Multi-pane layout tabs confusion?

Question

I'm curious what people think about android < 3.0 tabs in the action bar, specifically for tablets.

In the picture I uploaded, the tabs are on the left side, but I want them to be associated with the right pane. The left pane would be a list of results, and once you select an item the right pane will fill with info about that result, separated into relevant tabs. So until a user selects a result the tabs won't exist.

So my question is, do people find this really illogical and confusing for the user, and if so, what would you suggest as a better UI?

Just for some more background, the right tab will have a list of vendors and their prices for the specific item condition (info, new, used).

Answer 1

I think your approach is fine but it may be clearer if you made it so the tabs were more visually associated with the right section. You could:

• Line up the left hand side of the first tab with the left hand side of the right section.
• you could colour the active tab in the same blue as you used for the right section
• You could consider having the tabs inside the actual blue block

Answer 2

Have a look at the app GNotes, it's for the mobile phone, but might be useful.