Idea #4495: Consistant tab-support and usage

This idea is a duplicate of idea #4232: Make tab switching consistent.

Written by Ralf.Nieuwenhuijsen the 13 Mar 08 at 15:16. Category: Look and Feel.
Related to: Nothing/Others. Status: New

Description

Tabs are used for two different purposes:

- maintaining open documents
- selecting different configuration panels
- selected different interfaces/views

The problem with this is that:

- its confusing
- the keys are always different
- it conflicts with purpose of the taskbar and virtual desktop

Solution:
- document tabs should be supported for all document-oriented applications
- document oriented applications should only use a tab-bar when maximized
- configuration related tab-bars should be vertical to distinguish themselves

Why do I want them to only use a tab-bar when maximized? Because the only reason you wouldn't want all documents centralized into one application-window with a tab bar, is because you want to setup a manual workspace.

Affected programs:
- gnome-terminal
- firefox
- epiphany
- gedit
- openoffice
- nautilus

Tags: (none)

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Comments

DJ_Peng wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 16:55

Firefox needs "document" (page) tabs at all times unless only one tab is open, and that setting is user configurable. But to not have document tabs while the window's not maximized? It would completely destroy the purpose of tabbed browsing.

Plus Firefox and OOo are cross-platform apps. Making a change for Linux could cause problems for other OSes, such as the Linux theme problems they had when they recently made a change for Windows third-party themers.

I have to -1 this. It may sound great on paper, but getting all the apps to play along, especially the multi-OS ones, may not be as easy as you think.

Ralf.Nieuwenhuijsen wrote on the 13 Mar 08 at 17:05

I didn't think it would be easy.

But firefox is already being customized for Ubuntu. A change like this would be placed in the same ubuntu-extension installed by default.

gijsterbeek wrote on the 18 Mar 08 at 20:27

I disagree with you on this. I use AmaroK (yes, on Kubuntu) and this already uses tabs in two dimensions. This clutters the display very much. I'm convinced that putting as much widgets as possible accross only one screen edge, will create the least intrusive user experience. This way it's easier to focus on the content only and forget about the buttons and menus at the top of the screen. Try it for yourself: Use AmaroK for a while.

What I would like even more, is some nice transparent overlay that would only be there when needed, context-aware and dark (and thus less distracting), like this:

http://bp1.blogger.com/_wmx3OgdATU0/Ru0CWfvRJEI/AAAAAAAAAEk/z_ic7k9wWNI/s1600-h /gimp-transparent-fullscreen.png

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