The sailfish silica needs a tab component. Currently silica supports only list and menu based navigation but many apps require a flat navigation hierarchy. The lack of official silica tab component has caused many developers to resort on their own implementations of tab components, which often don't work well with other silica components.
Pros
- User always knows where they are
- User immediately knows where they can navigate
- Possible to notify the user about new updates on each tab
- Faster navigation between views (1 tap/swipe as opposed to 2)
- Complements the gesture based UI
- Flattens the navigation hierarchy into a more accessible format
Cons
- Takes some space on the page
When to use it?
- When you have 3-5 pages with a lot of information to display
Tabs could use the same familiar little light ball as with the page navigation for showing the current tab.
The light ball would move over the next tab icon when changing tabs and give a hint for the user about the transition.
Tapping an item could navigate to a new page as usual. The transition would give the user a cue that they're moving away from the tabs view.
Tabs should only be used when there are no other pages on the page stack. Tabs should not be used when swipe between tabs would conflict with other gestures such as navigate backwards/forwards.
**EDIT:** Here is some evidence about the effect on engagement when tab bar is used: [link text](https://teamtreehouse.com/community/ux-experts-push-back-against-hamburger-menus-suggest-tabs). Pulley menu, or a navigation page are similar to hamburger menus in that they are not visible to the user. Also, many app developers seeking to port applications to the platform might face this issue of a lacking essential component.
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