[Qt-creator] Tabs suggestion

[Adam Higerd]

Robin Burchell wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 2:04 PM, Paulo Jnkml <paulo.jnkml at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Just an idea.
>> I would like to hear some comments of users and developers if possible.
>>
>> I'm not the first one to talk about tabs vs combo box, so apparently
>> there's some interest.
> <snip>
> 
> While I can see the logic in some ways for not going with tabs, the
> way the combo box is styled currently is very, very non-obvious. It
> took me a few hours of using creator before I figured out it actually
> kept multiple files open at a time.
> 
> I think I prefer tabs, as I find them a more common method of
> navigation (my IM, browser, and current IDE all work this way), but I
> wonder whether some kind of ..super-shortcut would have merit too,
> something like hitting a key sequence, and e.g. typing src/ma<tab> to
> navigate to src/main.cpp or something.
> 
> I suggest this because I have a *lot* of files in my project, so
> pretty much all current navigation methods except the project explorer
> are a bit unworkable, but I'm not convinced one way or another.

Well, allow me to point a few things out.

First, tabs stop being effective after about ten open files. You simply 
run out of pixels and additional files you can't see.

Second, Qt Creator has more efficient ways of navigating between files 
than using the mouse to click on tabs or the combo box, or even the 
project nagivator. If you're concerned about efficiency, try practicing 
with the Quick Open command for a while. It's REALLY nice -- you can go 
to a file, a class, a method, a variable, a line number, just with a few 
keystrokes.

Third, the combo box allows the current symbol and line/column position 
to be displayed in the same screen real estate instead of being forced 
into a second bar. If you only need to see the current file (because 
switching files can be done in many other ways) the combo box is a much 
more efficient tool. (Tabs, on the other hand, might give you no 
indication of the current open file if it's off the right side of the 
screen.)

/s/ Adam