[Sigia-l] Tabs (was Google Search Results UI Has Changed?)

[H Taylor]

If I understand correctly, this idea of "lenses" is more-or-less what
Nielsen has been claiming that tabs *should* be used for -- different views
on the same data.

"Tabs are supposed to be used for rapid switching between alternative views
of the same information object." <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/991114.html>

I see the potential to create a useful distinction between tabs and normal
site navigation, but could never quite grasp what he envisioned, nor whence
came this idea that "tabs are *supposed* to be" used a certain way (my
emphasis). According to whom, and for what reason? Based on some sort of
physical-world metaphor or a convention from another context? The closest
metaphor I can think of is hanging files, but that would translate more
closely to a type of local navigation, I'd think.

Or am I missing something that everyone else has grasped?

-Hal

Christina wrote:

> "Google's tabs make me crazy. I know they shouldn't, but they do. Tabs
> have proliferated across the web as a navigation device. From Amazon to
> PCWorld, they behave as the files in our file cabinet would. They classify
> and contain different stuff.
> 
> However, on Google, they act as lenses. Let me explain what I mean by
> "lenses." Once you have done a search, you can see the information
> differently by applying a tab/lens to it. "See images", "see groups", "see
> directory listings". If you click the tabs from the front page, it seems
> like they are behaving like proper tabs and take you to a whole new place
> where you can search a theorectically exclusive collection of stuff. But
> if you search first, it appears they more like night goggles, telescopes
> and microscopes-- lenses that let you see very different things, yet,
> still the same matter.