[Thunar-dev] Tabbed feature

[Benedikt Meurer]

Nick Schermer wrote:
> Thunar should be a light and clean, but smart file manager, just like
> all other components in Xfce. When I look at the PCMan screenshots, I
> really think it's a mess; buttons all over the place, tabs etc. Just
> my opinion.
> 
> Anyway if you guys really want tabs in Thunar, file a feature request
> in Bugzilla and wait... because Benedikt will probably never add it to
> Thunar*. Maybe this will be possible in 2.0 (improved thunarx, IIRC)
> with a plugin.

What is important to note about "tabs in Thunar" is that the absense of
tabs is actually a usability feature, and by no means a missing feature.
Adding complexity to solve a complex problem (lets say copying between
folders is a complex task) is just a sign of bad design or even
incompetence on the developers side.

Thunar's main goal is usability. As such, the goal is to make simple
tasks easy and complex tasks possible. And not mess up the user
interface with buttons, tabs, ... all over the place.

I don't understand why people think tabs would ease the situation. After
all we're talking about a file manager, which is a tool to manage files
and folders, and not a document viewer (i.e. a web browser) or IDE where
you need the ability to open a lot documents at once, or even a terminal
emulator where you need to run several commands in parallel and watch
their output.

Back on the problem at hand: Copying files between folders easily.

Thunar offers both the shortcuts and the tree pane. Combined with the
main view you can easily copy files between your folders. Atleast 90%
(if not more) of all users should be done with the shortcuts pane here,
if they wouldn't mess up their directory structure. But even then,
there's the tree pane, which can be used to copy files everywhere in the
file system with only a few clicks. Much less clicks/key presses than
you'd need in a tabbed file manager.

Besides that there's also another, easier way. Just Cut/Copy the files
and paste them into the target folder ("Paste Into Folder" actions are
available everywhere in the file manager).

So a lot of easy ways are available to accomplish a complex task. Why
add a complex way, which will certainly mess up the UI?

And even if the ways mentioned above doesn't solve the problem for a
certain individual (for whatever unknown reason), the logical solution
would be a twin pane mode, but not tabs.

> Cheers,
> Nick

Benedikt