I need your help for tabbed browsing!

[Lefteous]

Ctrl+W is a good way to close a tab!

What exactly should happen when the user presses Ctrl+T? There are several possibilities:
1. A new tab is created with the same path as the current, but the current tab remains active
2. As 1, but the new tab becomes active
3. A new tab is created with the same path as the current, the tab is activated and the cursor is put in the address field.

I think a new tab (Ctrl+T) should be opened as active window as a copy of the current tab like Internet Explorer's Ctrl+N (same adress).

In Opera its possible to open a new tab in background or as new active window:
1. A new empty window is always active.
2. The link under the cursor can be opened in a new window (activates the new window)
3. The link under the cursor can be opened in a new background window (activates the new window)

I will remove Ctrl+Alt+Tab to create a new tab

Maybe this shortcut could be used to create to a new tab (same as mentioned above) but in background.

[Lion]

ghisler(Author)
My HOs:
1. Shift+Enter for dirs seems OK. What about Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right, similar to Ctrl+Left/Right for opening an object in another panel?
2. For Ctrl+T it's difficult to choose between (1) and (2). Both may be useful. But (2) seems better for most users. And (3) looks too exotic for a file manager indeed

[AlleyKat]

As long as you don't forget to put the multi-rename on, I can see no problem with all mentioned changes.

I can also fully respect the use of all those shortcuts, but I'd like to point out: It could be getting harder to use the command-line. T.ex. I often copy down the filename with path like "c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts", then copy parts or all of it to other windows. Will the commandline selection of text (using Ctrl+Shift+Left/right) be hampered?
In conjunction to that, I have the problem of having to reach for my mouse if Alt+Tabbing away from TC and back, if I need part of what I've written in the commandline. Are there any room for a shortcut 'Focus to Commandline'?

Thx - it's a darn great filemanager you make!

[havanna]

Reassigning ctrl+T would be okay, I could learn.

For ctrl+T I would be in favour of christian's 2: New Tab becomes active

The shift+Enter behaviour would be nice for me.

I'm really looking forward to 6!

[WatchUer]

I'm wondering what the tabs look like? Normal as the Web Browser, or some style special?

[Lucas_C]

First of all: Hurray! I think tabs will be a great feature.

About the keys, I have a bit a different approach than most others here. Basically, it wouldn't matter to me what the shortcut keys are, because I fall more in the category 'Mouser' The only shortcut keys I regularly use are F7, the various things involving F5 and Ctrl-N. (All of those are operations that are typically followed by other keystrokes, e.g. type the name of the new directory...).

Which brings of course the following issue, what are the plans for the mouse interface of tabs?

- Will we be able to reorder tabs by dragging them with the mouse (as for instance supported in the editor of Visual Studio 2003, but not in Mozilla (1.3))

- Will we be able to drag a tab from the left pane to the right pane (assuming there are multiple tabs in the left pane)? To solve the issue of 'emptying' a pane by dragging the last tab away, one solution might be to only allow tabs that are not the 'current' tab to be dragged to the other pane.

- In mozilla I very extensively use the option of 'middle-clicking' a link to open a new tab (and I have the 'load new tabs in background' flag set). It nicely loads a web page in the background in a new tab, acting as a kind of 'sidenote', "I should still check out this link, but I first want to read the page I found it in". Will there a similar metaphor in TC? For instance, middle-clicking a directory opens that directory in a new tab?

[deus-ex]

Ok, let's summarize again, what we have so far:

Ctrl+T open a new tab and become active
Ctrl+Cursor up open a dir in a new tab
Shft+Enter open a dir in a new tab
Ctrl+Tab switch to next tab
Ctrl+Shft+Tab switch to previous tab
Ctrl+W close current tab
Ctrl+M open Multi-rename tool

And here are my suggestions:
Ctrl+Shft+T open a new tab in background
Ctrl+Shft+W close all tabs

Hmmm, what will version 7.0 invent...? Voicecontrol?

[soreno]

Should I use Shift+Enter too to open a dir in a separate tab?

Sounds like a nice solution.


What exactly should happen when the user presses Ctrl+T?

#2

[jb]

Now some more questions:
Should I use Shift+Enter too to open a dir in a separate tab? This could only work for dirs, because it already has a special meaning for archives (open in associated packer).

What exactly should happen when the user presses Ctrl+T? There are several possibilities:
1. A new tab is created with the same path as the current, but the current tab remains active
2. As 1, but the new tab becomes active
3. A new tab is created with the same path as the current, the tab is activated and the cursor is put in the address field.

(3) is happening in Mozilla on Ctrl+T, but Web browsers are different from file managers: users more often type new web addresses by hand than directories.

I assume that the most typical use case is as follows: The user would like to create a new tab with a new path and to preserve the current path. So he/she will create the new tab first and then navigate to the new path using the new tab.

Conclusions:
Shift+Enter is not necessary. It could save only one navigation step, but it would make the general procedure more complicated (irregular).
Regarding your second question I vote for possibility 2 because it supports the typical use case best.

[pdavit]

Slightly irrelevant to assigning the best shortcuts but since you mentioned Opera why not implement tab management with mouse movements like Opera does. It is extremely practical and fast. For example, pressing the right mouse button and dragging the mouse down and right can be assigned to opening a new tab. There is a huge user base that uses Opera just for this cleaver management of tabs with mouse gestures.

I don’t currently have Opera installed on my machine but if someone does, can you please post here the list with the mouse gestures that can be found in the Help section for the aid of Christian?

[Lefteous]

Slightly irrelevant to assigning the best shortcuts but since you mentioned Opera why not implement tab management with mouse movements like Opera does. It is extremely practical and fast. For example, pressing the right mouse button and dragging the mouse down and right can be assigned to opening a new tab. There is a huge user base that uses Opera just for this cleaver management of tabs with mouse gestures.

I don’t currently have Opera installed on my machine but if someone is, can you please post here the list with the mouse gestures that can be found in the Help section for the aid of Christian?

http://www.opera.com/features/mouse/

[CADweazle]

2ghisler(Author)

Great to see the master at work

Should I use Shift+Enter too to open a dir in a separate tab? This could only work for dirs, because it already has a special meaning for archives (open in associated packer).

Imo CTRL-Shift-Up would be better to do this action!
And why not inverting the opening with CTRL-Shift-down to close a tab?

Let me have one more addition:
CTRL-Shift-right(or left) to create a tab in the destination(target)-window (when the cusor is over an directory with this path opened, else with the same path as current)

Combined with your question we´d have by this a balanced navigation by CTRL-Shift and left/right/up/down; AND one can remember this too

The other discussed shortcuts seem well thought to me: and everybody should be able to change them for his comfort and desire!

What exactly should happen when the user presses Ctrl+T? There are several possibilities:

I´d prefer 2. and the cursor should be placed on the same file as in the "mother-window".[/quote]

[JP]

What exactly should happen when the user presses Ctrl+T? There are several possibilities:
1. A new tab is created with the same path as the current, but the current tab remains active
2. As 1, but the new tab becomes active
3. A new tab is created with the same path as the current, the tab is activated and the cursor is put in the address field.

You could let the user chose that customizing the Tab behaviours. The plugins Tab Extensions for Mozilla and Firebird do that. The user chose many options concerning the Tab behaviour. It's a solutions that let many possibilities open.

[VadiMGP]

I don't care about shortcuts - everything is good enough.

But i would like two features:
1. Two different behavior models. I'll call it fixed and reflective tabs. When we switch to fixed tab it's content is directory where this tab was created, while reflective will show last visited directory.
2. Ability to rename tab. It is extremely important if the next TC version remains non-unicode.

PS. And, of course, option for tab location: below/abowe the file list.

[Jonas]

I think the Mozilla-style is the best default. I'm using opera with Ctrl-N but this should stay new ftp-connection. Therefor I'm voting for the change Ctrl-M fir the mulitrenametool and AtlGr(Ctrl-Atl)-M for the ftp-transfermode. Ctrl-sh**-T for the new Tab in Background is good!
Crtl-R to reread the source is also good (I've F2 for opening a DOS-Box with the currend-dir, like in Krusader)
The "nice list", shown in opera with Ctrl-tab like Lefteous said is also nessesary, especialy if the Tab-bar isn's visible (configuration->option->layout ?). something like http://www.jonas-baehr.de/forum/tabt-TC-1.png

For the mouse-users: (holding Shift to perform the action in the background)
doubleclick on an empty place in the tab-bar (or on an spectial Icon) -> new activ Tab from currend dir.
Drag a dir to an empty place (or the "new"-icon) the Tab-Bar -> new Tab with the dir.
Drag a dir on an existing tab -> changing the location
dragging tabs from the left to the right window, like Lucas_C said would also be nice!

btw, in the german board was also a big disscution about this: http://www.ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=963