GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 113832
Tabbed window manager
Last modified: 2009-02-16 19:53:34 UTC
I think most of the good arguments against tabs and mdi I've heard basically amount to this should be done in the wm, and after reading MPT's suggestion for how this should be done, I'm starting to agree so heres sort of pseudo proposal. 1. Any 2 or more windows can be tabbed together. Users can do this by alt+draggin a window ontop of another, or by middle click+drag. 2. we could add a spec so that apps could specify whether a window ought to be openened in a new window or in a new tab. 3. Ui wise I'm fairly certain that the best way to do this is tabs on the bottom, with a tooltip over the tab that shows the full window title. 4. In the windowlist, only the tab that is currently being viewed would be listed.
I've thought about how to do this before, and it's a major amount of work - and I doubt you'd get any application to adopt it. Basically I think it's pretty impractical, plus would take a few months full-time effort even if it could be made to work. If someone appears with a few months free time and wants to try it great, but I don't really want to keep the bug open since I have no plans to ever work on this. ;-) Someone who's inspired enough to do the work won't need a bug to remember to do it.