[texworks] Tabs in the future?

[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 4 August 2010 Arno Trautmann wrote:

 > TeXWorld wrote:
 > > Le 03/08/2010 17:38, Christopher Desjardins a Žcrit :
 > >> I think that tabs might be a nice feature as well. However, the
 > >> thing that I like about TeXworks more than other LaTeX editors
 > >> is that it is lightweight. It runs fast, loads fast, and the
 > >> previewer is fast. I prefer speed and the lightweight nature
 > >> over additional features, if there's a tie, especially since
 > >> they are so many other LaTeX editors with tons of features
 > >> including tabs.
 > > 
 > > I don't think that tabs will automatically make TeXworks heavier
 > > to run.
 > 
 > If you are running linux, you can use a window manager that does
 > tabbing for you, e.g. fluxbox. That way you can tab every
 > application (also different applications, whatever you want) into
 > one window, therefore no need to force tabs in an application :) I
 > donÕt know wether something similar exists for Windows/Mac.

I don't think that TW should depend on a particular window manager.
Nobody will use a particular window manager only because it provides
tabs while others provide a lot of other features.

I'm not convinced that providing tabs is a good idea at all.  Suppose
that there are two files, "file1.tex" and "file2.tex".  Then you get
tabs like

  |file1.tex|file2.tex|

But when there are many files, you get tabs like

  |f...|f...|f...|f...|f...|f...|f...|f...|f...|f...|f...|f...|

Isn't Windows' task bar deterrent enough?

Since we write horizontically, it's better to arrange filenames
vertically

   |file1.tex|
   |file2.tex|
   |file3.tex|

and there is no need to cripple them.  A pop-up menu would be much
better than tabs.  Especially because tabs waste space on screen.

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha			              Phone: +49-511-3373112
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