TAB MANAGEMENT IN A USER INTERFACE WINDOW

• US 20090327947A1
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ens, Michael J., Drislane, Helen E., Schreiner, Tony E., Epling, Jeremiah S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,631,340 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/777
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0483 Interaction with page-structured environments, e.g. book metaphor

Abstract

Techniques to facilitate finding a tab or tabs in a user interface window are described. Various embodiments present tabs, individual tabs being associated with an opened document such as a web page or an activity, in a user interface window and automatically group at least some of the tabs together in a visually distinctive way. In at least some embodiments, this grouping is performed in response to a user interacting with the tabs in a particular way. For instance, a user may cause a tab to be created or moved within the user interface window such that the tab is grouped with a tab group or ungrouped from a tab group. Furthermore, one or more embodiments provide for certain tab-related actions, such as selecting an active tab and changing a display of a title of a tab, which can be performed in a manner based at least in part on this grouping.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising

presenting, in a browser user interface window, a plurality of tabs individual ones of which being associated with web pages or activities that have been opened;

and

automatically grouping multiple tabs together in a visually-distinctive way, wherein said automatically grouping is performed responsive to a user'"'"'s interaction with tabs that are to be grouped.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically grouping is performed by grouping tabs using a visually distinctive color.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically grouping is performed by grouping tabs using a visually distinctive pattern.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically grouping is performed by grouping tabs using a visually distinctive color and pattern.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically grouping is performed by grouping one or more tabs adjacent to at least one other tab belonging to a group of tabs.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said user'"'"'s interaction comprises creating a new tab by opening a web page or activity from within a tabbed web page or respective activity associated with a parent tab.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising one or both of:

ungrouping a tab responsive to the user moving a tab to be ungrouped outside of a tab group; and

changing a display of a title of a tab based at least in part on a grouping.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting an active tab responsive to a grouped tab closing, wherein a tab left of a closed tab is selected when the closed tab is a rightmost tab in a tab group and a tab right of a closed tab is selected when the closed tab is not a rightmost tab in a tab group.

9. One or more computer-readable storage media embodying computer-readable instructions which, when executed, implement a method comprising:

presenting multiple tabs in a user interface window, at least some tabs having an associated document or activity;

associating one or more of the multiple tabs together in a tab group; and

visually distinguishing grouped tabs, wherein visually distinguishing comprises;

depicting individual tabs of the tab group in a location indicative of the tab group; and

depicting individual tabs of the tab group with one or more visual indicia indicative of the tab group, wherein tabs of the tab group share common visual indicia.

10. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein associating is performed responsive to a new document or activity being opened from a document or respective activity associated with one of the multiple tabs.

11. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein associating is performed responsive to one of the multiple tabs being moved to within the tab group.

12. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the one or more visual indicia comprise one or both of a color or pattern.

13. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 9, further comprising truncating a portion of a tab'"'"'s displayed title based on one or more criteria.

14. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 13, wherein the one or more criteria comprise at least one of:

whether a tab is an active tab in the user interface window;

whether a tab belongs to tab group;

or

whether a tab'"'"'s title contains a pattern that indicates a portion of the title is displayed on another tab in the tab group.

15. One or more computer-readable storage media embodying computer-readable instructions which, when executed, provide:

a web browser comprising a user interface window configured to present a plurality of tabs, each tab being associated with a corresponding opened web page; and

a tab management module associated with the web browser and configured to automatically group two or more of the plurality of tabs together in a visually-distinctive way responsive to one or more of the following;

opening a tab in the user interface window by opening a web page from within an opened web page;

or

moving one or more of the plurality of tabs within the user interface window.

16. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the tab management module automatically groups tabs by depicting two or more tabs with a common color.

17. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the tab management module automatically groups tabs by depicting two or more tabs with a common pattern.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the tab management module comprises part of the web browser.

19. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the tab management module is further configured to automatically select an active tab responsive to a grouped tab being closed, wherein a tab left of a closed tab is selected when the closed tab is a rightmost tab in a tab group and a tab right of a closed tab is selected when the closed tab is not a rightmost tab in a tab group.

20. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 15, wherein the tab management module is further configured to change a display of a title of a tab based at least in part on one or both of:

whether a tab is an active tab in the user interface window;

whether a tab is grouped with one or more other tabs;

or

whether all or part of the title is redundant with respect to a title of one or more other tabs.