opening a new window....not a tab

On 21 Apr 2008, Ben C <spamspam (AT) spam (DOT) eggs> wrote:

On 2008-04-21, Neredbojias <me@http> wrote:
On 20 Apr 2008, richard <i.do.not (AT) ca (DOT) re> wrote:

Well, I guess if one uses tabs, the back button goes to the previous
tab...? Other than that, the only difference (vs. new windows) I
see is where the "buttons" are - top or bottom.

A new tab just replaces a new window. The back button is active
within that tab only. It does not jump between tabs.

So a tab is basically an additional in-browser new window.

Correct, and really tabs should be built into the OS desktop window
manager, not into the browser, so you can use them for all sorts of
applications not just browsers.

Yes, I believe that would make a lot more sense. The taskbar-new window
system isn't great, which is probably why tabs evolved in the 1st place.

I think newer versions of KDE may
already do this.

The truth revealed by tabs is that most desktop window managers aren't
very good at managing windows. They clutter your desktop with usually
no easy way of sorting them or moving between them. More than 3 or 4
windows soon becomes annoying so many people prefer another 30 or so
tabs tucked away in each one of them.

Maybe Microsoft can put their think-tank unit on it and... Well, no...

Resizing and moving windows, which is what desktop window managers are
good at and some of which is what tabs take away from you, is not
something you actually want to do very often in practice. You mostly
want a couple of windows visible at any one time but to rotate the
contents of each one around from a much larger selection. A couple of
terminal windows with screen(1) running in each one is pretty good. It
would be nice to have a graphical version of screen.

You seem to have a handle on this. I'm just a simple end-user who wants
something that works without having to "think about" it or futz with it
unnecessarily. Is that too much to ask?

--
Neredbojias
http://www.neredbojias.com/
Great sights and sounds

On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:23:21 -0500, Ben C writ:

Correct, and really tabs should be built into the OS desktop window
manager, not into the browser, so you can use them for all sorts of
applications not just browsers. I think newer versions of KDE may already
do this.

You mean like:

http://tinyurl.com/4u3ytt

That's mine. I never thought of my desktop pager as "tabs", but I guess the
idea is similar. Interesting. :-)

--
"Because all you of Earth are idiots!"
¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·-> freemont© <-·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯

On 2008-04-21, freemont <freemont (AT) spammenotfreemontsoffice (DOT) com> wrote:

On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:23:21 -0500, Ben C writ:

Correct, and really tabs should be built into the OS desktop window
manager, not into the browser, so you can use them for all sorts of
applications not just browsers. I think newer versions of KDE may already
do this.

You mean like:

http://tinyurl.com/4u3ytt

That's mine. I never thought of my desktop pager as "tabs", but I guess the
idea is similar. Interesting. :-)

Ah you mean multiple desktops. Those are useful too but I was thinking
more of the tabs you can open in programs like Konsole or the Gnome
terminal.

The idea is you could make all programs that can open multiple windows
optionally open multiple tabs instead at a stroke.

In article <slrng0r845.fjv.spamspam (AT) bowser (DOT) marioworld>,
Ben C <spamspam (AT) spam (DOT) eggs> wrote:

On 2008-04-21, freemont <freemont (AT) spammenotfreemontsoffice (DOT) com> wrote:
On Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:23:21 -0500, Ben C writ:

Correct, and really tabs should be built into the OS desktop window
manager, not into the browser, so you can use them for all sorts of
applications not just browsers. I think newer versions of KDE may already
do this.

You mean like:

http://tinyurl.com/4u3ytt

That's mine. I never thought of my desktop pager as "tabs", but I guess the
idea is similar. Interesting. :-)

Ah you mean multiple desktops. Those are useful too but I was thinking
more of the tabs you can open in programs like Konsole or the Gnome
terminal.

The idea is you could make all programs that can open multiple windows
optionally open multiple tabs instead at a stroke.

I was printing on an old Mac on the earlier OS 9 today and I was
reminded of this thread. You can drag folders down to the bottom and
they magically become tabs down there, all lined up neat and clicking
makes them open *up*. That certainly stops the desktop from being so
cluttered. But I guess this is not quite what you are talking about in
relation to apps.

--
dorayme