Pinned Tabs: Now and Future
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The v8.7.2 Release Topic looked like it might start getting overwhelmed with general discussion about the the new Pinned Tabs feature. To prevent that, this new topic is created for discussion about that specific item.
I will copy over @mkupper’s “conversation starter” to here, and will be moving any new “Pinned Tabs” discussion that tries to continue in that Topic to here.
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My first thought on enabling the feature was surprise that it added a blank area to every tab. It seems better to have added “Pin this tab” as a right click menu option. Only the pinned tabs would be a little bit wider and would show the pin.
Later would be an option to define how the pins are displayed. Some people may not want pins in the tab bar and instead are happy with just a right click “Unpin this tab” option. We already support color coded tabs and so people can use that along with invisible pins. Others may like big throbbing pins…
I was surprised the editor silently allowed me to close a pinned tab. I was also surprised the editor silently closed pinned tabs when I used the
Close multiple tabsoption. -
Most of the items in your posting are already on my list to create issues for.
The one thing that isn’t on my list is the display of the pin icon on a file’s tab. I think that the visual component is rather core to the feature, and it is probably something that users might just have to live with (i.e., tabs being a little wider). I don’t know that the Notepad++ author will entertain making the feature infinite in its variety (e.g. color coded, invisible pin icon, “big throbbing pins”).
Of course, you’re free to put in any kind of issue that you feel is important, in regards to the pinned tab feature.
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@mkupper said in Pinned Tabs: Now and Future:
I was surprised the editor silently allowed me to close a pinned tab. I was also surprised the editor silently closed pinned tabs when I used the Close multiple tabs option.
I don’t find this problematic. Just because a tab is pinned, does not make it immune to the other system wide behavior. As I discovered, it’s only meant to keep the pinned tab in a location so it can’t move. Closing it, and using a Close all menu option, should not make it immune from those system wide options for managing documents in the editor. It’s one of those behaviors that if you know about it, you should take special care to maintain it for your use. Others won’t be as inclined to your use case and have no need for it, so although the option/feature is there, it’s up to the user to maintain it’s state, not the system’s.
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IMO pinned tabs should have special status (regarding, e.g., the closing behavior mentioned by @mkupper, and possibly some other behaviors as well).
Otherwise, the pinned tab feature isn’t needed at all!
Think about it, in 8.7.1 and earlier, here’s a good way for a user to (mock) pin a tab:
- manually move (click and drag) the tab all the way to the left (potentially joining other previously mock-pinned tabs there)
- (optionally) change the mock-pinned tab’s color (right-click tab, Apply Color to Tab > …) to match the user-chosen color for the other mock-pinned tabs
- regarding “meant to keep the tab in a location so it can’t move”, the user should just take care to NOT move a mock-pinned tab :-)
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@Alan-Kilborn said in Pinned Tabs: Now and Future:
The one thing that isn’t on my list is the display of the pin icon on a file’s tab. I think that the visual component is rather core to the feature, and it is probably something that users might just have to live with (i.e., tabs being a little wider)
I pin tabs quite rarely, but then keep those tabs pinned and open for a very long time.
I would personally prefer only right-click menu to pin, rather than a pin icon on every tab forever that I would use only once in a blue moon. It feels too cluttered for my use case.My expectation was that pinned tab needed to be un-pinned to be closed. But perhaps that could be optional behavior?
I also prefer the width of the pinned tabs to be shrunk to a minimum to leave more space for labels for non-pinned tabs. I “know” what my handful of pinned tabs are as they are usually quite fixed.
