Terminology Q: Clicking on a tab displays a ?

["Chris Knight" <cknight -at- attcanada -dot- ca>]

> I'm seeking a piece of terminology. Say I have
> a dialog box that has a series of tabs. When I click
> on a tab, what do I call the new "piece" of screen
> displayed that was previously hidden? It's not
> a new dialog box, but I can't call it "tab" since that
> suggests only the, er, "sticking-up" bit with the label
> on.
>

This is an interesting one. Someone may well have posted a
"standards compliant" term by the time I post this (I use the digest).
I couldn't find one in my sources.

Many people do use "tab" to mean both the REAL tab and the rest of
the ....  well it's an index card, isn't it? Contining the metaphor, you
could call them "cards". "view" is also common.

Since tabbed views are situated within something else (a dialog box,
or window), I look for a term that is meaningful within the context.
If this was the "Test Tools" window, Id refer to them as "tools" (or "tests"
if that was more appropriate to the tabs). Then I could refer to the
"DS0" tool, meaning the tabbed view labeled "DS0". etc. etc.

If you want a more generic term, call them "panes", since they are
sub-windows, bounded areas, the contents of which are usually dialog boxes.

"pane" is probably the safest. But I'd go the semantic route.


Chris

-----------------------------------------------
Christopher Knight, Technical Communicator
E-mail: cknight -at- attcanada -dot- ca
Phone: (604) 877-0074