[astark]

If I could change one aspect of Omniweb, it would be to have the tab thumbnails appear in a column within the window rather than a drawer. It is my only real pet peeve with the program, but it keeps it from being my default browser.

[Jon Hicks]

There's been a LOT of discussion about this, but I'm with you - the physical appearance of the drawer is huge turn off for me on what would be my default browser. I'm hoping that OW 6.0 uses a sidebar instead, but I have a feeling we'll be waiting a long time for that. We're coming up to 4 years since the first public beta of Omniweb 5, and I've been hoping for interface improvements ever since.

(cue a member of Omnigroup to tell me that I'm wrong, and that 6.0 is just around the corner!...)

[Schlaefer]

I like the flexibility of the drawer and don't think a sidebar is a functional improvement.

[Jon Hicks]

Originally Posted by Schlaefer

I like the flexibility of the drawer and don't think a sidebar is a functional improvement.

What's to say that a sidebar can't have the same functionality? I see a sidebar as being a visual, rather than functional improvement.

[Forrest]

Originally Posted by Jon Hicks

What's to say that a sidebar can't have the same functionality? I see a sidebar as being a visual, rather than functional improvement.

As long as the functionality stays same, I'm fine with it.

All the examples people provide as what they would like it to work like, I don't like. Mail.app for example - it doesn't go away. I don't want it there if it contains nothing. Or iTunes, it's persistent there too.

[ata]

Originally Posted by Forrest

All the examples people provide as what they would like it to work like, I don't like. Mail.app for example - it doesn't go away.

Command-shift-M

Sidebars can be hidden just as easily as drawers. I like the idea of switching to a sidebar; consistency with the rest of OS X (now that it actually is starting to look somewhat consistent as a whole) would be a good thing.

[Forrest]

Originally Posted by ata

Command-shift-M

Sidebars can be hidden just as easily as drawers. I like the idea of switching to a sidebar; consistency with the rest of OS X (now that it actually is starting to look somewhat consistent as a whole) would be a good thing.

Ah, didn't know that. Still, all that does is widen the message viewer area. It doesn't remove the area the sidebar is.

[Schlaefer]

Originally Posted by ata

Command-shift-M

Sidebars can be hidden just as easily as drawers. I like the idea of switching to a sidebar; consistency with the rest of OS X (now that it actually is starting to look somewhat consistent as a whole) would be a good thing.

Sorry, but this isn't so easy. As of Tiger Mail is the only app I know of (please correct me if I'm wrong) where this is really an option. In Leopard you can completly hide the thumbnails in Preview, but sorry, no shortcut. There are other apps, like the Finder with its a non sidebar (aka spatial) mode or iTunes, where you can open "sub"windows with no sidebar, but this isn't really the same. The majority of apps does not allow to hide the sidebar.

And while we speak of consistency: why is the sidebar in Preview on the right side? And can we choose left/right if OmniWeb should ever switch to a sidebar (as we can now with drawers)? And if not, does this qualify as visual improvement but a functional step backwards? ;)

[Handycam]

Originally Posted by Jon Hicks

I see a sidebar as being a visual, rather than functional improvement.

I'm with you. I hate drawers.

[Handycam]

The functionality and the look of the Stand sidebar would be fine, as long as it had the same functionality as the current OW drawer.

Which it apparently does. Plus it has a long-requested feature -- double-click an empty space to make a new tab.