Sidebar (computing)
Encyclopedia
The sidebar is a term that is used for a GUI element
that displays various forms of information to the side of an application or desktop user interface.
s, one is able to install applets (known by various trademarked terms as "widgets", "desklets", and "gadgets") which can reside within or outside the sidebar. Notable examples include:
web browser, OpenOffice.org
, SoftMaker Presentations
and Windows Explorer
, one is able to view various features (that are allowed by the developer(s) of the application) within the sidebar of the application.
.
-based desktop applications, drawers, which draw out of the application window rather than expand from the inside like most application sidebars, are used. Drawers were very common in early versions of Mac OS X. Mail, which used drawers for listing mailboxes, lost them in 10.4 ("Tiger") and saw them replaced by a traditional sidebar. A number of other Apple-created applications and third-party applications have replaced drawers with a sidebar, or re-designed the interface to make a sidebar/drawer unnecessary. Formerly drawer-heavy apps, like iCal and Adium, now contain no drawers at all, and instead display an optional sidebar within the main window.
Examples of apps with drawers include:
Elements of graphical user interfaces
Graphical user interfaces, also known as GUIs, offer a consistent visual language to represent information stored in computers. This makes it easier for people with little computer skills to work with and use computer software....
that displays various forms of information to the side of an application or desktop user interface.
Widgets in sidebars
In a number of Widget engineWidget engine
In computer software, a widget engine is a software service available to users for running and displaying applets on a graphical user interface, such as that of the desktop.The widget model in widget engines is attractive because of ease of development...
s, one is able to install applets (known by various trademarked terms as "widgets", "desklets", and "gadgets") which can reside within or outside the sidebar. Notable examples include:
- Windows Sidebar, made by MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
available on Windows VistaWindows VistaWindows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
only - Sidebar, included in Google DesktopGoogle DesktopGoogle Desktop is desktop search software made by Google for Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. The program allows text searches of a user's e-mails, computer files, music, photos, chats, Web pages viewed, and other "Google Gadgets"....
- KlipfolioKlipFolioKlipfolio Inc., is a Canadian Software company founded in 2001 and headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. The company was originally known as Serence Inc., reserving the Klipfolio name for its software dashboard product...
- Desktop Sidebar
- Thoosje Vista Sidebar
Application window sidebars
In specific desktop applications, such as the OperaOpera (web browser)
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,...
web browser, OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...
, SoftMaker Presentations
SoftMaker Presentations
SoftMaker Presentations is a presentation program developed by SoftMaker and compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint. It is part of the SoftMaker Office productivity suite...
and Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer
This article is about the Windows file system browser. For the similarly named web browser, see Internet ExplorerWindows Explorer is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface...
, one is able to view various features (that are allowed by the developer(s) of the application) within the sidebar of the application.
Other terms and variations
Sidebars can also be positioned to the bottom of an application window, such as in Adobe PhotoshopAdobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
.
Mac OS X
In a number of predominately-Mac OS XMac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
-based desktop applications, drawers, which draw out of the application window rather than expand from the inside like most application sidebars, are used. Drawers were very common in early versions of Mac OS X. Mail, which used drawers for listing mailboxes, lost them in 10.4 ("Tiger") and saw them replaced by a traditional sidebar. A number of other Apple-created applications and third-party applications have replaced drawers with a sidebar, or re-designed the interface to make a sidebar/drawer unnecessary. Formerly drawer-heavy apps, like iCal and Adium, now contain no drawers at all, and instead display an optional sidebar within the main window.
Examples of apps with drawers include:
- ShiiraShiiraShiira is an open source web browser for the Mac OS X operating system. According to its website, the goal of Shiira was "to create a browser that is better and more useful than Safari". Shiira uses WebKit for rendering and scripting.Shiira Project was led by Makoto Kinoshita. The latest release...
- iLifeILifeiLife is a suite of software applications developed by Apple for organizing, editing, and publishing photos, movies, and music. The suite comprises five applications: iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, and iWeb, all of which run on the Mac OS X operating system....
suite - Transmit (an FTP application)
- HandBrakeHandBrakeHandBrake is a general-purpose, open-source, cross-platform, multithreaded video transcoder software application. HandBrake was originally developed by titer in 2003 as a general-purpose video transcoder to make ripping a film from a DVD to a data storage device easier...