April 03, 2004
hide and show
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I've been meaning to talk about this one for awhile: the hide/show navigation widget. A while back I was using a Mac (an usual situation for me, as I believe in solidarity with my end users, including being hung with them, but that's an argument for another day) and I noticed a nice vertical tab to hide/show bookmarks, history, etc. I thought this a very slick bit of interface, and wondered why it's not used on the PC. Some time later, I noticed it on Sitepoint.
What are the problems sitepoint is solving with this widget? Potentially giving users more screen real estate to read articles on. Getting rid of visual noise during the reading period.
What are the losses? Well, the most obvious is that the default is hidden, and it's quite possible the user would not find the toggle at all.
Still, it's intriguing and I can see it begin even more useful to handle tertiary functionality like wishlist management inline with a product, saved/clipped items and mailing tools.