520151 - Provide 'Single Tab Mode' (option to disable/hide tabs completely) - please!

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Thunderbird :: Toolbars and Tabs, enhancement)

Description

[Charles]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3
Build Identifier: All

Hello,

I'm a very long time TBird user (since about v0.8 or so), and while the have always been bumps in the road, I've always been very happy with it overall. When I first started reading about some of the IMAP improvements in TB3, I got/am very excited... but...

I would like to beg (since I'm not a programmer, that's all I can do) that there be an option to provide a 'Single Tab View' mode, so that any action that now opens a new Tab, will simply open in the current Tab, thus completely and totally killing the Tab functionality in Thunderbird. I hate it. I understand the argument, and have no problem with anyone who likes it, but I hate it.

I have a netbook, and have a heavily modified minimalist UI in TB2 that I love, and do not want to change (attachment to follow).

This way, when I set the preference to hide the Tab bar when only one Tab is open, I will never, ever see the Tab bar.

Thanks for listening...

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[Charles]

Attachment: Screenshot of my my TB2 minimalist UI

Comment 2

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

So does Preferences/Options -> Advanced -> Reading and Display -> Open messages in not do what you want?

Although I guess that only does it for messages and not the global search.

Comment 3

[Charles]

Right - Gloda, and Lightning too, but I'm sure there are others...

I definitely see the advantage for providing a finer-grained control over some things (like Messages), as opposed to everything.

But, for people like me, it would be easiest to just have a simple 'Single Tab Mode' option, that would auto redirect any call to open a new Tab to open that tab in the current tab...

Thanks...

Comment 4

[Charles]

> But, for people like me, it would be easiest to just have a simple
> 'Single Tab Mode' option, that would auto redirect any call to open
> a new Tab to open that tab in the current tab...

It might also be nice to have the option to open certain things - like maybe the Address Book - in a new window as opposed to the current tab, but I can certainly live with the current tab for now...

Comment 5

[Charles]

Ok, I have been playing with the betas and RCs, trying to give the Tabs a chance, but I'm sorry... I just cannot stand them, and I just installed the release version on one of our users home PCs and they didn't like them either.

Its funny - Firefox has a 'single window mode' option, but I LOVE tabs in Firefox. I tried to like them in TBird, I really did, but it ain't happenin. Don't ask me why.

Is there any chance *at all* that adding a 'single window mode' option for TB 3 will be considered? Or, are there at least the hooks available for an extension to accomplish this?

Also - for those who DO like tabs in TBird - shouldn't there should be a way to open a set of Tabs (ie, Inbox, Sent folder and Address Book), then define this as your 'Start Page - again, just like you can with Firefox? And to lock them too, so you're Inbox isn't always getting replaced with your Sent Folder?

There are currently zero options available for managing Tabs in the GUI right now, but I'm guessing/hoping that since this is the very first version with support for Tabs, that work will be ongoing to enhance Tab functionality, and hopefully provide some UI for setting Tab behavior option.

Anyway, I sincerely hope hope hope that consideration will be given to those of us who like 'options', and I want the option of no tabs. There have got to be others like me out there... ?

Comment 6

[pisoir]

I am saying amen to this request. In my opinion, tabs in mail programs have no useful meaning..it's something completely different than tabs in firefox (internet browsers) where it is reasonable to have separate pages on separate tabs. Other than that, thunderbird 3 is really nice (though I'm still missing some things like calendar).

Comment 7

[Charles]

You can use the nightly version of lightning:

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/nightly/2009/12/2009-12-09-03-comm-1.9.1/win32-xpi/

Comment 8

[Owl]

Can't stand the tabs.  Tried it.  Tried to like it.  No good.

In addition, 6, or 8, or 10 tabs open for the same email completely filling the tab bar with the same subject.  Seems to me that tabbing Thunderbird fixed something that wasn't broken.

Please provide an option to disable tabs.

Comment 9

[Charles]

While I would still really like to see a simple, straight-forward way to just:

[x] 'Disable Tabs'

you can almost accomplish it by simply:

1. Set Tools > Options > Advanced > Reading & Display > Open messages in

to 'A new message window'

and

2. Open the config editor (about:config) (press Alt+C), and set 'mail.tabs.autoHide' to true.

Now the only things that will open in a tab are the Calendar, and GLODA search results (which I don't use either).

After a few months working like this, I find it a tolerable workaround.

Comment 10

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Created an attachment (id=404234) [details]
> Screenshot of my my TB2 minimalist UI

Charles, could you provide a real size screenshot? It's a bit small...
Where do the gaps in front of some toolbar buttons on the main toolbar come from?

Comment 11

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Pls remove any private data like your email address or other peoples email addresses before posting the screenshot

Comment 12

[Charles]

(In reply to comment #10)
> Where do the gaps in front of some toolbar buttons on the main toolbar come
> from?

Spaces intentionally added via View> Toolbars > Customize...

Comment 13

[Charles]

Attachment: My TB3 minimalist UI - Menu Toolbar Showing

Larger screenshot of my minimalist UI (now TB3) - Menu Toolbar Showing

Comment 14

[Charles]

Attachment: My TB3 minimalist UI - Menu Toolbar Hidden

Screenshot of my minimalist UI (now TB3) - Menu Toolbar Hidden

Comment 15

[Charles]

(In reply to comment #10)
> (In reply to comment #1)
> > Created an attachment (id=404234) [details] [details]
> > Screenshot of my my TB2 minimalist UI
> 
> Charles, could you provide a real size screenshot? It's a bit small...

Done...

I accomplish the hidden menu bar using the most excellent HideMenuBar extension, which makes it work like the Windows Taskbar Show/Hide - when I mous-over the Window Title Bar, the menu bar drops down so I can access it, otherwise it stays hidden... :)

Comment 16

[Owl]

(In reply to comment #9)
> While I would still really like to see a simple, straight-forward way to just:
> 
> [x] 'Disable Tabs'
> 
> you can almost accomplish it by simply:
> 
> 1. Set Tools > Options > Advanced > Reading & Display > Open messages in
> 
> to 'A new message window'
> 
> and
> 
> 2. Open the config editor (about:config) (press Alt+C), and set
> 'mail.tabs.autoHide' to true.
> 
> Now the only things that will open in a tab are the Calendar, and GLODA search
> results (which I don't use either).
> 
> After a few months working like this, I find it a tolerable workaround.

WOW!  Thanks, Charles.  Exactly what I was looking for!  It's nice to like Thunderbird again!

Comment 17

[Micah Gersten]

This seems like a reasonable request especially for netbooks.

Comment 18

[David Chmelik]

I also hate tabs in email programs. They are nice in some web browsers, but not email programs (IMO.) Please add an option to completely disable them.

Comment 19

[Blake Winton (:bwinton) (:☕️)]

Being completely honest, this is unlikely to ever become an option in the main Thunderbird code.  The UI is moving towards more different kinds of tabs, not fewer.

Fortunately, all the hooks should be there for an extension to offer this.  If someone wants to develop that extension, and finds things missing, _please_ file bugs, and cc me, and I'll help get them fixed.

Thanks,
Blake.

Comment 20

[Launchpad]

Florian Hars added the following comment to Launchpad bug report 581330:

I have to violantly argree that is one of the worst mis-fatures I have ever seen in a mail reader.

-- 
http://launchpad.net/bugs/581330

Comment 21

[Charles]

Resetting temporarily to Reopened to see if there is any chance of revisiting Blake's decision (since he is no longer active) and reconsidering a Single Window mode for Thunderbird?

I still have about an inch of wasted UI space on my netbook that I'd love to reclaim some day.

Thanks - if the answer is still no, then feel free to change this back to WONTFIX again, but I'll say again - it makes far more sense to have a Single Windows Mode in Thunderbird than Firefox, so to provide this option in Firefox, but not Thunderbird, just doesn't make sense to me.

Comment 22

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

I see nothing between Blake's comment and now what should change the decision.

Comment 23

[Charles]

And I have seen no comments at all, here in this bug or elsewhere, explaining the rationale for moving everything to tabs without the ability to not be forced down that road.

Not to mention the fact that in Firefox, where it makes much more sense to use tabs, the user still has the option to disable tabs completely, but with Thunderbird, where it makes much less sense to have everything in tabs, we don't have the same luxury.

Mozilla - and Thunderbird - is supposed to be a lot about user choice, no?

Note: one reason I revisited this old bug is because of the other change that disallows having both mail.tabs.drawInTitlebar and mail.tabs.autoHide to be True at the same time, and for which I have opened bug 1273199 to allow both of these to be true when the window is maximized.

Comment 24

[Charles]

Don't know how I confused 'Single Window Mode' with disabling tabs completely... corrected the summary, even though this is still marked WONTFIX, because I still think it should be fixed.