Forum Discussion

Former Employee

Oct 20, 2020

Discussion: Add ability to close tabs via double-click

Hey Insiders, thanks for your continued feedback to help us improve Microsoft Edge! Recently we have noticed a growing trend in requests to support double clicking on a tab to close it. Even just rec...

GraniteStateColin

Iron Contributor

Sep 28, 2021

Andrzej1, no, because double-click has a specific meaning to typical users. It means "perform default action." Therefore, if double clicking on a tab closed it, it would muddle the clarity of the UI, which means it makes EVERYTHING less clear. Consistency, more than anything else, is what brings clarity to a UI. Obviously, for you, you're OK with this, so let me take another example to illustrate the point. You're used to clicking on something to select it or activate it (like a button). What if in some programs, click meant delete, because that was a commonly needed action in that program. You could eventually learn that distinction, but it would make you perpetually slow or nervous to click on anything elsewhere as your brain would need to pause to think, "Will this delete or select?"

This is what adding double-clicking to close tabs would do. Double-click should NEVER = close in an official offering from MS.

I'm normally all for options, but NOT when the fight the fundamental clarity of he entire OS' UI. This should not be an option provided by MS. If you want it badly, commission a third-party extension to provide this feature. That's what those are for -- to provide non-standard functions that people can choose to install if they want to do something that's beyond the scope of normal system or browser behavior.

jarenduan

Copper Contributor

Oct 23, 2021

GraniteStateColin

Hello , good to meet you here, and I get your point. I agree with you that the UI logic should keep consistent and clear. However, for double-click to close tab, I think it may be not the case.

Would there be any problem if we make the default action (invoking by double-click) of a tab is to close it? I don't see any of it. In my imagination, this is just what Windows exactly should do, introducing "double-click tab to close" as the default action in all possible scenarios, such as tabs in future Explorer, Office, Visual Studio, and so on. Why? Because it is convenient, fast and easy to use. And I think there should be another default action for double-click in the empty space of the title bar, to create a new tab! Tabs are important, and we should develop some UI logic around it, not to avoid it.

BTW, maybe a little far from the topic, talking about UI consistency and clarity, I saw many people don't know why they have to single-click on a button, but to double-click on an icon. Why don't we just make everything single-clicked, just like using the touching screen in the cell phone? Wouldn't that be extremely purely UI consistent? However, that would sound like a crazy idea on a desktop computer, right? We have mouses with more powerful functions than fingers, and UI consistency and clarity are not always the first priority for UI design, practical functions and productivities might be the more important reason. The key to a good design is always about the trade-off between practical and aesthetic aspects, right?