Combinable tabs for a tabbed document interface
View Patent ↗A method and system for combining tabs of a tabbed document interface (“TDI”) is provided. A combinable TDI system allows tabs of a TDI to be combined to form a single tab of the TDI. To combine tabs, the combinable TDI system generates a combined tab name from the tab names of the tabs to be combined and combined tab content from the content of the tabs to be combined. If the width of the content is greater than what can be currently displayed in the window, the combinable TDI system may add a scroll bar to the TDI so that the user can scroll and make visible portions of the content that were previously not visible. The combinable TDI system then displays the combined tab and removes the tabs that have been combined. The combinable TDI system may also allow a user to split a combined tab into separate tabs.
1. A method in a computing system for combining tabs of a tabbed document interface portion of a display page, the method comprising:
providing a tab definition store that defines, for each tab of the tabbed document interface portion, a tab definition that defines one or more sub-tabs of the tab, each sub-tab having a tab name and tab content, the tab content of a sub-tab of a tab being derived from a web page that is augmented with alignment information indicating how to align that tab content with the tab content of another sub-tab of that tab;
generating the tabbed document interface portion by, for each tab definition, generating a tab name for that tabbed document interface portion that is derived from the tab names of the sub-tabs of the tab and a tab window of the tabbed document interface portion that combines the tab content of the sub-tabs in accordance with the alignment information of the tab definition;
displaying the tabbed document interface portion having the generated tab name and tab window;
when a user indicates to split a combined tab,
updating the tab definition store to indicate that the sub-tabs of the combined tab have been split; and
regenerating and redisplaying the tabbed document interface portion to display the split tabs; and
when a user indicates to combine tabs,
updating the tab definition store to indicate that the tabs have been combined as sub-tabs of a combined tab; and
regenerating and redisplaying the tabbed document interface portion to display the combined tabs.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein a user indicates to combine tabs by dragging and dropping an indication of a first tab over a second tab wherein the first tab and the second tab are combined.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the tab contents are combined by arranging the tab contents horizontally.
4. The method of claim 3 including adding a scroll bar to a tabbed document interface portion for scrolling tab contents horizontally.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein when a tab has multiple sub-tabs, the tab contents of the sub-tabs are arranged as rows and columns within the tabbed document interface portion.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the user indicates to split a combined tab by selecting an indication of the combined tab and indicating to split the selected combined tab.
7. A computer-readable storage device encoded with computer-executable instructions for controlling a computing system to combine tabs of a tabbed document interface portion of a display page, by a method comprising:
providing a tab definition store that defines, for each tab of the tabbed document interface portion, a tab definition that defines one or more sub-tabs of the tab, each sub-tab having a tab name and tab content, the tab content of a sub-tab of a tab being derived from a web page that is augmented with alignment information indicating how to align that tab content with the tab content of another sub-tab of that tab;
generating the tabbed document interface portion by, for each tab definition, generating a tab name for that tabbed document interface portion that is derived from the tab names of the sub-tabs of the tab and a tab window of the tabbed document interface portion that combines the tab content of the sub-tabs in accordance with the alignment information of the tab definition;
displaying the tabbed document interface portion having the generated tab name and tab window;
when a user indicates to split a combined tab,
updating the tab definition store to indicate that the sub-tabs of the combined tab have been split; and
regenerating and redisplaying the tabbed document interface portion to display the split tabs; and
when a user indicates to combine tabs,
updating the tab definition store to indicate that the tabs have been combined as sub-tabs of a combined tab; and
regenerating and redisplaying the tabbed document interface portion to display the combined tabs.
8. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein a user indicates to combine tabs by dragging and dropping an indication of a first tab over a second tab wherein the first tab and the second tab are combined.
9. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein the tab contents are combined by arranging the tab contents horizontally.
10. The computer-readable storage device of claim 9 including adding a scroll bar to a tabbed document interface portion for scrolling tab contents horizontally.
11. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein when a tab has multiple sub-tabs, the tab contents of the sub-tabs are arranged as rows and columns within the tabbed document interface portion.
12. The computer-readable storage device of claim 7 wherein the user indicates to split a combined tab by selecting an indication of the combined tab and indicating to split the selected combined tab.
13. A computing system for combining tabs of a tabbed document interface portion of a display page, comprising:
a tab definition store that defines, for each tab of the tabbed document interface portion, a tab definition that defines one or more sub-tabs of the tab, each sub-tab having a tab name and tab content, the tab content of a sub-tab of a tab being derived from a web page that is augmented with alignment information indicating how to align that tab content with the tab content of another sub-tab of that tab;
a memory storing computer-executable instructions of:
a component that generates the tabbed document interface portion by, for each tab definition, generating a tab name for that tabbed document interface portion that is derived from the tab names of the sub-tabs of the tab and a tab window of the tabbed document interface portion that combines the tab content of the sub-tabs in accordance with the alignment information of the tab definition;
a component that displays the tabbed document interface portion having the generated tab name and tab window;
a component that, when a user indicates to split a combined tab,
updates the tab definition store to indicate that the sub-tabs of the combined tab have been split; and
regenerates and redisplays the tabbed document interface portion to display the split tabs; and
a component that, when a user indicates to combine tabs,
updates the tab definition store to indicate that the tabs have been combined as sub-tabs of a combined tab; and
regenerates and redisplays the tabbed document interface portion to display the combined tabs; and
a processor that executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory.
14. The computing system of claim 13 wherein a user indicates to combine tabs by dragging and dropping an indication of a first tab over a second tab wherein the first tab and the second tab are combined.
15. The computing system of claim 13 wherein the tab contents are combined by arranging the tab contents horizontally.
16. The computing system of claim 15 including a component that adds a scroll bar to a tabbed document interface portion for scrolling tab contents horizontally.
17. The computing system of claim 13 wherein when a tab has multiple sub-tabs, the tab contents of the sub-tabs are arranged as rows and columns within the tabbed document interface portion.
18. The computing system of claim 13 wherein the user indicates to split a combined tab by selecting an indication of the combined tab and indicating to split the selected combined tab.