GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 66648
"sidebar" is not a "bar", so it needs a new name
Last modified: 2004-12-22 21:47:04 UTC
(Entered on behalf of the Sun documentation team) The term "sidebar" is not a suitable term for this component. It does not fit in with other uses of the term "bar" in the UI. Also, there may be problems with the term "side" if you could move this component in the future. Suggest using "navigation pane" instead. Occurrences: View>Hide Sidebar Preferences Dialog>Windows+Desktop>Display sidebar in new windows Preferences Dialog>Sidebar panels Preferences Dialog>Sidebar panels>Display [Help|History|Notes|Tree|News] tab in Sidebar
I'm not convinced yet. Since this bug is marked "Usability", is there a user having trouble finding the sidebar given the name or finding the name given the user interface element? Is there any evidence that they'd have an easier time if it was called the navigation panel? Are we certain this wouldn't make things worse? It's true that this is a "pane", not a "bar", in the specific sense that is used in the terms "menu bar", "toolbar" and other jargon. But one of the strengths of the word "sidebar" is the way it brings the word "sidecar" to mind. Another strength is the fact that it makes it easy to tell it apart from the other elements. It's main characteristic is that it's over on the left side, so a name that includes the word "side" helps. "Navigation Pane" seems like a fairly weak name that would be quite easy to confuse it with the "Location Bar". But it's true that most of the sidebar panels are aids to navigation. Is there a proposal for new terminology to replace "sidebar panel" too?
I forgot the main reason the sidebar is a good name! When sidebar panels aren't open (most of the time) the sidebar is an area to the side that contains additional information about what's displayed in the window. Information, not navigational aids. This is very close the standard meaning of sidebar in publishing, where you have a short news story presenting sidelights of the main story, usually displayed in a tall box to one side of the main story.
I prefer sidebar, but here are some other ideas: side panel side pane
These comments from Eugene O'Connor (eugene.oconnor@sun.com): I think we should use pane rather than panel to avoid confusion with panel UI components (GNOME Panel, Menu Panel, floating panel, and so on). When we recommended "navigation" rather than "side" our reasoning was as follows: * We wanted to give the pane a name that reflected its function, rather than its geographic location. * We thought that enough of the functionality of the pane was related to navigation to justify naming it so. In particular we saw the Tree tab and History tab as related to navigation. The Help tab helps you navigate through the help system, and the information that is present when no tabs are open could help you navigate through your file system. Even though we thought it was the best term, we did feel that our logic was a little tenuous. Our logic is a little more tenuous now given the recent debate around Help browsers, and now that there is a News tab in the pane. So I think side pane would be a good choice of name. If Darin agrees, I will ensure that the Word List in the Style Guide is updated accordingly.
Adding 'doc' keyword at Eugene's request.
Eugene O'Connor notes: "Alex is happy with side pane changes: http://mail.gnome.org/archives/nautilus-list/2002-April/msg00052.html"
This was changed during the ui review right????
Yes, just double-checked with Dave and these changes have been made to the UI.
marking fixed...