I need your help for tabbed browsing!

[ghisler(Author)]

Currently I'm implementing tabs for the file windows. It works already quite well, but there are some problems with keyboard shortcuts:

In Mozilla, Ctrl+T is used to create a new Tab. Unfortunately Ctrl+T is already used for the multi-rename tool. The same problem appears for closing a Tab: Mozilla uses Ctrl+F4, which is used by all Commander-style programs to sort by extension.

Therefore I'm currently using the following shortcuts:
Ctrl+Alt+Tab: open a new Tab (like Ctrl+T in Mozilla)
Ctrl+Tab: switch to next open tab (same as in Mozilla)
Ctrl+Shift+Tab: switch to previous open tab (same as in Mozilla)
Ctrl+Cursor up: Open directory under cursor in new tab (no equivalent in Mozilla)
Ctrl+Shift+F4: Close current tab (same as Ctrl+F4 in Mozilla)

Does anyone have a better idea? I don't use any other programs than Mozilla which support tabs. What does for example Opera use for these commands?

I have also thought about some default hotkey changes, e.g.
Ctrl+M (FTP transfer mode) moved to Ctrl+Shift+M
Ctrl+T (multi-rename tool) moved to Ctrl+M
Ctrl+T used to create a new tab.

What do you think? I'm not yet making a poll, I just want to hear some opinions first.

[Lefteous]

Currently I'm implementing tabs for the file windows. It works already quite well, but there are some problems with keyboard shortcuts:

In Mozilla, Ctrl+T is used to create a new Tab. Unfortunately Ctrl+T is already used for the multi-rename tool. The same problem appears for closing a Tab: Mozilla uses Ctrl+F4, which is used by all Commander-style programs to sort by extension.

Therefore I'm currently using the following shortcuts:
Ctrl+Alt+Tab: open a new Tab (like Ctrl+T in Mozilla)
Ctrl+Tab: switch to next open tab (same as in Mozilla)
Ctrl+Shift+Tab: switch to previous open tab (same as in Mozilla)
Ctrl+Cursor up: Open directory under cursor in new tab (no equivalent in Mozilla)
Ctrl+Shift+F4: Close current tab (same as Ctrl+F4 in Mozilla)

Does anyone have a better idea? I don't use any other programs than Mozilla which support tabs. What does for example Opera use for these commands?

I have also thought about some default hotkey changes, e.g.
Ctrl+M (FTP transfer mode) moved to Ctrl+Shift+M
Ctrl+T (multi-rename tool) moved to Ctrl+M
Ctrl+T used to create a new tab.

What do you think? I'm not yet making a poll, I just want to hear some opinions first.

New Tab -> Ctrl+N (like in Opera)
Next and previous tab -> Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab as mentioned above. Opera uses the same shortcuts, but displays a nice tab list after the user pressed one of these shortcuts.
New tab under cursor -> Ctrl+Up ist good. I prefer Ctrl+Alt+N (Opera uses Shift+Return)
Close Tab -> Ctrl+Shift+F4 is a compromise, but I don't see an alternative at the moment (Opera uses Ctrl+F4 too)

Ctrl+T to change FTP transfer mode
Ctrl+M Multi rename tool
Ctrl+N for new tab
Ctrl+Shift+N for New ftp connection

[poiuytr]

May be it will be better to leave shortcut assignment to users? Cause shortcuts are very personal thing.
I do not use not mozilla nor opera, so why i have to use shortcuts from this software?

[shammat]

The Windows standard for switching tabs is actually Ctrl-Page-Up/Down (Try it in any properties dialog displayed by the system).
The Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab shortcuts are used for switching windows in a MDI application. But as many MDI applications (such as TextPad, Word etc) have a mode where individual windows are displayed as tabs, many users think that Ctrl-Tab switches tabs instead of windows.

Btw: Mozilla uses Ctrl-W for closing the current tab/window as well

Cheers
Thomas

[Maxwish]

May be it will be better to leave shortcut assignment to users? Cause shortcuts are very personal thing.

In this case we are talking about the default shortcuts. It would not be fair to expect every user to program all the shortcuts themself. BTW: Expert user can always change them later.

I do not use not mozilla nor opera, so why i have to use shortcuts from this software?

It is nice when often used software use the same keys for certain commands. Just like Windows Commander started with the same shortcuts as the good ol' Norton Commander.

it now seems that Christian must choose with which browers he wants TC related to: Mozilla or Opera

I have also thought about some default hotkey changes, e.g.
Ctrl+M (FTP transfer mode) moved to Ctrl+Shift+M
Ctrl+T (multi-rename tool) moved to Ctrl+M
Ctrl+T used to create a new tab.

Sounds good

[djk]

Currently I'm implementing tabs for the file windows.

First: thanks for the tabs

Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab - of course it's the most natural IMO.

Ctrl+Alt+Tab - sounds strange for me - I would prefer Ctrl+T although I don't like when existing shortcuts change - but this time it could be an exception, especially that I was always suprised with the current Ctrl+T for mult-raneme tool

For the rest shortcuts I don't have any preferences - they could be like you suggests (Ctrl+Shift+F4 - sounds natural, too).

[Hacker]

Christian,
I agree with poiuytr that the standard shortcuts do not matter that much as long as we can redefine them and as long as there are internal commands for:
Source: Next tab (preferably Ctrl-Tab)
Source: Previous Tab (preferably Ctrl-Shift-Tab)
Target: Next tab (preferably Ctrl-Alt-Tab)
Target: Previous Tab (preferably Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Tab)
New Tab (preferably Shift-Tab)
Source: Close Tab (for instance Ctrl-W)
Target: Close Tab (for instance Ctrl-Shift-W)

Open directory under cursor in new tab could be Ctrl-` for source panel and Ctrl-Alt-` for target panel (wonder what Black Dog's going to say)...
Or we could also make use of Caps Lock which is neglected in TC...


shammat,
The Windows standard for switching tabs is actually Ctrl-Page-Up/Down

Well, these are already taken by default.

Thanks and HTH
Roman

[djk]

Source: Close Tab (for instance Ctrl-W)

Ctrl+W - I've met it in several programs so it also could be acceptable

[jb]

I have also thought about some default hotkey changes, e.g.
Ctrl+M (FTP transfer mode) moved to Ctrl+Shift+M
Ctrl+T (multi-rename tool) moved to Ctrl+M
Ctrl+T used to create a new tab.

I vote for the changes above. I think it's worth to change the current default because of the following reasons:

1. The shortcut to open a new Tab will be used very often, that is, much more often than the shortcuts for the FTP transfer mode and the multi-rename tool.
2. Ctrl+T requires one key stroke less than Ctrl+Alt+Tab.
3. Ctrl+T is easier to memorize than Ctrl+Alt+Tab.
4. Ctrl+T would be compatible with Mozilla (as you already mentioned) and after all Mozilla is probably the most popular browser supporting tabs. Furthermore Ctrl+N (used by Opera) is normally used to create a new file, but a file is something persistent, while creating a new tab is rather like creating a new window. Word 97 for instance uses Ctrl+N to create a new document (file), but offers no default shortcut to create a new window (for an existing document).
5. Ctrl+T can be typed quite easily using only the left hand. This is sometimes helpful when the right hand is on the mouse.

Furthermore I would use Ctrl+Shift+T to close the current tab (instead of Ctrl+Shift+F4). So it would be easier to memorize.

[soreno]

I think that the Mozilla hotkeys should be used as default.

In my opinion it is okay to change to current default hotkeys (including ctrl-pgup and ctrl-pgdown).

I really look forward to the next Total Commander !

[Lion]

First, to get the exact idea, what tab layout it will be - one tab will contain both source and target panels or each panel will be tabbed? Or both layouts (WOW!)?
IMHO the shortcuts are greatly dependent on this.
And BTW, Ctrl+PgDn is the default to tryenter archive.

Nevertheless, for now I vote for Ctrl+W to be default for closing active tab and TC6 to be released tomorrow .

[Lion]

And it is okay if some of the current hotkeys wil be changed because of tabs or anything else.

[JP]

Mozilla uses Ctrl+F4, which is used by all Commander-style programs to sort by extension.

Ctrl+Shift+F4: Close current tab (same as Ctrl+F4 in Mozilla)

FireBird uses Ctrl+W to close tabs (at least if you're using the Tab Extension plugin; that's my case). I think it's a good possibility. Using 3 keys for a shortkey is always complicated, IMHO. You can maybe use Ctrl+T to New Tab and modify RENAME to Ctrl+R [Ctrl+R(ename), quite easy to retain] (or Ctrl+M, as suggested before) and change Reread Source to something else, like Ctrl+S (S from S(ource)).

[ghisler(Author)]

Thanks for all your help! I didn't know some of the hotkeys you listed. Let me summarize:
Ctrl+W to close a Tab is a good idea, especially because it's unused
I will not use Ctrl+PageUp/Down, because they are already used. Ctrl+Tab seems logical to switching tabs
Ctrl+T seems to be the best solution to open a new tab, although many people will dislike the changed hotkey for the multi-rename tool.
I will remove Ctrl+Alt+Tab to create a new tab, and Ctrl+Shift+tab to close a Tab.
Ctrl+Cursor up works fine so far to open a dir in a new tab.

2Lion: There will be one tabset for the left panel and one for the target panel. Use Ctrl+D with "save target" to change left+right dir simulataneously.

Now some more questions:
Should I use Shift+Enter too to open a dir in a separate tab? This could only work for dirs, because it already has a special meaning for archives (open in associated packer).

What exactly should happen when the user presses Ctrl+T? There are several possibilities:
1. A new tab is created with the same path as the current, but the current tab remains active
2. As 1, but the new tab becomes active
3. A new tab is created with the same path as the current, the tab is activated and the cursor is put in the address field.

(3) is happening in Mozilla on Ctrl+T, but Web browsers are different from file managers: users more often type new web addresses by hand than directories.

[WatchUer]

FireBird uses Ctrl+W to close tabs (at least if you're using the Tab Extension plugin; that's my case). I think it's a good possibility. Using 3 keys for a shortkey is always complicated, IMHO. You can maybe use Ctrl+T to New Tab and modify RENAME to Ctrl+R [Ctrl+R(ename), quite easy to retain] (or Ctrl+M, as suggested before) and change Reread Source to something else, like Ctrl+S (S from S(ource)).

I agree with you mostly, the widely used browser NetCaptor also uses the key Ctrl + W to close the current Tab Window. And TC already has the key F2 to reread the source, so the Ctrl + R can be used for something else.