Sidebar (computing)

Sidebar (computing)

The sidebar is a term that is used for a GUI element that displays various forms of information to the side of an application or desktop user interface.

Widgets in sidebars

In a number of Widget engines, one is able to install applets (known by various trademarked terms as "widgets", "desklets", and "gadgets") which can reside within or outside the sidebar. Notable examples include:

* Windows Sidebar, made by Microsoft available on Windows Vista only
* Sidebar, included in Google Desktop
*Klipfolio

Application window sidebars

In specific desktop applications, such as the Opera web browser and Windows Explorer, one is able to view various features (that are allowed by the developer(s) of the application) within the sidebar of the application.

Other terms and variations

Sidebars can also be positioned to the bottom of an application window, such as in Adobe Photoshop.

Mac OS X

In a number of predominately-Mac OS X-based desktop applications, drawers, which draw "out" of the application window rather than expand from the inside like most application sidebars, are used. Drawers were very common in early versions of Mac OS X. Mail, which used drawers for listing mailboxes, lost them in 10.4 ("Tiger") and saw them replaced by a traditional sidebar. A number of other Apple-created applications and third-party applications have replaced drawers with a sidebar, or re-designed the interface to make a sidebar/drawer unnecessary. Formerly drawer-heavy apps, like iCal and Adium, now contain no drawers at all, and instead display an optional sidebar within the main window.

Examples of apps with drawers include:

* Shiira
* iLife suite
* Transmit (an FTP application)

Links

* [http://www.mcelhearn.com/article.php?story=20041116135640496 A criticism of the drawer element in Mac OS X applications]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sidebar — may refer to:* Sidebar (publishing) * Sidebar (law) * Sidebar (computing), a type of graphical user interface element ** Windows Sidebar, in Windows Vista * Sidebar, a longitudinal elastic wooden bar on some buggies and other light vehicles …   Wikipedia

  • sidebar — side‧bar [ˈsaɪdbɑː ǁ bɑːr] noun [countable] COMPUTING a long narrow area containing written material at the side of the main material on a website * * * sidebar UK US /ˈsaɪdbɑːr/ noun [C] ► INTERNET a narrow area on the left or right of a website …   Financial and business terms

  • sidebar — UK [ˈsaɪdˌbɑː(r)] / US [ˈsaɪdˌbɑr] noun [countable] Word forms sidebar : singular sidebar plural sidebars computing a block of writing at the side of the main writing in an Internet document …   English dictionary

  • Window (computing) — This article is about the graphical display of the functions of a computer. For the operating system, see Microsoft Windows. For other uses, see Window (disambiguation). An example of some windows in a graphical user interface GNOME. Two… …   Wikipedia

  • Menu (computing) — A generic application menu In computing and telecommunications, a menu is a list of commands presented to an operator by a computer or communications system. A menu is used in contrast to a command line interface, where instructions to the… …   Wikipedia

  • Button (computing) — For the buttons used to identify a program used to build a web site, see Web button. For keyboard buttons, see Keyboard (computing). Different types of buttons in GTK+. In computing, a button (sometimes known as a command button or push button)… …   Wikipedia

  • Shelf (computing) — The Shelf is an interface feature in NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP, and is used as a repository to store links to commonly used files, directories and programs, and as a temporary holding place to move/copy files and directories around in the file system …   Wikipedia

  • Computers and Information Systems — ▪ 2009 Introduction Smartphone: The New Computer.       The market for the smartphone in reality a handheld computer for Web browsing, e mail, music, and video that was integrated with a cellular telephone continued to grow in 2008. According to… …   Universalium

  • Development of Windows Vista — This article is part of a series on Windows Vista New features Overview Technical and core system Security and safety Networking technologies I/O technologies Management and administration Removed features …   Wikipedia

  • Features new to Windows Vista — This article is part of a series on Windows Vista New features Overview Technical and core system Security and safety Networking technologies I/O technologies Management and administration Removed features …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”