VSIDE's WebLog

Feedback Requested: File Tabs in Orcas

VSIDE — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 12:03:00 GMT

Hi folks-

I've been working to redesign the file tabs for Orcas (the version of VS after Whidbey) and would love to get your feedback. Based on feedback we've heard from Whidbey users, we're primarily seeking to solve the issues of:
1) grouping related views for visual feedback and easy switching
2) make the document's source control state more visually apparent.

There are two main alternatives we're currently considering (but feel free to throw around other ideas). They are "icon tabs" and "multi-row tabs". See below for more details. If you're familiar with Whidbey, you know that currently new tabs always appear on the far left, and the far right one is always dropped to free up room. The dropdown of open files is on the right. I'm considering changing all three aspects. In the new model, new tabs come in on the right, the least recently used tab is dropped to free up space, and the dropdown menu of open files is on the far left. We haven't found a better alternative to appending "*" to indicate dirty state, so that is currently unchanged.

Icon Tabs
Icon tabs involves grouping views on the same document together on a common tab. So, the most common example of this is grouping the design and code views in WinForms and allowing the user to switch between them by clicking the icon on the tab. Notice the source control state is represented as an icon on the left side of the tab. The close button on the right closes the current view, not the whole tab (unless it was the last view on the tab).

EDIT-- One slight variation (let's call it Icon Tabs B), if keeping the look clean and simple is more important than being able to directly access a different view on an inactive tab, is to remove all icons from inactive tabs, regardless of whether or not they are being moused-over:

Multi-row Tabs
An alternative is to use a separate command bar to display the related views (this model would make it easier to support grouping with the related code behind files e.g. .aspx + .aspx.cs/.vb or .xaml + .xaml.cs/.vb). For the code editor, we would try to integrate the navigation bar into the same row (see screenshot below), so there's no net loss of vertical space. The state icon is again on the left of the tab. We've also considered putting the close button on the active tab to make it more accessible, through that would also mean needing to reserve space on each tab so the tab sizes don't jump around all the time.

EDIT-- Due to implementation costs, it may not be feasible for the navigation bar to share space with our row of related views/files. Hypothetically, if we couldn't combine those bars, how does that affect your reaction? Note that we would consider providing a mechanism for you to switch back to Whidbey's tab model and if we did that, some profiles (e.g. C++) could decide to have our model off by default. Here's what that design might look like (let's call it Multi-row Tabs B):

So, what we would love to hear from you about which design you prefer (Icon tabs vs. Multi-row tabs) and why.
Please rate each design on a scale of 1 to 10 (least to greatest) for the following metrics:
a) how well it would suit your needs (where does it come up short?)
b) perceived ease of use
c) aesthetic appeal
It would be helpful to hear what you like and dislike most about each design.

We'd also love feedback on the other issues mentioned above: location of the dropdown list and close button, where new tabs should appear, which tab should get dropped, and how to better represent dirty state.

Thanks a lot!
-Jon

Tab frustrations?

VSIDE — Thu, 25 Aug 2005 05:40:00 GMT

Hi, my name is Jonathan Effrat, and I'm a PM with VS Core IDE currently redesigning the tab model used to switch between all your open files (that row of tabs which sits above the editor, including the little dropdown list and close buttons). I really would like to get feedback from all you Whidbey users out there to see what you think of the current Whidbey file tab model and what frustrations you have with it that we need to address.

It would be great if you could rate how much you agree or disagree with the following statements on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 10 (strongly agree). Any anecdotes would also be helpful.

A. I wish there was an easier way to switch between related files (e.g. .cpp & .h, files you specify as related, etc.).

B. I wish there was an easier way to switch between related views (e.g. code & design, etc.).

C. I wish related files (e.g. .cpp & .h, or files you manually specify as related) were visually grouped together.

D. I wish related views (e.g. code & design) were visually grouped together.

E. "Important" tabs often fall off the row and it's a nuisance to get the tab back.

F. I wish the current document's state (e.g. source control related) was more prominently displayed.

G. It's important that I can see two views of the same file (e.g. code & design) side-by-side.

Please also tell me what language(s) you use most and comment on anything else that bothers you with the current tab system. Thanks a lot!

-Jon

Test...

VSIDE — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 20:15:00 GMT

Gabba Gabba Hey!!

This is only a test.

VSFileExtensions

VSIDE — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 23:57:00 GMT

One of the unfortunate problems that we have in VS is that if you have a side by side install of 2 VS versions and uninstall one of them, we screw up your VS file extension associations.

I am working on a tool that will diagnose and repair the VS file associations.

I currently have the diagnose part working and when I find time (I hope soon) I will add the repair and reset code.

If you are interested I've shared the code here. krassimir

Beer and Apps

VSIDE — Tue, 24 Aug 2004 18:08:00 GMT

About the post title - When I joined MS 3 years ago we used to have a lot of "Beer and Apps (appetizers)" Friday afternoons. Lately I've started trying to develop my pun skills. I admit this was pretty weak, but I had to put it out there :).

Anyways, I wanted to share the list of ideas for Whidbey apps that we've gathered from you and others. We have started working on some of these already and hopefully with a lot of collaboration we can get a good amount of these done.

Here is an article that I posted on this. I am planning to be updating the idea list and the stuff that's in the works regularly.

So please go ahead and start working on some of these; give me more ideas to add to the list; vote for your favorite one...

Thanks,

krassimir

Visual Studio 2005 Import/Export Settings Chat Transcript

VSIDE — Wed, 11 Aug 2004 18:32:00 GMT

Hi All,

We had a chat on MSDN about the new Import/Export Settings last week. You can find the complete transcript at the following URL.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/chats/vstudio/vstudio_080204.asp

If you have any more feedback about this feature, please let us know!!

thanks,
James

Whidbey Beta 1 Express Products are Live!

VSIDE — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 22:35:00 GMT

http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/

I am super excited about this! After months and months of hard work, we finally released this product. Although it is only a beta release, it is a very important milestone and we are hoping to get a lot of customer feedback from this release so we can ship an even better final product!

Please go download these products now and give us your feedback! It doesn't cost you anything!

James

Introduction...

VSIDE — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 23:27:00 GMT

Hello, my name is Jeremy Jones. I'm an SDET on the VS Core IDE team, and I work primary on the Help system. I also own testing of the AutoRecover and WebBrowser features. I'm just posting to introduce myself and make known that feedback/ideas/comments regarding any of the aforementioned features are welcome here.

We will also be creating a blog specific to the Help feature team, so I'll post the link to that when it is available.

Thanks, Jeremy

Keyboard Shortcuts Quick Reference

VSIDE — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 16:58:00 GMT

I am working with marketing and investigating whether it would be valuable to our custoomers if we shipped a keyboard shortcuts quick reference in our retail boxes for Whidbey. What do you guys think?

The idea is that out of the box, you will get a little card that lists all of the useful keyboard shortcuts you can use, to help you be more productive in Visual Studio. A lot of software products already ship this in the box, so I don't know why we are not doing this as well. Knowing the relevant keyboard shortcuts is especially important in the development environment.

Please share your thoughts with us. Thanks!

James

New Window Management Features for Visual Studio 2005

VSIDE — Tue, 22 Jun 2004 05:38:00 GMT

Hello World. I’m Sara and I own testing the Window Management features as James explains below

This is the cool docking, autohide, floating, windows management feature in Visual Studio

If you’re interested in Window Management, check out my blog post New Window Management Features for Visual Studio 2005.

I also have a very short post on VS Settings, as I did some of the original testing for this feature. However, “Dan the Man” owns this feature now.

If you have any questions or concerns with Window Management for Whidbey (I can only give it my best shot for Everett), you know where to find me! =)

App Building (Feature requests anyone? :))

VSIDE — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 22:55:00 GMT

Hi there,

my name is Krassimir. I'm on the CoreIDE team. We are about to do some app building. App building is basically taking some time to write code and test the IDE end to end.

We are usually writing tools that we can later use at work. This year I'd like us to write something that you can use as well. If you have any requests for addon VS funtionality we can provide you with, now is the time. Let us know what's that one feature that you've always wanted to have in VS, but is still not available!

I'm hoping to gather a list of ideas and post them for voting. After that we are going to start the coding.

Thank you all!

krassimir

Genesis of Visual Studio IDE Team Blog

VSIDE — Sun, 20 Jun 2004 04:50:00 GMT

Welcome to the Visual Studio IDE Team Blog!

We are the team who provides you with the Visual Studio environment. What does that mean? It means we build the platform, design the architecture, set standards for the user interface, and implement components that are shared among all the other teams within Visual Studio (and beyond). Cool eh?

My name is James Lau and I am one of the PMs on this team. Some of what we own in this team are:

Overall UI Standards and Consistency - with so many developers working on Visual Studio, it is up to us to make sure we provide you with a consistent and excellent user experience
Windows management - this is the cool docking, autohide, floating, windows management feature in Visual Studio
Menus/Toolbars/Commands Architecture - everyone needs these, right?
Help - dynamic/online/offline, we try to do our best to answer your questions while you develop.
VS Settings - this is a new feature in Whidbey that allows you to import and export environment settings. Client teams also rely on this feature heavily to customize the out of box experience.
Licensing/Registration Models - like it or not, we have to do this :)
Features that we own but I can't think of right now

The purpose of this blog is let you find out more about who we are and what we do. Everybody on our team including developers, testers and PMs are all going to be blogging here, so you can get an inside perspective on what goes on around here. Hopefully, you will also tell us more about yourself, how you use Visual Studio, what you love and what you hate about what we breathe, eat and live everyday. We also want to post any tips-and-tricks type of articles here to make you become more productive with Visual Studio.

For starters, here is a link to our team's bigoraphies if you are interested.

Menu/Toolbar Customization Tip:
Did you know you can customize your toolbars inside Visual Studio by simply holding the ALT key and dragging buttons from one place to another? This method only works well for customizing toolbars, not menus. You will need to use Tools/Customize... and select the Commands tab for that.

Have fun customizing the environment! If you get into a bad state and you want to rever tot he default, just exit Visual Studio, go to Start>Run window and type “devenv /setup”. When you start Visual Studio again, your menus and toolbars will be reset to the default out of box state.

Check back here often to look for blogs from other IDE team members!

take care,
James