Tab behaviour enhancements

Brass Contributor

A couple of tab behaviour enhancement suggestions:

  • Add option to use most recent order when switching tabs with ctrl+tab
  • Add option to always switch to new tabs when they are created

These are missing from Chrome and would be great to have in Edge.

49 Replies

@antlane MRU for Ctrl+Tab is a must for me. Not sure why Chrome has always refused to offer the standard Windows behavior even as an option. Opera allows it.

@antlane 

 

Absolutely. This is REQUIRED for my workflow, and it's ingrained in my muscle-memory. 

 

I need Edge to behave consistently with Alt-Tab when switching tabs with Ctrl-Tab. I need Edge to behave consistently with IE (which had this option), FireFox (which has this option), and Visual Studio, SQL Server Management Studio, Notepad++ (all of which default to this behavior).

 

MRU tab-switching option for Ctrl-Tab is a MUST-HAVE feature for me, and the lack of it was the single biggest reason I wasn't a huge EDGE user previously.

Yes, please, bring MRU tabs to Edge!

@quietlion 

 

Chrome refused it because some devs decided they didn't want it, then in typical fashion stuck to their decision with superhuman levels of stuborness. The basic argument was that it would be too confusing for new users. First off, that doesn't even address the question of it being an option (which is what people were asking for) and secondly it ignores the fact that every OS works with MRU so that's definately the expected behaviour for anyone who uses keyboard shortcuts as an integral part of their workflow. 

@antlane 

 

I would instantly move from Chrome to Edge if this were implemented. Currently I float between Chrome and FF, with the the option to use MRU tab switching being the only reason I use FF. If edge brough this, I would switch instantly across all platforms. 

@geoken2 

 

I'm currently using Opera, which managed to add the MRU option although it uses the Chromium engine I believe.

Thank you everyone!  This is a great discussion.  I will let the team that does tab management know of your beliefs.

As a reference, here's a link to the feature request on Chromium's bug tracker:
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=5569

It's over 10 years old, has more than 500 comments, almost 1000 stars and a ton of duplicate issues... More than that, lately, even @google.com & @chromium.org users got fed up and joined the discussion requesting MRU tabs...

Please make this happen! :(

@IonutBotizan 

 

You can make this happen now. Install Tab Position Options.

Hi @IonutBotizan, thanks for the link, it was an entertaining, if slightly sad read.  I will make sure that the tab management team sees this feedback.

@geoken2 

 


Chrome refused it because some devs decided they didn't want it, then in typical fashion stuck to their decision with superhuman levels of stuborness. 


I suspect it was leadership preference rather than developers. Anyway, it yet another time shows the value of extensions, giving users freedom of choice.

I don't know what dreams you're talking about; we're just asking for an optional feature (MRU Tabs). If you don't know what that is or you simply don't need it, please refrain yourself from commenting on this thread. You're not helping anyone and you're just adding unnecessary noise to this request...

FYI, I've been following that Chromium feature request for the last 10 years and I've been developing Chrome extensions since before the Chrome Webstore even existed and I'm not exaggerating when I'm saying that it's impossible to implement this functionality as an extension, using the existing APIs.
Also, the decision of not implementing this feature in Chromium was taken by a guy named Glenn (I don't remember his full name) that, at the time, was part of Chromium's UX team... What I remember though is a comment from him in which he stated that he simply doesn't like that feature, thus he won't agree for it to be added as a built-in feature, not even under an experimental flag...

@IonutBotizan 

If you don't know what that is or you simply don't need it, please refrain yourself from commenting on this thread.

Help me entertain the value of MRU feature pls. Would you? 

 

For me rational tab control encompasses proper close and open order augmented with fast switching btw last 2 tabs. If one wants fast switching btw multiple tabs in a certain order, is it really faster and simpler when you go beyond the 1st switch cycle than selecting the right tab from the list? Try Ctrl+Tab MRU by using Ctrl+Y .

 

Now, you are claiming that only Yes votes are allowed in this thread. Not the case. Its a privilege you don't have - and that's the exact behavior you object in Chrome devs. :smiling_face_with_smiling_eyes:

@sambul95 

 

The value of this is immeasurable. I simply can't work with "round robin" style tab switching with Ctrl-Tab... it makes Ctrl-Tab almost completely USELESS. 

 

MRU is the only logical, efficient, and sane method of tab management, period. If I close a tab, I should see the last tab I was looking at, not the jarring re-appearance of a tab I haven't looked at for a while just because it was "adjacent'. And If I am Looking at one tab, switch to another, Ctrl-Tab should take me immediately back  to the tab I was just looking at. And Ctrl-Tab should then allow me to easily switch back and forth between those two tabs, even if they're not adjacent. And if I want to see the tab I was looking at before that, Ctrl-Tab-Tab, and boom, I'm there.

 

It's consistent with the way EVERY OTHER interface works... from Alt-Tab, to Ctrl-Tab in Firefox, IE, Notepad++, SQL Server Management Studio, Visual Studio, etc, etc.

 

Not having it in EDGE is just … ridiculous. Frustrating. Infuriating. It slows me down and makes navigating more than two tabs PAINFUL. There's zero excuse for not providing this as an option. I cannot fathom how anyone can do any real work in a tabbed UI without MRU tab-switching.

 

@sambul95 

 

So the main thing here is that your solution is dependent on constantly re-arranging tabs so that current tab switching method (position based) works.

 

In a situation where one of the two tabs you're working with is newly opened then this works. But for people who constantly have multiple tabs open, its not as efficient. My work flow for example, involves having several always open tabs logged into various web front ends. So to get this working with your method, I need to first re-arrange all my tabs. Even then I need to switch between CTRL+Tab and CTRL+Shift+tab all the time (and also be conscious of which one I need to use).

 

Just imagine if the OS worked like this - forcing you to re-arrange your task bar every time you wanted to enable a proper alt+tab workflow. I don't think anyone would consider that viable.

@pmbAustin 

@geoken2 

I do work with multiple tabs and can see your logic, but is it deep enough? Did you try both extensions jointly: Tab Position Options and Ctrl+Tab MRU  ? Explore all their options? Now you see, the logic choice gets more diverse? The MRU definition more complex?

 

Now think of the basic feature you ask for: switch multiple tabs in the order they were looked at or created before. Sounds intelligent - at the 1st run. What do you expect to happen at the 2nd run? Where do you want to go AFTER you looked at a certain tab again? Are you sure, you always want to go to its parent instead of simply back or closing it? Starting from step 2, I doubt a rigid order will work whatever it is. ;) 

Can you define what you mean by first and second run. I’m not sure what that refers to.

@geoken2 

 

Lets say you have 10 tabs open. You read a page Y, open a link from it as next tab Z. Now jump back to the original tab Y - this is your 1st run. Read it again - now what? Where do you want to go for your 2nd run? Always to its parent tab X? I more often go back to tab Z, or close Z and Y. Logic varies, becomes more diverse, hard to fit in rigid order. Better choice seems to be a Tab List you pick your next tab from, beyond the last 2.

 

What I'd expect from Edge team - make it possible to develop a more flexible MRU extension. How big is the demand - just look at similar addons install stats.

The problem here is scope. We have a nail, and we're asking for a hammer to deal with it. You're essentially coming in and saying, "but the hammer can't cut my 2x4 so what's the point of a hammer".

The point of MRU tab switching is that you have a workflow where you're constantly switching back and forth between a few tabs. Like you're entering a bunch of data in a form and you're frequently switching between one tab which contains the source data and another tab which contains the form fields you're filling out.

The question of what to do once you're finished with this workflow (where you're switching back and forth between two tabs) is completely separate. MRU tab switching order on CTRL+Tab is not meant to address that situation at all so it's not really relevant in this thread.

Additionally, the questions you're asking are already handled by other shortcuts. CTRL+<a number from 1-9> already exists to switch to a certain tab. CTRL+PGUp & CTRL+PGDown already exists to cycle through the tabs in display order. So if your question is "How would you handle the situation where the user no longer wants to switch between tabs in MRU" the simple answer is that they would use one of the other shortcuts to switch tabs in whatever manner they prefer.