Hi
I am a big fan of Test Pilot and how it gets people thinking about their own browsing experience and gives them the opportunity to try new ideas, so much so that I have an idea of my own for a Test Pilot experiment; Split Screen.
The user clicks on an icon on the toolbar and the screen and the active tab, plus one next to it, are in two halves of the browser window. The user can select one or the other (the selected option being highlighted in some way) and then interact act through toolbars and menus with that tab, but with the other tab still visible.
This is very much like the very good Firefox add-on “Tile Tabs”, but that has many more features and options than people may need - it is a “power user” option. I am thinking of this Test Pilot experiment just being a simple 50/50 screen split.
How is this useful?:
- The student making notes or comparing diagrams,
- The family booking a holiday, and deciding where is best to stay.
- The Mozillian on SUMO needing to see a support forum and a knowledge base at the same time.
These are just three examples where this could be useful. Yes, we have tabs, but with people being more mobile with devices, being able to see more without having to resort to inferior touch pads and travel mice could really improve the user experience.
Fully appreciate that there is probably already a pipeline fill of new ideas, but welcome any thoughts and feedback.