type="topic"

      id="view-switchers">

  <info>

    <link type="guide" xref="patterns#secondary"/>

    <desc>Toggle buttons that change the view, like tabs</desc>

    <credit type="author">

      <name>Allan Day</name>

      <email>aday@gnome.org</email>

    </credit>

    <include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>

  </info>

<title>View switchers</title>

<media type="image" mime="image/svg" src="figures/patterns/view-switcher.svg"/>

A view switcher is a control that allows switching between a number of predefined views. It appears as a set of toggle buttons that are placed in the center of a header bar.

<section id="when-to-use">

<title>When to use</title>

There are two primary cases when a view switcher is appropriate:

<list>

<item>
When presenting content, and it is useful to be able to view different sets or sub-sets of content. For example, a music application could show different views for artists, albums and playlists.
</item>

<item>
If your application provides discrete groups of functionality which are typically used independently.
</item>

</list>

As a rule of thumb, a view switcher should contain between three and five views. If you have more views, a <link xref="sidebar-lists">sidebar list</link> might be a more appropriate view switching control.

</section>

<section id="additional-guidelines">

<title>Additional guidelines</title>

<list>

<item>
Each view should have a short and clear title.
</item>

<item>
Buttons in the view switcher widget can indicate when there is activity in a view.
</item>

</list>

</section>

<section id="api-reference">

<title>API reference</title>

<list>

<item>
<link href="https://developer.gnome.org/gtk3/stable/GtkStack.html">GtkStack</link>
</item>

<item>
<link href="https://developer.gnome.org/gtk3/stable/GtkStackSwitcher.html">GtkStackSwitcher</link>
</item>

</list>

</section>

</page>