GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 498974
Switch tabs within an application with Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab
Last modified: 2020-12-04 18:19:46 UTC
It should be possible to switch tabs within an application using Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab. Just like it works in Mozilla Firefox and other apps. Other information:
What's the status of this? Should it be done or not? If so I might help out.
Kindly consider the fact that the positioning of the Control and Tab keys are arguably more consistent across keyboard models compared to that of the PageUp and PageDown keys. Additionally, I'd hazard a guess that most newcomers to the GNOME desktop environment who use Firefox often are familiar (and comfortable?) with the Ctrl+Tab (and Ctrl+Shift+Tab) keybindings to cycle between tabs in the same window. Several bugs in the past have been reported across the GNOME bugzilla for including support for this (#586831, #122467, #123994, #314646). Let us allow our HIG to evolve?
You talk about the consistency in the location of the Control and Tab keys, which holds a reasonable point. However, I, and many other GNOME users I know, have swapped their Caps Lock and Control keys. This actually makes Ctrl+Tab an odd combination to use. Contrary to how the above might sound, I'm not actually against the addition of Ctrl+Tab; I just thought this point should be noted.
Also note that not all keyboards feature (or neglect to label) PageUp/PageDown keys. Macbooks, for example.
I'd also say that the MRU (Most Recently Used) behavior would feel a bit odd with Ctrl-PgUp/PgDown. That, and the fact that more than 95% of the advanced computer users know Ctrl-Tab and Ctrl-Shift-Tab (because it's a de-facto standard). The non-advanced users merely use their mouse. It make 10 years that I'm using Linux and, although I'm used to change my habits, I'm still not used to the Ctrl-PgUp/PgDown shortcut. That's also why I don't use Web/Epiphany (that and the fact that there is no MRU behavior for the tabs).
How is this still not confirmed after so many years? Gnome is doing amazing things to be a modern, highly usable DE, but then basic things like this gets ignored, and it makes for inconsistencies that drags the experience down. I couldn't find a way to just vote for this bug, so I hope this helps in some way. I'm just sorry I don't know how to code so I can't do anything concrete.
Hope it fixed soon. Can anyone tell me how to change the key binding in ~/.config/nautilus/accels this line: ; (gtk_accel_path "<Actions>/ShellActions/TabsNext" "<Primary> ") What is for "Tab"?
Seems that there's a convention for Ctrl+Tab switching tabs. Firefox and Chrome seem to do it that way, at least. Added to the HIG: https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-devel-docs/commit/?id=3a3aea03db530d7b94caf63b4af6f4e0c45b4475
ctrl + tab is already in use? (switch group/panels) what about this? https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/keyboard-nav.html.en
(In reply to comment #9) > ctrl + tab is already in use? (switch group/panels) > what about this? > https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/keyboard-nav.html.en Hmm, indeed. Seems that the applications that I tested don't support that very well. Still, seems important to reserve Ctrl+Tab for the accessibility. I've reverted this for now and added Ctrl+Tab to the widget navigation section. Suggestions are welcome, but I'm setting the bug to wontfix. https://git.gnome.org/browse/gnome-devel-docs/commit/?id=e60753543717205c24700888d4f5fd7bb5842eb2
Yes its realy useful for blind people like my girlfrind. its often the only way to reach some elements. >Hmm, indeed. Seems that the applications that I tested don't support that very >well. Still, seems important to reserve Ctrl+Tab for the accessibility. yes the new designs are often not so good in accessibility (keyboardnav). but i think also this will improve in future. always step by step :)
Oh no, not won't fix, please! Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab is a standard everywhere else. Don't get me wrong Chris, I'm not against accessibility. It's just that these shortcuts are so much known that you wonder if it's not your keyboard that has a problem if it doesn't work. Could you explain in which ways it is useful for blind people so that we can find another good shortcut for that? I was guessing switch it with Ctrl+ShiftPgUp/Down, but it's always better to know how it is used and needed before changing anything. Thanks
(In reply to comment #12) ... > Could you explain in which ways it is useful for blind people so that we can > find another good shortcut for that? I was guessing switch it with > Ctrl+ShiftPgUp/Down, but it's always better to know how it is used and needed > before changing anything. It's already explained in the link from comment 10. These short cuts are already in use - we shouldn't override them.
How about using Ctrl + <button above tab>, like with window switching? My problem with using PgUp/PgDn is that both of my laptops have these keys accessible only while pressing the Fn key, which makes the shortcut uncomfortable and slow to use -- slow enough that it's the main reason that I don't use Epiphany.
I think we can say that Ctrl+Tab is a universal shortcut known from any experienced user. I find it disappointing that just because it's already used for something else, we won't evaluate the possibility of changing the current shortcut.
Since this one is WONTFIX, I've entered this bug: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=738325 Let's change the current Ctrl+Tab and then we'll be able to use it for the application tabs.