Better way to distinguish panes when in single pane mode

[j_c_hallgren]

Most of the time, I tend to use XY with just single pane but do use dual-pane to provide a full width set of alternate tabs...and have the DP icon on TB which does show "1" or "2"...but I've been thinking: It would be nice to have something much more obvious to remind me which pane set that I'm currently using...now not looking for anything wild & crazy but spotting that lil 1/2 with my eyes isn't that great...

Ok, so you say that I can see which set I'm using by the tabs themselves or hovering on them...but often, I've changed to other folders so the reason that I care is that before I use the "Home" TB icon, I have to double check which tab-set/pane is active so I can get where I want...

So here's maybe a too simple possible solution...since I use the yellow stripe on tabs, maybe have an alternate color for the 2nd pane?
I'm sure that Don or others may have some better ideas...

Actually, if there was a way to have a copy of the TB 1/2 show at the extreme right side of the tabs, that would also make it easier to spot/see....or...maybe make the 1/2 digit in the TB icon use the XY yellow stripe color? Whatever, as is, it's not that easy for me to spot.

[admin]

Why not put a named locked leftmost tab to each tabbar, and call it "Pane 1" and "Pane 2", or "Sun" and "Moon", whatever grabs your attention...

[j_c_hallgren]

Why not put a named locked leftmost tab to each tabbar, and call it "Pane 1" and "Pane 2", or "Sun" and "Moon", whatever grabs your attention...

Yea, that would be possible, except that given I'm on a 1024x768, I don't have huge amts of room and thus tend to keep to a max of 3-4 tabs so that they have enough room to show titles...and do not use flex-width tabs so that they are always consistent in size...

A main reason I use the dual single-pane mode so that I can have 6-8 tabs open yet not have them 'scrunched up'.

Also, my current leftmost tab is a locked "Search results" tab..
So I was looking for something very simple to help making it more visible without affecting layout...maybe even making just the "2" digit into XY orange would be enough.

[TheQwerty]

It would be nice to have something much more obvious to remind me which pane set that I'm currently using...

Not that I disagree with you, but why? I think it's important to understand why this information is important in the first place. How do we use this knowledge?

I've changed to other folders so the reason that I care is that before I use the "Home" TB icon, I have to double check which tab-set/pane is active so I can get where I want...

Which says to me that the problem is in knowing where a tab's Home is rather than what pane is active.

I'm struggling to think of why else we might need to know the current pane? Though I too thought it was important at one time since I keep that button visible and put it in my TitleBarTemplate tweak:

Code: Select all

; Tweak: e.g. <path> - <app> @ <ini> - <ver>. <app> is obligatory!
TitlebarTemplate="<app> <ver>  [ <get pane>: <path> ]"

I think the info bars or title bars or whatever Don's calling them that would be within each pane should make this more clear, because presumably they'd either have the number of the pane or be different colors. Or are those decidedly not happening?

[admin]

I think the info bars or title bars or whatever Don's calling them that would be within each pane should make this more clear, because presumably they'd either have the number of the pane or be different colors. Or are those decidedly not happening?

Not decidedly but almost everybody seems to be happy without them, so...

[j_c_hallgren]

I've changed to other folders so the reason that I care is that before I use the "Home" TB icon, I have to double check which tab-set/pane is active so I can get where I want...

Which says to me that the problem is in knowing where a tab's Home is rather than what pane is active.

I do have the pane # in the titlebar but that's not as close to the tab headers so it's kinda out of my view/focus on the list...

I have my two most used folders defined as "Home" on pane 1 and two others on pane 2 as "home'...so my situation is: ok, where am I and will using the Home TB get me where I want or do I need to swap panes first? That's what I keep running into...and by concentrating on list area visually, that info isn't readily seen.

And keeping those folders as locked tabs uses up too much screen real estate on this small system so that approach isn't realy viable.

And yes, when I do hover on the Home icon, it shows me where it'll go but that requires a bit of delay for the tip to show quite often...if that delay were less, it would help...i don't know why the delay is much longer at times than others, but it seems to vary greatly and isn't instantaneous like tips for other icons are.

[TheQwerty]

Don, is it at all possible to write text over the right hand side of the tab bar if there are no tabs there?
That seems like such a waste of space sometimes...

[admin]

Don, is it at all possible to write text over the right hand side of the tab bar if there are no tabs there?
That seems like such a waste of space sometimes...

Sure, but I would not implement this (without a good reason).

[TheQwerty]

Sure, but I would not implement this (without a good reason).

My thought was only that you could add a label "Pane #" (or truncated '#') whenever there is room.

I wasn't ambitiously thinking about turning it into the info bar.

[admin]

Sure, but I would not implement this (without a good reason).

My thought was only that you could add a label "Pane #" (or truncated '#') whenever there is room.

I wasn't ambitiously thinking about turning it into the info bar.

Well, thank you for your thoughts.

[j_c_hallgren]

What I decided to try for now: I just moved my "Toggle pane" TB icon down to almost the end of TB (between "Cmd prompt" and my one CTB) where it's not as quick to access as in middle of screen but may be seen a bit better as the Toggle icon tended to blend into the other panel related icons a bit too much...

I'll see if that helps...it may some....thanks for your time!