Re: Two GTK related feature requests

[Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com>]

"Robert J. Chassell" <bob@rattlesnake.com> writes:

>     * "Tabbed editing".  People using modern web browsers will know what I
>       mean.  It is very addictive.  Essentially it would add buttons at
>       the top of the Emacs window, one button for each buffer.  Clicking
>       on one button will change focus to that buffer.  ...
>
> To try this out, I am using tabbar.el from
>
>     http://unc.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/emhacks/tabbar-1.3.tar.gz
>
> The user interface created by tabbar.el does not scale.
>
> Right now I have 41 open buffers, which is fewer than usual.  To see
> the various groups of files, I need a window width of 125 characters

As a comparison, having 50 tabbed web pages open with, e.g., Mozilla
Firebird or Galeon is not a problem.  I typically have 20 tabs.

> To see the file names in just the `text' group, I need a window that
> is 147 characters wide.  My normal window width is the conventional 80
> characters.

The file names should be truncated if they don't fit.  IMHO, the
important thing is not fit some text on the tab, just to provide easy
jumping between buffers.  This is how I usually use it in a web
browser: first identify the tabs for the pages that I'm currently
interested in, and then click on those tabs to switch among them.

When I compare this with how I use emacs, I see the same pattern.  I
switch between two (or maybe a few more, but two is most common)
buffers with C-x b RET.  I know of C-x 2 and C-x 5 2, and use them,
but it doesn't remove my constant use of C-x b RET.

> The `tabbed editing' notion is interesting but I am not sure that any
> of the obvious solutions work in the long run.

I don't disagree.  The details need to be analyzed further before
something like this can be useful, if ever.

Btw, I have been using tabbar.el for a day or so now and can see that
it does not do exactly what I want.  But it probably can help me
articulate what it is I believe I want, though.