web browsers have a very helpful feature, "pin tab". Pinned tabs in browsers usually appear on the leftmost area of the tabs bar. They are usually tabs (i.e., websites) that the user visits very frequently. For that reason, It is not necessary to show the tab's name. As a result, a lot of space can be saved. A particular good combination is to also lock that tab, and asign a dedicated folder icon. In order to avoid locked tabs becoming smaller in width than the user would want, there could be a setting "width of pinned tabs". I would want to pin a lot of tabs in that way (folder icon, locked, not as wide as normal tabs).
yes, I used to be doing that in the past, but it was not convenient so I stopped doing that because ...
... the location of the folder tab would always be changing within the tab bar
... and because I am using those folders constantly, i.e. it would be redundant to have buttons as they are opened as tabs anyway 99% of the time
... -> and thus take up valuable space as I cannot pin them, which would make those known tabs smaller
... I often need those tabs to drag sth to them, for which the tab needs to be available prior to the action
At the moment I am trying to minimize the issue by making all tabs smaller in width than I would like them to be. The issue is further complicated by the Viewer Pane not allowing tabs to spread across the full area. (I am working on 13.3" which is pretty standard for laptops that are being carried around. Also note that I have already set fonts so small my eyes are hurting -- it is certainly not because I set the font too large; I even got comments I am crazy for having the font so small...).
Generally speaking I am working with 6 folders that I constantly need, plus another 6-8 random folders that I am temporarily working with at a given time. But I only have space for 8 tabs at the width that I prefer. When I open more, they will shrink (I configured this) and then 12 folders will fit, but only 3 letters are then still visible per folder name per tab, e.g. "(C:) Dow" shows on the tab for downloads on C:, and the locked folder "Desktop" only shows "(C:) D" due to the large lock symbol. (Like I said, in addtion also the info tips that are supposed to show the missing text, have the issue that they only show the full (sometimes super long) instead of just the folder name (plus the path), and also font of those info tips cannot be made larger in settings - it only affects e.g. info tips of files; of course using the info tips should be the exception, not the rule.)
I am now going to configure "C|Downloads" instead of "(C:) Downloads" to save some space, by the way.
EDIT
PS. I actually like that the info tips of the tabs are not affected by info tip size from the settings. It makes sense because of long paths to not make them large. I think it would be best to leave that as it is, and just add (above the path) the actualy folder name, in the same font/font size, but bold.
EDIT2
Oh, I just noticed I cannot configure C|Downloads to save space.
My screen is 16:10 / 13", I need enough space for the folder tree, the actual file area, and Viewer Pane. There is absolutely no space for folder tabs on the left or right. I do use vertical tabs in my browser because it does make sense there. For 16:9 monitors or usage scenarios without the Viewer, it might work, yes. But also consider many new laptops come with screen ratios even less wide than 16:10, such as 3:2 (15:10).
Add NEWTAB=findexisting to the buttons and they will find any existing tab that's already showing the path, and open a new tab if there is none. That should solve some of the issues, at least.
You can also give tabs arbitrary names. If they're going to be fixed/locked to a given folder then you could name the Downloads tab "DLs" or something, and it would keep that name.
Thank you for pointing to NEWTAB=findexisting because it is a good addition to
Go DRIVEBUTTONS=cdrom,network,removable,hideempty NEWTAB=findexisting
I was then wondering if "findexisting" is also possible to configure for the situation when you click a folder in the folder tree, but the current tab is locked. Because at the moment, this will create a new tab every time, even when that folder already exists in a tab.
I was able to mitigate most of the issues as follows:
I enabled double-click to close tabs which saves the full X-close button's space. Double-clicking is also more convenient for the situation when tab sizes changes due to space as the Xs then do not remain in the same space on the screen when one closes several.
I realized the large lock icon is actually not a problem in my case because I only use it for folders that I know, so the lock symbol "blocking" text does not matter (and like Leo said, if I wanted I could rename them or change the folder icon).
Pinning and thereby making smaller in width the locked tabs is actually not that helpful because an area where I click often would be kinda small as a result.
All of this allows me to show more tab text, and more tabs.
I was thinking a lot about how to improve things in a way that fits with DOpus philosophy;-), here are some suggestions:
I do still think an option to chance "(C:) Foldername" to "C: Foldername" might be really helpful in saving valuable tab space.
Note that in Windows Explorer, the Viewer Pane is thought of as an element "within" the file display: The address bar/search bar reach beyond the viewer bar to the right side. Accordingly, as an option, allowing the tab bar to go beyond the Viewer Pane in case of single display mode seems to me as a legitate design choice. It is only in dual mode where this would look inconsistent.
I was wondering if it is possible to assign a button that will toggle between vertical (left-position) and horizonal (top-position) tabs, without having to save it as a full Lister Layout. It would help in situations where a lot of tabs are needed, but otherwise horizontal could be used. Similar to toggling Viewer Pane on/off.
Thank you - I know how to get rid of them completely; I do need the drive letter to show for every tab.
What might also be a good solution: option "show drive letter except for C:"!
My folder tabs only show the name of the actual folder (not the path), but they do show the drive where they are located (because I configured that, in order to not mix up folders of the same name but on different drives, which can have negative results).
I am trying to use short folder names, but still there are situations where the tab size does not suffice to accomodate the folder name. This is a problem in particular if the first part of a name is the same as many folders have. But like I said, the vertical folder tabs quick switch option solves the problem mostly.
If you still care, look again. I have the drive letter, but not the parentheses which I thought was one of the things you wanted. Maybe I misunderstood.
PS. Another idea:
It would be cool if one could use a system that will assign tab colors to drives, or (alternatively) drive-ID. For example the user could assign
C: - GRAY (also called default)
D: - GREEN
E: - RED
or:
C's ID: GRAY (also called default)
HDD1's ID: GREEN
Network location(s) (?): RED
(I don't know if all network locations can have a unique identifyer.)
And also a catchall color that the user defines: all drives/locations not defined: e.g. BLUE. This will then mark all new external drives for example, once they are attached but have not been assigned anything.
Perhaps that will help freeing up space for text on tabs, plus actually make use of the coloring system on a daily, automatic basis.
Yes of course, but that does not retain a color for new tabs/new opened folders/tabs of a drive, or drive ID, respectively.
I often work with drives that contain similar kinds of information/objects/folder names, so the folder tabs look generally similar and it is necessary to display "(E:) " in front of the tab's name so I know that tab is not C: . If e.g. all non-C tabs were blue by default, then I would no longer have to use the "(C: ) /(E:) " driver letter display.
I guess in the end, the best solution would probably be the above-mentioned option for a shortened version: "C: Folder", instead of "(C:) Folder". It is also consistent with the other option "show small close button" on the same config screen.
That is simple and doesn't make things complicated. The coloring system idea would interfere with the current coloring options etc.