Hide Document Tabs always

[Chuck]

Hello all,

It looks like open document listing was introduced in 143 beta, under the Window menu: given this, is there a way we can hide the document tabs for good? The only option I found, which I already use, is to auto hide when only one doc is opened. Being able to hide the tab bar regardless would be a great feature!

Love the new version!

[Stefan]

Hi Chuck,
you mean "never ever show file-tabs"
but use "Window > Windows..." to switch documents? 

I on my own have never seen such option.
Please wait till Alex is back in da house (see "News:"  on top of this page) for an answer.


Is there an reason you want this? Maybe there's an work around?

[Arthur]

I do not know if I understood the problem correctly, but I am curious if the View -> Auto-Hide Document Tabs option [set to off] is something that would do the trick for you.

[Stefan]

Hi Arthur and thanks, but this Chuck have found and used already.

This option is only to hide the document tab IF only one document is open.  Then the tab is hidden.
(call it "Auto-Hide single Document Tab" without trailing 's')

If this is disabled,
an tab is shown even for an single open document,
and more tabs are shown if there are more documents open.

If his is enabled,
there is no tab shown if an single open document is open only,
and more tabs are shown if there are more documents open.
(and the high of the doc window is re-sized always, that's why i don't like this feature)

As i understood Chuck, he wants never ever to see tabs, nor an single neither multi tabs.
Something like VI / VIM,
where you can have one window only
but many docs open (buffers, here documents)
but see only one buffer at time, and switch to other buffers at need.

[Arthur]

Thank you Stefan for the explanations, very thorough.
I think I am slowly arriving to the rational of not having the tabs displayed at all times.
Perhaps this is driven by a user monitor's real estate characteristics, or the old VI habits or some other motivations.
So in any case, in this scenario: the file name is displayed in the title bar of the main HE window including the "modified' status, so it does make sense to only access the active/loaded files via the Window menu and HE is already nearly there to support the "no tabs"/single document mode, so I guess it is not a big deal for Alex to add another setting, but for me, personally, having multiple files opened and not to have a visual representation of what sort of documents I work on kinda defeats the purpose of having a rich UI editor at all.

[Chuck]

Thank you all for the follow up; Stefan, you are correct.  TextPad also has this option (docs listed under Window menu, and a permanent View > Document Tabs option.

The only annoyance with TextPad is that Ctrl(+Shift)+Tab does not go in tab order, but in recently used order. HE allows me to use Alt+Left/Right, which is great

Since I have less than 10 files opened concurrently 99% of the time, I switch using Alt+W (Window menu) and 1-9. Does it make sense? Given this, document tabs are just "taking space". Being able to optionally hide them at all times would be a very nice option.

#2
===
And another request I mentioned in the past: it would be really nice to be able to hide the blue arrow once we are done with search results. There is a big one in the gutter, and a smaller one inline; I find their persistance after a search a bit distracting. I use a dummy phrase at the end of the doc to search for to remove the arrows from visibility, but the workaround is a bit cumbersome.

Anyway, I *love* HE, and the direction it is taking, these are just details that (in my experience) get in the way of a 100% perfect programming experience!

[alex]

Hello Chuck and others,

Ok, I would introduce 3-state switch for Document Tabs:

• Do not show
• Auto-Hide
• Show Always

This is not complex, so not problem.

From another point, there is another option to achive this. From some last betas, document tabs are also hidden in MDI mode (when windows is not maximized), but probably this is not that wanted by Chuck.

About the point 2:
Visual markers for search position, or anchors. From my point of view they are really needed. And hiding of them reduce usability of editor. But Ok, this is point of taste, so I would add xml flag controlling their visibility, and let see how many other people would like to remove it

Best regards,
Alex.

[Arthur]

How about making a "switch all off" option too that will include hiding any floating windows/panes (e.g. the search results)?

[alex]

Hm, and why you need it? Just close them one by one. There is not too much windows now.

[Arthur]

Then I would need to re-open one by one?

[alex]

Yes.  There is only 2 windows.
And why you need to close them? Do not make them floating and use expand function for current window.

[Chuck]

Thanks very much Alex I agree with you 100% concerning usability of the Find arrows: my only gripe is their persistence. I do think they are very useful when I need them; but to have a choice between seeing them constantly or never, I would prefer never - so thanks again for considering this option!

Arthur: I like that idea too, much like hitting F4 in Dreamweaver and some other Adobe products (hides all panes, both floating and docked). But the absence of that option doesn't really bother me in HE, the only pane/toolbar I keep opened for some filetypes is the Navigation Bar.

[Chuck]

Ok, I would introduce 3-state switch for Document Tabs

-> Thanks Alex