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I have a reporting engine, which (currently) gets configured over XML.

I have seen some of this preview stuff in editors I know, you write some code on an edit tab and the changes get populated when you switch to the preview tab.

This looks rather intuitive to me, since I know it from many tools.

The other idea was to show the preview in a new window, so I could simply refresh it, when the user presses save (or ctrl+s) which could lead to a faster workflow.

Do you have some suggestions about this?

mockup

download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups

mockup

download bmml source

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So your mockup contains both versions, either the preview/edit button or the preview in new window + separate edit button? – kontur Feb 1 at 11:35
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I split the mock-ups, now every version has it's own – K.. Feb 1 at 12:15
Ah, okay. Good thing, it is much clearer now. – kontur Feb 1 at 12:16

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote accepted

The better solution will be to show both views at the same pane so your user will not need to switch between windows or tabs.

You may also add ability to Pop up the preview or close it, and let users resize it so it will occupy as much space as needed:

preview

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