Proposed Ribbon Layout

[Bruce Schubert]

Proposal for a new Ribbon Layout

Proposed is a "Task Centric" ribbon bar layout compliant with Windows guidelines as well as the Terramenta "compact" ribbon. Examples are from the Emxsys Terramenta fork. Proposal allows for 3rd party modules to add commands to common tabs (e.g., tools, window, view)

Terramenta Compact Style

All tabs contain a link to the help button.

Home Tab

Used for domain specific and common commands

Insert Tab

Used for annotations, markers, etc.

Animate Tab

Used to control animation

View Tab

Used to control windows and views

Contextual Tabs

Available when nodes are selected, e.g., note the yellow Layer tab is available when a layer is selected in Layer Manager.

Rich Tool Tips

Available for all top components and actions

Office 2013 Style

Group band names suppressed when only one button in group, note the Web Browser button:

Help Button

Help displayed when F1 pressed or help button clicked. Help documents available for each module (text is yet to be written).

[Chris Heidt]

I think It is an big improvement and like the concept of having focus drive the presentation of additional tabs.The only concerns I have with the proposed setup is the lack on content on the default 'Home' tab and the use of the word 'Show' on a band name.

@rennemannt do you have any thoughts on the matter?

[Bruce Schubert]

File Tab

Fully populated file tab with access to Options, Plugins and Update Center.

[Bruce Schubert]

Regarding the sparseness of the Home Tab, here are a few ideas:

• Leave it empty in the Terramenta baseline application, making it exclusively available for 3rd party plugins and domain specific applications, e.g. Wildfire Management Tool.
• Flesh it out with more commands, for example in WMT, I have navigation commands (pan, tilt, zoom) on the ribbon as an alternative to the control widget.
• Leave roughly as is, a few common commands provided by Terramenta with room for domain specific commands provided by plugins.

Here's another idea:

• I can alias the Menu/Tools folder to the Home Tab. Plugins that customarily add menu items to Tools would populate the tab.

Regarding the "Show" group name, I'm following the Windows Office conventions. Do you have an alternative? If so, I don't think it will be a problem, as I think I can override the default Terramenta name in the WMT application (if we disagree).

[Bruce Schubert]

Options

We should create a Ribbon Options feature where the Compact (Terramenta Default) or Full (Office2013) ribbon style can be selected. The setting could be read by the RibbonPreferencesProvider to instantiate the desired style.

[Chris Heidt]

I was just discussing that very option. After looking at everything more I feel this is all quite good and we should move forward with it.

Also, the ribbon by default does a collapse mode when a tab is double clicked. I'd like to also provide a toggle btn next to the help btn that does this action. We can make it a separate enhancement issue, or include it as part of this proposal issue.

[Bruce Schubert]

Home Tab Commands

Here's an example of the legacy WMT home tab. In it, there are a number of commands I would integrate into our new layout:

• Create: Screenshots, Scenes
• Find: Places, Goto Coordinates
• Manage: Restore Scene
• Maps: Basemaps, Overlays

The Edit group would be superseded by the new contextual node specific tabs (e.g., Layer, Marker, Annotation). I'm not sure if I'd keep my navigation groups (pan, zoom). They originally provided a consistent navigation interface for various map providers (WorldWind and VisAD). In my new simplified/specialized WMT app, I think WorldWind will be the only viewer, and its Control widget should sufficient for my users.

[Bruce Schubert]

I concur with the Ribbon collapse/expand button. It should be a separate issue.

Should I push my code into the default branch, or into a develop or feature branch where you can test it first?

[Chris Heidt]

go ahead and push to default, i can always backout/shelve the changeset if need be.

[Bruce Schubert]

See: c27b90e

[Travis Rennemann]

All sounds great--fantastic job on the ribbon Bruce.

Regarding "Show", there's really not a better word to describe the various command options that appear in that group--I like it.