YaST/Style Guide/Dialogs/Tree Widget Dialog

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What is a Tree Widget Dialog?

A tree widget dialog is similar to a dialog with tabs. Tree widget dialogs are used when dialogs with tabs would look too crowded and complicated (e.g. if there would be too many tabs or the headlines of the tabs would be too long for to allow a quick overview).

Use a tree widget to display a hierarchy. For few independent or hierarchically equal parts use dialog with tabs.

Pros and cons of tree widget dialogs

Pros

• Clear structure of content.
• User can see all categories at a glance.
• More items can be displayed than in a dialog with tabs.
• Headlines can be longer without loosing the possibility to read them quickly.
• Tab widget doesn't occupy space in dialogs whence it can be better used for dialogs themselves.
• Tree widget can contain hierarchically sorted items (see example below).

Cons

• Tree widget is difficult to handle when it comes to the opening of preselections, changing selections,...

Properties of a tree widget dialog

• Structure is aligned vertically in a left column.
• Only one tree widget item can be active at a time.
• When the user activates "help" a dialog help overlays the navigation structure.

Example

• Firewall Configuration Overview in the firewall module in YaST.

• Sysconfig editor with structured hierarchy of items.