Tabs
Tabs are used to organize content by grouping similar information on the same page.
When to use
- Two to six views of the same subject, where only one is needed at a time.
- Content that belongs together and would make the page long if it were all shown.
- Views a reader will move between, rather than read in order.
When not to use
- Content that should be read in sequence. Tabs invite skipping, so steps get missed.
- Content a reader needs to compare. Tabs make comparison impossible.
- Navigation between pages. Those are links, and they should have addresses.
- One tab, or more than about six. One is not a choice and seven do not fit.
Guidance
Do
Everything said in this conversation.
Who touched it and when.
Attachments shared here.
Label each tab with the content behind it, in one or two words, and keep the labels parallel.
Don't
First do this.
Then do this.
Do not put a sequence in tabs. Nothing stops a reader starting at step two, and the labels have become instructions.
Content
What to write, and what to leave out.
- One or two words per tab. Messages, not All the messages.
- Nouns, and parallel ones. If one is a noun they all should be.
- Do not number tabs. Numbering implies an order that tabs do not enforce.