Re: Translucent Scrollbars

[Michael Torrie <torriem gmail com>]

Lieven van der Heide wrote:
> Well, isn't the whole point of scrollbars to be able to scroll to
> stuff that's otherwise hidden (behind something else)? I don't see why
> it would be a problem to show a piece of the content that would
> otherwise be hidden at all. As long as scrolling to the sides
> completely, makes the content fully exposed at the left/top of the
> scroll bars.

On a portable device there's almost no reason to permanently show
scrollbars at all.  Instead they should show up as they do in the
android screenshot when the user is actually scrolling, say when the
stylus is down, or the finger is down on the screen.  I have to admit,
this is one area where the iPod Touch really does it right.  The scroll
bars are there when you need them, and when you don't you have just your
content.

I've often been struck by how poorly GUI concepts from our large screens
translate to handheld devices.  Windows Mobile has always seemed to me
as being clunky with it's desktop-like scrollbars, dialogs, and menus.