Closed Bug 105620 Opened 23 years ago Closed 22 years ago

Ctrl+N should open new tabs in "tabbed mode" instead of Ctrl+T

Categories

(SeaMonkey :: Tabbed Browser, defect)

defect
Not set
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

VERIFIED WONTFIX
Future

People

(Reporter: illtud, Assigned: jag+mozilla)

References

Details

Ctrl-T should *not* be the 'open new tab' shortcut. Ctrl-T is 'get new mail' (ok, it only works in the mail window, but it shouldn't have a different function in the browser window). Ctrl-W should close *that tab*, not the whole window.
tabbed browser. The ctrl-w issue is a dup. The ctrl-t issue is open for interpretation -- do you have a better suggestion? we're running out of ideas for keys here.. :)
Assignee: mpt → hyatt
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Component: User Interface Design → Tabbed Browser
Ever confirmed: true
QA Contact: zach → blakeross
Summary: Ctrl-T & Ctrl-W brokenness with tab interface → Ctrl-T is a bad shortcut for opening tabs
Illtud Daniel, the specific bug with the CTRL+W is addressed in bug 102602. As for another shortcut key, i would propose CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+F4+F8+N+I+SPACE+W instead :) (i'm kidding) Does anyone have a list (or know where to get) of the different keys used in mozilla?
Status: NEW → ASSIGNED
Target Milestone: --- → Future
> Illtud Daniel, the specific bug with the CTRL+W is addressed in bug 102602. Ah, sorry about that - I did a search beforehand, but didn't hit anything. How about ctrl-n gives you a new tab? ie - if you're in 'tabbed' mode, ctrl-n & ctrl-w do just what you expect, only on tabs, not windows. If you're in tabbed mode, why would you want to open another window anyway? You could then bind ctrl-shift-N & ctrl-shift-W to 'open new window' and 'close current window' - just for completeness. Tabbed browsing (not because of the tab, but because of the speed of opening a new window) is what will make me move over to Moz for good (from NS4.78 - don't laugh). Keeping ctrl-n & ctrl-w (the keys I use most) the same would be the right thing to do UI-wise. I'll also be dragging 220+ users with me (plus thousands more of our reading room customers), so I'm not just speaking for myself (we're a National Copyright Library). So - my vote goes: Tabbed mode - CRTL-N - new tab, CTRL-W close current tab, CRTL-SHIFT-N new window, CTRL-SHIFT-W close current window. Non-tabbed - CRTL-N - new window, CTRL-W close current window. I'm sorry that this conmingles this bug & the CTRL-W one, but I think they're all the same issue, really.
ctrl+shft+n is new blank page to edit, i suppose we could move that to ctrl+shift+e just for fun and added confusion. and yes there's a list of used keybindings...
the suggestion that you're either in "tabbed" or "untabbed" mode is disingenuous. multiple tabs are most useful in conjunction with multiple windows. > If you're in tabbed mode, why would you want to open > another window anyway? because tabs are terribly useful for logically grouping browser sessions. if you're browsing a bunch of cross-referenced api documentation in three separate tabs in one window, and you suddenly get the urge to go read pokey the penguin, you can ctrl-n a new window into life and keep your comics separate from your docs. i'd maintain that it's far more important to allow ctrl-n to hold onto its traditional and well-established functionality. and to get back on topic for the bug: of all possible keyboard shortcuts for tab creation, ctrl-t is by far the most sensible, memorable and intuitive.
I could not agree more. Resolving WONTFIX.
Status: ASSIGNED → RESOLVED
Closed: 23 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
> the suggestion that you're either in "tabbed" or "untabbed" mode is > disingenuous. multiple tabs are most useful in conjunction with multiple > windows. You appear to be in a minority, I'm afraid. Tabbed browsing has been welcomed as a major UI improvement because it brings window responsiveness into the realms of usability. >> If you're in tabbed mode, why would you want to open >> another window anyway? > > because tabs are terribly useful for logically grouping browser sessions. if > you're browsing a bunch of cross-referenced api documentation in > three separate tabs in one window, and you suddenly get the urge > to go read pokey the penguin, you can ctrl-n a new window into life > and keep your comics separate from your docs. OK, then when having a tabbed window open, which kind of 'new window' is most likely to be requested by the user? A new tab or new window. I'd suggest the former, which is why I feel very strongly that CTRL-N should map to this. > i'd maintain that it's far more important to allow ctrl-n to hold > onto its traditional and well-established functionality. Me too! A million times me too! You're ignoring very basic UI concepts. Ctrl-N's functionality is to give me a new browsing 'page' ('page' used to try and avoid using 'window', since they're distinct from 'tab' - a new tab & a new window are both a new 'page' in this instance). The UI should not change because I'm using a different 'mode' for my browsing. This is *basic* stuff, people. > and to get back on topic for the bug: of all possible keyboard > shortcuts for tab creation, ctrl-t is by far the most sensible, > memorable and intuitive. Nonsense. You've obviously never used netscape (as gazillions of us 'corporate' users do) in anger as a web & mail client. CTRL-t is 'get new mail'. Always has been, always will be. You're **** around with the UI. CTRL-W's functionality is to *close the 'page' that's displaying* - CTRL-W means 'get rid of this that I'm seeing' *that* is it's functionality and that's what it should remain. CTRL-W should close the current tab only. I'm disappointed that you're declaring this one WONTFIX - it's a mistake that goes contrary to all UI theory & good practice, and I'm sorry you haven't been able to grasp this.
I could waste a bunch of time defending myself in the bug (I do have plenty of arguments to apply here), but I'm going to spare my wrists for something that matters. :)
vrfy hyatt has better things to do w/ his wrists. fwiw when i use tab browsing, i use multiple windows. Each window is its own workspace for some specific task. ooh, if we want something to create new pages we could use ctrl-p. it's not like anyone prints or anything. I'd suggest calling them panes though, since you really create pages w/ ctrl-e not ctrl-n.
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
I'm disappointed that nobody had addressed: CTRL-T is 'get new mail', always has been - have you discussed the fact that you're using it as well with the Mozilla Mail team? CTRL-W has always semantically meant 'close the page I'm looking at', which you're now **** with. I'm also disappointed that you don't seem to deem your stance worthy of defending (nobody's addressed any of the issues I raised).
> CTRL-T is 'get new mail' In mailnews, sure. In the browser, it's not. There are other examples of this already, even in NS4. A quick look shows that Alt+L is open location in browser and forward message in mailnews in NS4 on Linux. Please don't conflate the two apps. They have very different requirements and the only times when keybindings should affect each other is that a function available in both apps should have the same keybinding in both. > CTRL-W has always semantically meant 'close the page I'm looking at', > which you're now dicking with. Please see the "Ryan Pertusio 2001-10-19 16:30" comment. He points you at bug 102602, which is about ctrl-w. If you had read that bug, you would have seen that that has a patch that makes ctrl-w do exactly what you want it to do and the patch even has r=, so it should hopefully be landing soon.
>> CTRL-T is 'get new mail' > > In mailnews, sure. In the browser, it's not. > There are other examples of this already, even in NS4. A quick look > shows that Alt+L is open location in browser and forward message in > mailnews in NS4 on Linux. ...another bug, if you ask me. NS4 on win32 doesn't do that, and I'm disappointed that mozilla brings that bug to all platforms. > Please don't conflate the two apps. They have very different > requirements and the only times when keybindings should affect > each other is that a function available in both apps should > have the same keybinding in both. ...so, ctrl-n in mail & browser does 'open new browser window', whilst ctrl-t in mail & browser does... oops! - c'mon, admit that that's inconsistent. Pretty please? >> CTRL-W > Please see the "Ryan Pertusio 2001-10-19 16:30" comment. He points > you at bug 102602, which is about ctrl-w. If you had read that bug, Hmm, yes, I seem to not have read it, but I managed to contribute to the thread. Clever that. I do admit that I didn't see the patch (which was added recently) - but I think that seperating out ctrl-t/ ctrl-n & ctrl-w into seperate bugs is a mistake. That ctrl-w is going to be 'close current tab' strengthens my case for ctrl-n to be 'open new tab', IMHO - it certainly warrants a proper discussion of the open/close tab/window keybindings. Does this mean there won't be any binding for 'close current window'? I'm trying not to be too trying, BTW.
Ok. Doing this the way it should have been done to start with.
Status: VERIFIED → REOPENED
Resolution: WONTFIX → ---
UI design.
Assignee: hyatt → mpt
Status: REOPENED → NEW
I think that since there is a discussion whether the current binding should be changed and what would be the new binding, I propose to mark this bug as a dup of bug 57805.
illtud daniel, is there really a serious suggestion here that ctrl-t should be a universal shortcut for 'get new mail'? what should happen when i hit ctrl-t in the browser, or composer, or chatzilla? should ctrl-t now be globally useless to anyone who isn't using the mail client? i don't feel this is a genuine case of not "[being] able to grasp [...] all UI theory & good practice", but rather a desire on your part to do some "**** with the UI" in a way which obviously makes sense to you, but which i think would confuse a lot of people (and a lot of netscape / mozilla users are just using the browser, believe it or not -- notice that 'just the browser' is a prominent installer option). i do see where you're going with the equation of ctrl-w-as-close-current-tab with ctrl-n-as-create-new-tab, but i think that's another (unintentionally) disingenuous argument. the sticking point, for me at least, is this whole idea of 'tabbed' vs 'non- tabbed' mode. what does that mean, exactly? i think a lot of people will want to have multiple windows with multiple tabs, as summarised in my earlier comments and confirmed by timeless. and if you're talking about simply whether the current window has more than one tab (ie. tabs are visible) then, well, how do i open a new tab in a new window? are you suggesting that i should have to menu to File -> New -> Navigator Tab, and then *after* that i can open new tabs with ctrl-n? that strikes me as a lot more awkward and inconsistent than just allowing ctrl-n to keep the same meaning it's always had (which is 'new *window*, before you agree with me again) and introducing a new, intuitive, nonconflicting-within-the-browser key binding for 'new tab'. ctrl-w doesn't suffer from this awkwardness, by the way, since it will always have an unambiguous context; it can be considered to always 'close current page', which will close the current tab and, in the case where there's only one tab in the window (ie. what i assume to be your 'non-tabbed mode'), close the window too. the more i think about it, the more i'm tempted to argue that it would be annoyingly dangerous to provide an easy binding to close a many-tabbed window anyway; i assume you'd agree. i think that the contextual ambiguity in the case of ctrl-n/ctrl-t justifies the separation of key bindings -- and i think ctrl-t is a great binding for it - - whereas i can't see any problems with ctrl-w. they are, rightly, separate issues. i agree that there is a basic principle at stake here, but the principle should be that it's okay to have globally conflicting application-specific keybindings for application-specific functionality. i find it hard to believe that you'd really defend to the death your right to get new mail when you're not using a mail application, but perhaps you can prove me wrong.
Tom said: > illtud daniel, is there really a serious suggestion here that ctrl-t should be > a universal shortcut for 'get new mail'? what should happen when i hit ctrl-t > in the browser, or composer, or chatzilla? should ctrl-t now be globally > useless to anyone who isn't using the mail client? Yes. That's my opinion as a <cough> 'power' user of NS4.* & back to Mosaic. As a controller of 250+ desktops using NS for mail & web, and waiting for mozilla to hit the sweet spot so that we can migrate. This is only my opinion, and all I'm after is for anyone to give me arguments against my POV - the ones offered so far have been weak to say the least. > i don't feel this is a genuine case of not "[being] able to grasp [...] all UI > theory & good practice", but rather a desire on your part to do some "**** > with the UI" in a way which obviously makes sense to you, but which i think > would confuse a lot of people Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing, and since nobody had yet spoke up for the 'lot of people' I was at a loss to see what the problem was. > (and a lot of netscape / mozilla users are just > using the browser, believe it or not -- notice that 'just the browser' is a > prominent installer option). ...then for their benefit we must duplicate a key binding used in the mailer?? The browser people aren't losing anything in this situation except the choice to be able to use ctrl-t (previously unbound in the browser) as 'open new tab'. BFD. And I don't buy your earlier argument that "ctrl-t is by far the most sensible, memorable and intuitive." 'Intuitive'?? Are you familiar with the old NS bindings (most of which have moved on to NS) - do you do all your browsing from the keyboard? There's not much 'intuition' involved, and that doesn't seem to be a problem. > the sticking point, for me at least, is this whole idea of 'tabbed' vs 'non- > tabbed' mode. what does that mean, exactly? i think a lot of people will want > to have multiple windows with multiple tabs, as summarised in my earlier > comments and confirmed by timeless. and if you're talking about simply whether > the current window has more than one tab (ie. tabs are visible) then, well, how > do i open a new tab in a new window? are you suggesting that i should have to > menu to File -> New -> Navigator Tab, and then *after* that i can open new tabs > with ctrl-n? that strikes me as a lot more awkward and inconsistent than just > allowing ctrl-n to keep the same meaning it's always had (which is 'new > *window*, before you agree with me again) and introducing a new, intuitive, > nonconflicting-within-the-browser key binding for 'new tab'. OK, now we're getting to the meat of the argument, and the one underlying most of my gripes. My answer to your questions would be (as I've suggested before) SHIFT-CTRL-N (yes, yes, currently bound to something else, but I'm open to other suggestions) opens a new window, ctrl-n opens a new tab within the current window. It's more likely (IMHO) that you want a new tab than a new window. I browse a lot using 'open in new window' on links - this should be 'open in new tab' by default now - the default when you middle-click in *nix & it should be the top option on the context menu in win32 (Fitt's Law). Of course, none of this is really matters much unless there's a nice easy binding to switch between tabs. Tabbed browsing is very much faster on creating new 'pages', but the switching is broken due to no (afaik - can anybody enlighten me?) keyboard binding. > ctrl-w doesn't suffer from this awkwardness, by the way, since it will always > have an unambiguous context; it can be considered to always 'close current > page', which will close the current tab and, in the case where there's only one > tab in the window (ie. what i assume to be your 'non-tabbed mode'), close the > window too. the more i think about it, the more i'm tempted to argue that it > would be annoyingly dangerous to provide an easy binding to close a many-tabbed > window anyway; i assume you'd agree. Erm, no. Presumably, clicking the 'x' (or whatever your window manager gives you as a 'close window') in the GUI will kill a many-tabbed window, yes? To follow your argument, it should only close the current tab. I'd argue that yes, there should be a binding to close the current window of tabs (CTRL-SHIFT-W, as you're wondering, and I challenge you to hit that by mistake). > i think that the contextual ambiguity in the case of ctrl-n/ctrl-t justifies > the separation of key bindings -- and i think ctrl-t is a great binding for it A great binding? A *great* binding? You do realise that keyboard navigators don't really care whether the key is nicely mnemonic'd, do you? Are you a keyboard navigator yourself? (and here I'll be rather snide & nasty and comment that you seem to be having trouble with the simple concept of a 'shift' key producing capitals, raising doubts in my mind that you're the person to be making this decision). > - whereas i can't see any problems with ctrl-w. they are, rightly, separate issues. So if I've got, say, three windows open, one with dozen tabs in it (say some API documentation I've been browsing...) then to get rid of the multi-tabbed API window I should press Ctrl-w a dozen times? Yes, that's what I have to do with current windows, but I thought that this new tabbed malarkey was supposed to let us logically group 'pages' together for convenience. (I could also go for the mouse & kill the window, I suppose, but I'm old fashioned in liking my keyboard) > i agree that there is a basic principle at stake here, but the principle should > be that it's okay to have globally conflicting application-specific keybindings > for application-specific functionality. Weeeellll, no. Not really - I don't think that's what driving me - what's driving me is that tabbed browsing hasn't really been thought out WRT keyboard driven browsing. > i find it hard to believe that you'd > really defend to the death your right to get new mail when you're not using a > mail application, but perhaps you can prove me wrong. Nope, I wouldn't. But I do mind that you've introduced broken bindings for an otherwise useful development. If we can agree on what tabbed browsing is & how it's used, and agree on bindings that are consistent within that model, then I'll be happy.
> My answer to your questions would be (as I've suggested > before) SHIFT-CTRL-N (yes, yes, currently bound to something else, but > I'm open to other suggestions) opens a new window, ctrl-n opens a new > tab within the current window. > It's more likely (IMHO) that you want a new tab than a new window. This should be the case if and only if there is more than one tab in the window already. If there are no tabs, ctrl-N had better open a new window, not a new tab, since chances are the user is not using tabs at all and just wants a new window. No foisting of tabs on people who don't want them. :) Notice that the proposed change to ctrl-W will only take effect once multiple tabs are open. > this should be 'open in new tab' by default now There is a preference for this in the tabbed browsing pane in preferences > Of course, none of this is really matters much unless there's a nice > easy binding to switch between tabs. ctrl-pgup and ctrl-pgdown. And no it can't be ctrl-tab -- that's used for frame navigation. > there should be a binding to close the current window of tabs > (CTRL-SHIFT-W Yes, agreed. > agree on bindings that are consistent within that model That's why this bug is assigned to the UI designer in the crowd.
Since tabbed browsing is a new feature, I think it's perfectly reasonable for there to be a new keybinding for it. Ctrl-t seems to fit well with me (a current NC 4.7x user). Ctrl-n opens a new window in both NC 4.7x AND Mozilla, seems perfectly logical. If your user says, "How do I open a new Tab", that's when you tell them to use Ctrl-t. One new feature, one new keybinding. To suggest that ctrl-n opens a new tab and ctrl-shift-n opens a new window requires the user to know 2 keybindings for 1 action (opening a new browser window), and to differentiate between what to expect from the keybinding depending on what mode the browser is in (tabbed mode or regular mode). Not exactly user friendly IMO. Ctrl-n: New Window; Ctrl-t: New Tab -- simple, easy and always true regardless of the state of the browser.
Other than spamming the bug, I don't know how to vote AGAINST a bug. Please leave Ctrl-T as open new tab. It works, it's intuitive (IMHO), and my brain has no difficulty with the fact that it means Get New Mail in the mail window.
spam: set your filter for "SeverusSnape" to avoid the influx of bugmail changing QA contact of open tabbed browser bugs from blake to me. if this bug requires a reassignment, however, feel free to change it!
QA Contact: blakeross → sairuh
This bug doesn't seem to be against Ctrl+T for opening new tabs as much as it's for Ctrl+N for opening new tabs (in "tabbed browsing mode", which would probably be a pref). Resummarizing.
Summary: Ctrl-T is a bad shortcut for opening tabs → Ctrl+N should open new tabs in "tabbed mode" instead of Ctrl+T
For too long, Mozilla has fallen into potholes trying to make its keyboard navigation completely modeless: accel+N has been New Navigator Window, no matter which app you're using. This has forced New Message to be accel+M, which is annoying given the fact that practically every other GUI mailer (indeed, practically every other GUI app for creating *any* sort of document) uses accel+N for this purpose. Now the cluestick has caught up with Mozilla, in the form of Mac OS X, but still Mozilla tries to scurry away: the current thinking in bug 75898 would make the OS X shortcut for New Message be Shift+Command+M, which would be utterly intolerable for such a common function. Enough of this madness, I say. There can be modeless shortcuts for the whole of Mozilla, but those which today's GUI platforms intend to be modal to the application -- including accel+N -- *should* be modal to the application. I recommend modeless keyboard shortcuts be as follows. (See also bug 20306.) (1) Everywhere, accel+1 should switch to the most recently focused Navigator browser window if one is open but none are focused, otherwise it should open a new Navigator browser window. (2) Everywhere, accel+2 should switch to the most recently focused mail/news three-pane window if one is open but none are focused, otherwise it should open a new mail/news three-pane window. (3) Everywhere, Shift+accel+2 should switch to the most recently focused mail/news composition window if one is open but none are focused, otherwise it should open a new mail/news composition window. (4) Everywhere, accel+3 should switch to the most recently focused Composer document window if one is open but none are focused, otherwise it should open a new Composer document window. Repeat as necessary for Chatzilla and the Address Book. I recommend modal keyboard shortcuts be as follows. (1) In mail/news, accel+N should open a composition window in plain-text/HTML mode, and Shift+accel+N should open a composition window in HTML/plain-text mode. (See bug 75898.) (2) In Composer, accel+N should create a new document. (See bug 91588.) (3) In the Address Book, accel+N should create a new address book card, and Shift+accel+N should create a new mailing list. ... But mpt, what does any of this have to do with tabbed browsing? Well, I'm of the opinion that tabbed browsing is the defining feature of those browsers which are doomed to forever have market share less than 5 percent. However it doesn't look like Mozilla's tabs are going away for another year or two; so while it still exists, I'm explaining why Shift+accel+N should be available for use by those who use both windows and tabs, rather than being squandered on Composer. For these people opening tabs is the more common operation, so accel+N *should* be the shortcut for it (considerably easier and more instinctive than accel+T), while Shift+accel+N becomes the shortcut for opening a new window ... (4) In Navigator, accel+N should create a new {window|tab} when in {window|tab} mode, and Shift+accel+N should create a new {tab|window} when in {window|tab} mode. Back to Hyatt. The question is, will he be brave enough? :-)
Assignee: mpt → jaggernaut
On this dispute I'd rather suggest to go the way most other programs use. (this includes other kinds of programs, and other browsers) Tabbed mode - CRTL-N - new window CRTL-SHIFT-N new tab Non-tabbed - CRTL-N - new window Assigning ctrl-N another function in tabbed mode will only increase confusion and frustration in many of those used to ctrl-n WILL open a new browser window. Ctrl-N opens a child window in programs that ONLY use child windows is not really applicable here, because of the dual nature of Mozilla and the user should not be in the position to consider carefully the effect of this key combination with respect to the current situation.
> CRTL-SHIFT-N new tab Except CTRL-SHIFT-N is already bound to "New composer window". And changing this based on presense or absense of tabs would be _very_ odd.
I vote WONTFIX, personally. I agree that there is no real difference between "tabbed mode" and "non-tabbed mode" - they're not modes; the ability to open tabs is simply a feature. If I have only a browser window open with no tabs, I want a shortcut to create a new tab, and I want another shortcut to open a new window, because I could want either, depending on what I'm doing. If I'm not accustomed to tabs, I certainly shouldn't be forced to use them. The idea that keyboard shortcuts should change based on whether there are tabs open or not is ludicrous. You're proposing that if I have no tabs open, then Accel-N should open a new browser window, but if I open a new tab (which there would no longer be a keyboard shortcut to do, so I'd have to use the mouse), subsequently Accel-N should open new tabs instead. What if I have one window with tabs, but another window with no tabs in front of it? Does that count as having tabs open, or not? What if the window with tabs is minimized? As was already pointed out, 1) having too many global keyboard shortcuts gets annoying later, and 2) many people don't even have the Mail & News component installed, so making Accel-T a global shortcut for checking mail is really not a great idea. Pressing Accel-2 before Accel-T seems quite reasonable to me. Finally, the main reasons why tabbed browsing is a good thing at all: 1) opening a new tab within an existing window is far faster than opening a new window, and 2) there's no "open in new window behind this one" option like OmniWeb has, so tabs can be used to open pages in the background without them popping up in front of what I'm looking at. Obviously the former is a major problem that should be addressed.
wontfix
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 23 years ago22 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
mass-verifying Wontfix bugs. mail filter string for bugspam: Tursiopstruncatus
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
*** Bug 174494 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Product: Core → SeaMonkey
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