Multiple Rows of File Tabs

[ScottW, VP of Dev]

Through some other topics, it's clear that many users want to have multiple rows of file tabs. I want to use this topic to pin down the requirements for this capability.

Currently, SlickEdit provides only a single row. When the number of tabs exceeds the horizontal space available where the tool window is docked, we provide arrows to scroll through the tabs. Users can also scroll through tabs using next-buff-tab and prev-buff-tab.

How many rows? It seems like users should be able to configure a limit to the number of rows so that the toolbar doesn't consume too much space.

How do we scroll?   Once the limit is exceeded, do we scroll horizontally or vertically? Should we use scroll bars isntead of arrow buttons?

How do we order the tabs?  Currently we can only order them alphabetically. I've had requests to order them in most-recently-used order as well. Are there other alternatives we should consider?

Vertical tabs? Do we need to provide the capability to list the tabs vertically instead of horizontally?

What else? What else do we need to consider here?

I can't make any promises about when this will be delivered, but your input will help us be sure it meets your needs when we get there.

--Scott

[dfrobison]

I like the way VS2005 does it. A single of row of tabs which represent the most recently used and then a little button off to the side that lists all of the open file in alpha order. I find scrolling tabs very annoying and lots of tabs confusing.

[garion911]

My preference for ordering is "buffer list order".. (I guess that the the order that I opened them..)

In brief mode, I use Alt-N to go to the next buffer.. Its a pain to have to watch the tabs to know what file I'm on.. I much prefer to glace at the tabs, glance at how far away I am from the one I want, go start hitting Alt-N.. Or just focus on the one I want, starting hitting AltN, and when I get close, I can count how many more keystrokes I need, and move on.. Right now, I have to stay focused on the one I want, never really knowing how "far away" I am..

<treadjack>
How to I get rid of the "File Tabs" title bar? It was gone, then it appeared on me one day, and I haven't been able to get rid of it.. (OSX, v11.0.2)
</threadjack>

Other than the order, it doesn't bother me if there's multiple lines, or or which way to scroll..

[apnakon]

Hi Scott,

Apart from any arbitrary ordering scheme, I'd just like to be able to drag a tab anywhere I'd like it to be.
This was possible in Codewright and it was a great feature.

Cheers,

Adrian.

[Phil Barila]

Since you are asking, I'd like it to behave like Firefox.  That's been the most useful tabbed interface I've come across.  I'm not saying it's the best there will ever be, but it's a really good starting point.  I like it because I can make it do what I want it to do.  If I want to reorder the tabs, I can.
In FF, I've only done that by dragging and dropping.  If you were to add some additional sorting capability (last mod, size, extension, path, etc...) that would be very cool indeed.
If I want to make it shrink the tabs to match the text, I can.  If I want to make the tabs uniformly sized, I can.  I can tell it how many rows to use, and what the minimum width of the tabs is before it wraps to a new line.  I can select different tabs by scrolling with the wheel.  I can make whatever keystroke or mouse gesture I want close a tab, duplicate a tab, open a new one, open a blank one.  I don't use every single feature I've named, but I think that's a good target to shoot for.  Of course, I don't know how much pain that is for your team, so that may be a lofty goal indeed.   
I really appreciate that SlickEdit shows me the fully qualified filename when I hover over the tab.  Please don't lose that as you are working out whatever changes you are going to make.

[ScottW, VP of Dev]

By the way, what products have you seen multiple tab rows in? We checked VS2005 and Eclipse, and they only offer a single tab row. I do like their options for ordering tabs. Eclipse has a neat feature tht displays a drop down list with a field that allows you to filter by.

Just curious so we can see how others are doing this.

--Scott

[Wanderer]

SlickEdit's file tabs are an interesting hybrid.  In VisStudio, you can select "Tabbed Documents" or "Multiple Documents" -- essentially, SDI or MDI.  In SlickEdit, it is always MDI, but with tabs, too.

I suspect the people that want multiple rows of tabs don't have scores of buffers open at once; the rows of tabs wouldn't leave any room for the buffer windows....

While I don't do much editing in VisStudio, I do like the interface.  When you select 'Tabbed Documents", you can create several "Tab Groups", giving you a sort of MDI-with-tabs.  One of the best features of an MDI is being able to look at two regions of the same file in different windows; VisStudio's splitters let you do that.  (Windows->Split Horizontally| Vertically in SlickEdit)

As for scrolling tabs, I'd prefer a scroll bar to the arrows, but that's more screen real estate.  (A scroll bar gives you some indication of how far from the end of the row of tabs you are, while the arrows don't.)  I like VisStudio's solution: a button that drops down the list of tabs not currently visible.

So, I'd like to see something very much like VisStudio 2005.  If multiple rows of tabs are what gets implemented, I'd like the number of rows to be user-configurable; when there are more buffers than can fit on the available tabs, I'd like a button to list the rest of the buffers, and avoid scrolling altogether.

[Ding Zhaojie]

By the way, what products have you seen multiple tab rows in? We checked VS2005 and Eclipse, and they only offer a single tab row. I do like their options for ordering tabs. Eclipse has a neat feature tht displays a drop down list with a field that allows you to filter by.

Just curious so we can see how others are doing this.

--Scott

I think you might get some idea from tabbed web browsers , they did very well on tabbed documents.
Firefox + Tab Mix Plus Extension provides a variety of tab features including multiple tab rows and tab row scrolling. Here are some settings dialog.

[mgweeks]

Well, I don't know how feasible this is for a cross platform program like slickedit but...

In some Microsoft WPF demos and on a Mac toolbar (or whatever it's called), there is the ability to expand the item that the mouse is hovering over while deemphasizing the rest of the items. I got to thinking that that would be a real useable interface for an editor or browser tab control. It would allow you to have all of your tabs on screen at once and remove the need for scrolling the tabs (which I find real inconvenient). All you would need to do is just drag the mouse across the tabs until the one you want expands and then click the mouse.

Just a thought.

[buggyfunbunny]

the only changes I'd make from current implementation:  order by MRU left to right (the Defs tab is already alpha, twice isn't needed), and flash the edge color when mousing from below the tab (doesn't now, for some reason)  .

[Mr68360]

By the way, what products have you seen multiple tab rows in? We checked VS2005 and Eclipse, and they only offer a single tab row. I do like their options for ordering tabs. Eclipse has a neat feature tht displays a drop down list with a field that allows you to filter by.

Just curious so we can see how others are doing this.

--Scott

Scott--MultiEdit shows its file tabs in multi-line fashion.  I'm a newly-previous user of ME, and that's a nice feature I miss.  The SE single line causes too much left/right navigation to find the desired tab.

--Chuck

[Steve Black]

I don't have a strong opinion on any of the possibilities you mentioned, but I do have a couple of related ideas.

Mainly, I don't really get the idea of having a dockable file tabs toolbar.  It doesn't seem to have any purpose beyond the direct context of the editor "pane", and doesn't dock in a useful manner anywhere other than at the bottom of that pane.  I would rather see file tabs as an integral part of the editor pane and configurable as Off, Top, or Bottom.  (Left or Right too, if anyone finds that useful.)  Off would imply a standard MDI interface, while other options would result in the tabbed SDI style.

I would also very much like a close button on the active tab, and maybe even a file-type icon a la Eclipse, just for aesthetics.

Finally, as has been mentioned, draggability seems a lot more important than sortability.

Thanks for asking, BTW.  I was intending to make this request and was happy to find a ready-made place for it.

[jimlangrunner]

My $0.02. - While I like the way it works now, the ability to drag-n-drop tabs (like Firefox) would be about the coolest feature I could ask for.  I second the "too many tabs can be bad" opinion.  I'd like to be able to pull the important ones (maybe the last few I've worked on) readily to hand, with the others available.  A button to pop a list of buffers would be good.

Tabs down the left side (or right?) of the window would work, too.  I have my Windows taskbar on the left, with open windows listed vertically, so it's natural to me.

Thanks.
Jim Lang

[garion911]

Slightly offtopic:

Is there an option to have the next-buffer command go in "file tab" order? Instead of the order that the files were opened?

If not, is that an option you guys can add in the future?

[Ryan]

Slightly offtopic:

Is there an option to have the next-buffer command go in "file tab" order? Instead of the order that the files were opened?

If not, is that an option you guys can add in the future?

I think you are looking for next-buff-tab and prev-buff-tab.

- Ryan