[Usability] Switching between tabs with Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab and "recency list"

Hello there,

I'd like to discuss/suggest a well known and handy feature I miss in GNOME.


So, is there any reason why Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab aren't/shouldn't be used to switch forward/backward between tabs in e.g. gnome-terminal, gedit, other tabbed applications?

Ctrl+Tab (resp. +Shift+Tab) is in my opinion a good, convenient standard and should be in GNOME by default.


Anyway, tabbed applications should (in my opinion) use an internal "recency list" when switching between tabs.


It would work in the same way one can switch between windows with alt-tab in metacity (now in the latest versions, e.g. 2.13.89).

Another good example of the switching between tabs (using Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab) is Opera web browser. (But e.g. Firefox has no "recency list" and Ctrl+Tab simply select next tab (with looping), Ctrl+Shift+Tab previous tab).





I know there are already shortcuts for switching tabs, but:

1) They aren't standardized (Ctrl-Alt-PageUp in gedit, Ctrl-Pageup in gnome-terminal for example)

2) Ctrl-Alt-PageUp/Down isn't much convenient (three keys instead of two, can't be accomplished easily by one hand)

3) Switching in gedit/gnome-terminal doesn't loop

4) No "internal recency list".





The "internal recency list" I'm talking about works like that:

* A program maintains an internal (linked) list of tabs, the active tab is the first on such list.


Switching then works in this way:

* Press and hold Ctrl, press Tab (keep holding Ctrl) = start switching, select (or switch directly to) second tab (in the list) and remain in switching mode

* Still holding Ctrl, press Tab = select (or switch directly to) next tab; in the case we are the end of the list, wrap around to the initial tab

* by repeated pressing of Tab (while still holding Ctrl) select the tab one wants to switch to

* Release Ctrl = done switching, do the actual switch to selected window, move this window to the top of the list, the initial window becomes the second.

* To cancel switching, return to initial state = (while still holding Ctrl) press ESC

(and Shift-Ctrl-Tab would go from the oldest tab=end of the list to the more recent ones)




Example:

four tabs are open - tab1, tab2, tab3, win4.

Recency list in the beginning is:

win2(active, most recent) -> win4 -> win3 -> win1


User switches - using the sequence "press and hold Ctrl, press Tab, release Tab, press Tab, release Tab, release Ctrl" - from win2 to win3

The list after this switch is:

win3 (active) -> win2 -> win4 -> win1


Then the user do the sequence "press and hold Ctrl, press Tab, release Tab, release Ctrl" - and with this switches form win3 to win2

The list then looks like this:

win2 (active) -> win3 -> win4 -> win1






Newly opened tab would of course become the first on the list.






With regards,
Adam Purkrt
_______________________________________________
Usability mailing list
Usability@xxxxxxxxx
http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability

Relevant Pages

  • Re: User Interface stops working
    ... window is open it takes more time to switch to this window. ... This application is CPU intensive. ... you might want to start with posting your dialog switching code. ... I have added a tab control in the main dialog box. ...
    (microsoft.public.vc.mfc)
  • Re: IE8 Modality
    ... why you need to prevent the user from switching to another tab? ... However, in Vista with UAC = on, this method doesn't work because I think there's cross-process security restrictions in place that doesn't allow this to happen. ...
    (microsoft.public.inetsdk.programming.webbrowser_ctl)
  • Accelerators (key bindings) and tabs
    ... TabControl, Notebook, call it what you may). ... We use our own page switching widget but ttk::notebook has the same ... While viewing the second tab press Alt-H - ... Now you can't bind to the notebook .nb, because the event will only be ...
    (comp.lang.tcl)
  • Re: Eureka?
    ... > I think I might have solved the problem with delays when switching ... > tabs in the editor. ... It seems that turning off all three options in ... Now I can switch from tab to tab as ...
    (borland.public.delphi.non-technical)
  • Re: Tab spaces in Tables
    ... To insert a tab character in a table, you have to hold down the Ctrl ... key while you press the Tab key. ... >press tab, it just moves to the next cell. ...
    (microsoft.public.word.tables)