405933 - Window menu should show a submenu for each window that has multiple tabs, which lists the tabs in that window

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: Menus, enhancement)

Description

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

The situation: after a day of working and browsing and so forth, I have 10 or 15 windows open, several of which have 5 or 10 tabs in them.  I'm looking for a specific tab, and I don't remember which window it's in, and it's not the frontmost tab in that window.  I wind up having to cycle through all of the windows trying to find one with that tab in it.

A great way to fix this would be to have all of the tabs in each window listed in a submenu under that window in the Window menu in the menu bar.

Comment 1

[alexander :surkov (:asurkov)]

Another way I'd like is to add tabs in tabs. Top level tabs groups tabs of bottom level. If top level tabs can be named then it helps to find what you need. Something like this:

|**************|----------------|
| bugzilla     | buy a monitor  |
|**************|----------------|
|---------|**********|----------|
| bug 222 | bug 2333 | bug 334  |
|---------|**********|----------|

Comment 2

[James Andrewartha]

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1242/ creates Tabs top-level menu listing the tabs in that window, so you can probably steal some code from it.

Comment 3

[Zac Spitzer]

there is an arrow above the right hand scrollbar which does this already in FF, it's just a little hidden

Comment 4

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

(In reply to comment #3)
> there is an arrow above the right hand scrollbar which does this already in FF,
> it's just a little hidden

But it only does it for the current window, not all of them.

Comment 5

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

here, here - definitely something is needed!  I'd prefer such a list show when the tab/page was loaded (context)
(me = currently 40 windows, 3-15 tabs per)

But I submit there is a need for a more general purpose solution, which perhaps exceeds your needs.  Consider, there is a variety of use cases and needs, and that the power and use of tabs has changed drastically in the last couple years (and I doubt we've seen the end of that evolution)
- you don't or do remember tab title, or when it was opened
- 10+ open windows each with 10+ tabs, which prob shouldn't (or can't) be presented as a simple list of all open tabs
- session restore enables one to reopen one's work space in a new instance, IOW you don't have to close out your work in progress
- etc

Some existing tab bugs:
Bug 102129 – Add an option to include all titles of TABs in window title
Bug 255768 – Modify the Window Title bar to show tabs are open
Bug 368846 – Find text in all open tabs/pages 
Bug 328613 – Add an option for finding in all tabs 
Bug 268318 – Highlight on Findbar should have ... apply search to all tabs
Bug 236798 – All currently open tabs should be listed in a sidebar, grouped by window. (wontfixed by mconnor - IMO there is a lack of solution seeking/forward thinking expressed in Bug 236798 comment 8)

places UI
Bug 342919 – Include full-text search results in bookmark/history searches (analogy - full text search all open tabs)
Bug 331098 – Places should include a list of open tabs (wontfixed by mconner,
  he postulates the solution is Bug 221684 When opening too
  many tabs you can't move to them with the mouse)
Bug 387749 – add an item detail pane to the organizer
Bug 393510 – Mockup: Places Organizer - Advanced Search 

I don't know if "places" is the best place UI for a general purpose solution, but it _has_ much of the UI and functionality (or could) to find and display info about active tabs.  Or maybe this is fodder for an extension for power users.

Comment 6

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

How about what bug 343846 proposes? it's better than nothing. :)

Comment 7

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

This would make our window menu unusual, and comment 2 suggests there are alternative ways to address this use case.