Move to recently used tab

[admin]

Strangely I cannot find a single app on my computer that shows this behavior. Can anybody tell me how I can configure firefox to do it? Ctrl+Tab currently just selects the next tab to the right (resp. cycles tabs forward).

Most editors with tab support work like this too, e.g Visual Studio and Crimson Editor.

The default behaviour in firefox is crap and you'll need e.g the Tab Mix Plus addon to get MRU behaviour.
The setting is found in Tools -> Tab Mix Plus Options -> Events -> Tab features -> "Ctrl-Tab navigates tabs in the most recently used order" but I believe that it is set by default.

And Ctrl+Tab is backward, and Ctrl+Shift+Tab is forward??

[CrouZ]

Strangely I cannot find a single app on my computer that shows this behavior. Can anybody tell me how I can configure firefox to do it? Ctrl+Tab currently just selects the next tab to the right (resp. cycles tabs forward).

Most editors with tab support work like this too, e.g Visual Studio and Crimson Editor.

The default behaviour in firefox is crap and you'll need e.g the Tab Mix Plus addon to get MRU behaviour.
The setting is found in Tools -> Tab Mix Plus Options -> Events -> Tab features -> "Ctrl-Tab navigates tabs in the most recently used order" but I believe that it is set by default.

And Ctrl+Tab is backward, and Ctrl+Shift+Tab is forward??

Exactly.

[Reve_Etrange]

Yes, you usually ctrl+tab (i.e. pressing tab-tab-tab with the ctrl key down) to the nth previous active tab you want, and if you went too far backward, you ctrl+shift+tab while keeping ctrl pressed all the time.
You can download Opera to test the behavior if you want.
Windows follows the same logic with alt+tab, fwiw.

[admin]

Yes, you usually ctrl+tab (i.e. pressing tab-tab-tab with the ctrl key down) to the nth previous active tab you want, and if you went too far backward, you ctrl+shift+tab while keeping ctrl pressed all the time.
You can download Opera to test the behavior if you want.
Windows follows the same logic with alt+tab, fwiw.

And while CTRL is down, the tab's content is not updated, right?

[Reve_Etrange]

Yes, you usually ctrl+tab (i.e. pressing tab-tab-tab with the ctrl key down) to the nth previous active tab you want, and if you went too far backward, you ctrl+shift+tab while keeping ctrl pressed all the time.
You can download Opera to test the behavior if you want.
Windows follows the same logic with alt+tab, fwiw.

And while CTRL is down, the tab's content is not updated, right?

Right, you stay on the current tab; most applications open some kind of pop-up showing where you are in the MRU list, but a visual clue in the tab bar would be enough actually.

[CrouZ]

Yes, you usually ctrl+tab (i.e. pressing tab-tab-tab with the ctrl key down) to the nth previous active tab you want, and if you went too far backward, you ctrl+shift+tab while keeping ctrl pressed all the time.
You can download Opera to test the behavior if you want.
Windows follows the same logic with alt+tab, fwiw.

And while CTRL is down, the tab's content is not updated, right?

It's ok to change the view to the new tab immediately even if Ctrl has not been released. That's how it works in e.g Firefox with Tab mix plus, or in Crimson Editor.

As I see it, the only important things are

- It shall be obvious which tab you will end up in.
- The MRU list isn't updated until you release Ctrl.

[Reve_Etrange]

Yes, it's ok to do so; this is a matter of personal preferences (I prefer looking before leaping )

[Pagat]

@Don: as far as i remember UltraEdit is the editor of your choice -> UE switches tabs in recently used order. At least that's the standard setting in v14.10 (don't know if there's an option to change that).
But unlike most other apps, UE switches in "real-time". So without showing a pop-up to display the position in MRU like Windows Alt+Tab or in Opera.

[TheQwerty]

I've said it before but I repeat, go ahead and do this, but it absolutely must be configurable.
I, and probably others, hate this MRU behavior, and will not appreciate it being forced on me/us.

[serendipity]

I've said it before but I repeat, go ahead and do this, but it absolutely must be configurable.
I, and probably others, hate this MRU behavior, and will not appreciate it being forced on me/us.

Hmm.. May be you missed it sometime back. Go to Config | Tabs, and turn OFF the option "Cycle Tabs in Recently Used Order".
To be frank, after using Opera for so long, its hard to imagine how any tabbed interface can be without MRU feature. Atleast for me it improves work flow.

[admin]

I've said it before but I repeat, go ahead and do this, but it absolutely must be configurable.
I, and probably others, hate this MRU behavior, and will not appreciate it being forced on me/us.

Don't worry. All there is to be done (and has been done over here in the lab) is to add MRU update when releasing the keys so that Ctrl+Tab* / release keys / Ctrl+Tab will jump between the last 2 tabs.

* Or whatever your KS.

This MRU update on key release will be implemented for these functions below, which point to other default KS. So everybody who wants Ctrl+Tab for the desired MRU behavior has to reassign their shortcuts in the next beta version, and that's all !

CKS / Miscellaneous / Tab Functions / Cycle Tabs Backward, Delay Browsing
default KS = Ctrl+PageUp, set it to Ctrl+Tab

CKS / Miscellaneous / Tab Functions / Cycle Tabs Forward, Delay Browsing
default KS = Ctrl+PageDown, set it to Ctrl+Shift+Tab

[TheQwerty]

Hmm.. May be you missed it sometime back. Go to Config | Tabs, and turn OFF the option "Cycle Tabs in Recently Used Order".

Clearly I was not following this conversation closely enough, as I had thought this was about adding that option (which I do have disabled), as opposed to modifying the behavior!

To be frank, after using Opera for so long, its hard to imagine how any tabbed interface can be without MRU feature. Atleast for me it improves work flow.

I fully understand why others like it, but I absolutely hate the fact that it leads to unpredictable behavior. If I'm not in the midst of working - I'm not going (nor do I care) to remember the MRU order of the tabs. Sure it may give me visual clues, but I then have to pay active attention to that and occasionally search for them, instead of just knowing it will always go Left or Right. Pah, that's too much work!

[serendipity]

Just tried the v0006, works great. Thanks Don!

[Reve_Etrange]

Wow, thank you sir!
One very minor detail: would it be able to make the ctrl+tab bounce at the end of the MRU list, as it used to do?
In other words, if I cycle tabs forward while not in the middle of some ctrl+tab-tab-tab sequence, then I jump to some tabs that I assume to be the bottom of the MRU list -- but I never want to go there actually. It would be more convenient to temporary switch to the the cycle tabs backward behavior. Or, if you don't like it, perhaps just no-op when cycling forward past the head of the MRU list.

What do you think?

[admin]

Wow, thank you sir!
One very minor detail: would it be able to make the ctrl+tab bounce at the end of the MRU list, as it used to do?
In other words, if I cycle tabs forward while not in the middle of some ctrl+tab-tab-tab sequence, then I jump to some tabs that I assume to be the bottom of the MRU list -- but I never want to go there actually. It would be more convenient to temporary switch to the the cycle tabs backward behavior. Or, if you don't like it, perhaps just no-op when cycling forward past the head of the MRU list.

What do you think?

This does not appear to be the standard. I think most users will expect it to behave as it does now, right? Also the function is called "Cycle tabs...".