisplay is a bit of a bother for large passages. The
> net result is that the user is "encouraged" to use the Passage sidebar,
> which is not immediately obvious. I think some improvements would make
> the the tabs nearly as useful as the Passage sidebar.
> 
> 1) Optimize large passages (already noted that this is a problem). The
> entire passage is gotten but only the first n verses is shown. Get only
> the first tab's worth. This will take some thought as this is a design
> change.

I need to have another look. The original design did only get the
verses for immediate display, but things could well have changed a bit
recently. I hope it isn't too hard to fix it.

> 2) Have an orphan count, such that if the next tab has m (orphan count)
> verses or fewer, then they are included in the previous tab. This could
> be p% of max verses per tab. Orphan count , whether m or p, could be a
> user option.

Yes - I'd thought it could work like this; When asked to display N
verses with T verse per tab there would be (N div T + 1) tabs and
therefore on average N div (N div T + 1) verses per tab. So display
that many on each tab rather than T.

The next step might be (post 1.0?) if displaying 2 tabs with say 40
verses on each to check for 5 verses either side of the dividing line
for book/chapter/etc breaks and move the break there.

> 3) Rather than a "More tab", have as many as x (max tab count) tabs
> prepopulated with the name. The contents are not populated until the tab
> is selected. This would allow for a more random access approach to the
> passage, in addition to the side bar. Rather than a more tab, there
> would be a next and previous tab which would go to the next/previous tab
> (or perhaps set of tabs.)

This sounds like a good idea - might it be post 1.0?

> 4) I would also like for these tabs to be more on the chapter boundary.
> The notion is kind of like the orphan count idea.
> If the orphan count does not bring the entire chapter to the current tab
> and the current tab has more than one chapter and if there are fewer
> than orphan count verses from the last chapter, start the next tab on
> that chapter.

Ah - I see you had the idea too! It must be a good one!

Joe.