Vertical tabbar and labels

[tedy]

1. It would be very usable if we had the option of a vertical tabbar (or just a simple list of open tabs/folders with the tabbar functionality) somewhere on the left/right of the screen. Opening some more than 10 tabs, even on a 1920 resolution monitor is a pain to manage - the almost chaotic tab labels algorithm say almost nothing especially when there are folders with the same name but in different locations. A vertical tabbar would resolve much of this, on modern widescreen monitors, and one would be seeing more from a tab label and scrolling there would be much more convenient than scrolling (if set) the tiny tabbar). The idea is to have more sight over the open tabs and their locations. I'd even sacrifice the tree view just to have the convenience to see all tabs with their (almost) full labels.

2. If #1 is unachievable, then I think some more attention should be paid to the labels on the tabs. When there are quite some, as I mentioned their labels are almost chaotic (I know there is some algorithm cutting this or that from the name so it will fit with the best info one can show in that small area) and of little use. Some include the drive letter, some not, some include part of the 1st level directory, some are just names of the last level, the particaular tab width of each tab is calculated by some unknown for me pattern etc. This is quite confusing.
What I'm suggesting is a little more customizability at least in the Custom choice. For example I'd like a consistent tab labels with mandatory drive letter and a colon, followed by a space and the end part of the full path to the extent where it could fit in the width of the tab. Ex: "C: ...m Files (x86)\lame", and if there is enough room - the full path as always.

Thanks.

[eil]

Tools > Configuration > Tabs = Tabs Caption - Custom -> make it as you wish
for ex mine is: [ <drive>: ] ..\<folder> =looks like: [ C: ] ..\XYplorer

though i agree- an improvement to have more then only drive letter and current folder would be appreciated.(maybe with some more path depth control)

[tedy]

Precisely.
I guess we wouldn't see vertical tabbar anytime soon (as it might be quite difficult to implement everything we have now in the horizontal tabbar, in a vertical counterpart) but in the Custom... choice we only have <drive> and <folder> variables. Something like <path> with option to show the end part of it would be great, and more consistency over the tabs widths and how they are sized.
For example now I have some very wide tabs with just one level being "dotted" in the middle (the pre-last level) while other tabs are with less levels and shorter fullpaths but are very narrower and even the lonely <folder> is dotted and not fully displayed. I can't see a pattern in that.
Not so much of a big deal since I use it like that for years but should be reviewed in my opinion.

[admin]

The tab width negotiation has grown surprisingly complex over the years and for me it does not leave much to wish at the moment (I use custom template <drive>: <folder>). Sure there's always room for improvement. But other things on my list seem more interesting to me ATM.

[tiago]

Perhaps tedy would benefit out of this?

http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6456

v9.90.0934 - 2011-05-20 09:44
+ Custom Event Actions (CEA): Added another action to the custom
events "right-click on the tree's white space" and "right-click
on the list's white space" (currently only as a tweak).
4 = Popup the Tabs menu
Examples:
CEA_TreeRightClickOnWhite=4
CEA_ListRightClickOnWhite=4

[tedy]

Ok, then what about multiline tabbar?
Quite widespread technique and telling the truth it might turn out to be the best. I use it all the time wherever I can.
In general, tabs become a nightmare to maintain everywhere when you open a reasonably small number of them, especially if the tabbar is not spaning all the way to the left (with the tree shown in our case). Ten tabs and I start to lose myself. Firefox allows (an addon added this I believe) the multiline tabbar and it is a life saver, even though there are favicons and I can maintain successfuly more tabs in one line when they get smaller.

[RalphM]

@tedy: Tabsets might be your friend, check it out.

[tedy]

I know that function.
I just want to have a glance of all my open tabs. 20 tabs or so is not uncommon these days. Even on my 1920 monitor I'm often lost. In my Firefox I love to have 3 rows of 30-35-pixeled tabs instead of one row with scrolling where I don't see most of my open tabs (which leads to duplicates if you forget what you have already open). FF's implementation of tab groups is far from usable.
Thanks anyway .

[CrouZ]

I really love the idea of a vertical tabbar. Is it something worth hoping for?

[binocular222]

I vote No to vertical tab.
I have too many tabs open, thus tilting my head to read vertical tab captions is painful

[avsfan]

I vote No to vertical tab.
I have too many tabs open, thus tilting my head to read vertical tab captions is painful

Perhaps the tabs could be a fixed width, and oriented horizontally so they're easier to read -- then the tab bar is a fixed width, with the tabs stacked one on top of the other... Could be really nice, especially for widescreen users...

[Borut]

Perhaps the tabs could be a fixed width, and oriented horizontally so they're easier to read -- then the tab bar is a fixed width, with the tabs stacked one on top of the other... Could be really nice, especially for widescreen users...

+1. Yes, a simple list of tabs (containing filename, path in each row Edit: Äh? What I should have written here: containing some last part of the current location first and then the rest of it in each row (assuming that the width could be defined by the user, which Don does not like/want) - at least that would suit me most), optionally shown to the left of the file list (i.e. for instance between the tree and pane(s)), showing the tabs of the active pane. I do not think that many doublepaners would use it, but for the singlepaners like me it would be useful.

Example: It is shown in the similar way in the SynWrite editor.

But, I guess that much more interesting and important ToDos are in the foreground now (a Japanese GUI for instance, not to speak of ZIP support).

[TheQwerty]

Some existing features of XY that might be useful, but probably not fully satisfying, to those wanting a vertical tab bar.

1)
View > Mini Tree
View > Mini Tree > Minimize Tree
Configuration > Tree and List > Tree > Auto-optimize tree.

Mini Tree with the auto-optimization enabled should do a pretty decent job of keeping your tree relevant, but as you browse around it will start to include paths that you don't currently have open in tabs. Doing a Minimize Tree will prune it back to just your tabs.

Unfortunately, the INI tweak TabReuseTabs does not work when changing locations through the tree so clicking on a folder will change the active tab. Appealing to Don for a 2nd value to more radically recycle tabs might change that.

NOTE: Setting the INI tweak AutoOptimizeTreeRadical to 1 will actually make the optimization worse for you if you want the tree to show all of your tabs.

2) Go > Tablist... will show a nice menu of the tabs in the current pane, and should display the full path for tabs that you have not renamed.

3) In the Catalog... Right Click > Insert as New Category Here > Tabs will add the paths from the current pane to the catalog.

4) There is the Tab() scripting command which would allow you to generate your own menu or dialog with lots of information about all of your tabs. Unfortunately, it only works with the active pane so the script will be limited to that unless you have it also focus the inactive pane.


I fully understand these don't fulfill your wish entirely but depending on your use cases they may be good enough.
HTH!