Window > Close Tab

[Handycam]

If you only have one tab open, Window>Close Tab closes the main window. IMO, this is incorrect behavior. The command to close the Window in other apps is usually named "Close Window".

I noticed this since I created a Cocoa Gesture to close a tab, like I have in Safari. I do this so that I can quickly close a tab without mistakenly closing the window. In OW, however, there is no way to differentiate between a tab and the main window.

[earthsaver]

Are you saying you want the tab drawer to close when you only have one tab open, to dynamically remove/disable the Close Tab command in the Window menu, and to dynamically change the Close Window command to Command+W.

Other than that, I think the behavior is perfectly intuitive as long as you can clearly see that there is only one tab open and therefore closing it will close the window. Further, you can tell there is only one tab open by the lack of a dot in the red close window widget; it only appears when there is more than one tab open, thus presenting a dialog confirming window closure that would lose multiple open tabs.

[Handycam]

Well, in FF, the file menu says "Close" (cmd-W) for a single tab. Open up another tab and now you have "Close Tab" (cmd-W) and "Close Window" (shift-command-W). This, I like.

This way, if I have a Cocoa gesture (or, in FF's case, a mouse gesture) linked explicitly to the "close tab" command, if the command is grayed out, my gesture does nothing and I don't inadvertently close the last tab.

[troyb]

Handycam,

I've filed a request for this, thanks! I must agree that I feel the current implementation works well but I don't think the firefox method is out of the question (though no guarantees you'll see this of course)

[Forrest]

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I find FF's method of simply renaming an action (eg, command+w is close tab sometimes, and close other times) a bit kludgey. I have never had an issue with OW working this way, however I have never used the Window menu bar item to close a window.

If anything changes, I ask that the method for closing windows and tabs via keyboard shortcuts does not change.

[Handycam]

It could also be a user pref.

[afb]

Handycam,

is Cocoa Gestures not allowing you to set separate gestures for closing tabs and closing windows? ... It works for me.

[udecker]

would the tab drawer being open have anything to do with your request?

for example:
if there is no tab drawer open and you have more than one tab, close would close the tab and go to the next one.

if there is no tab drawer open and you have one tab, close would close the window.

if you have the tab drawer open, and you have more than one tab open, it should close out that tab and go to the next one.

if you have the tab drawer open, and you have only one tab, it would close the tab? window? (what happens when you have _no_ tabs in a window?)

[Handycam]

is Cocoa Gestures not allowing you to set separate gestures for closing tabs and closing windows? ... It works for me.

Actually, afb brings up a good point: there already ARE two separate commands in the window menu. And yes, I can assign a gesture to either.

HOWEVER, Omniweb is not listening to it's own menus -- "close tab" will close the WINDOW if it's the only tab. IMO this is wrong. There's a "close window" command to close the window -- close tab should merely close tabs that I have opened. If there are no additional tabs, then "close tab" should be grayed out -- there AREN'T any tabs to close.

If this one thing is fixed, then the behavior would work as I expect. Assigning a cocoa gesture to "close tab" would never close the window.

Thanks, afb.

[Forrest]

If there are no additional tabs, then "close tab" should be grayed out -- there AREN'T any tabs to close.

Ah, but there is always at least one tab if a window is open. As it is, a window cannot exist without at least one tab. So it seems like what you're asking for is a feature request that a window be allowed to exist without a tab. If that's the case, I'm confused as to what the purpose of a window without a tab would be.

[afb]

I think what Handycam is arguing is that a window with only one tab (regardless of whether the tab bar is showing) is not simply a "window". That is, a window is a container for tabs, and after closing all the tabs in a window one should be left with an empty container—the window (presumably the empty window/tab that appears when opening a new one if one has them set to open "empty").

I don't really care either way; it just seems like a little semantic issue; the user would most certainly be able understand quickly what functions the menu items perform.

[Handycam]

It's more than semantics. With "tabbed" browser windows, there's a "window", which is the thing with the title bar. Within this window, it's possible to open SUB-windows, which are called tabs -- since in other browsers, they look like tabs across the top of the window.

Now, in the OW window menus there are 2 commands: close tab and close window. What I'm saying is that "close tab" should close each sub-window (aka "tab") until there are no more sub-windows. A command called "close tab" should not close windows -- that's what "close window" is for.

[afb]

I suppose I should have explicitly asked this: do you expect OW to close the "last" tab, leaving an empty window, or do you see that tab as becoming a "window"?

[Handycam]

I suppose I should have explicitly asked this: do you expect OW to close the "last" tab, leaving an empty window, or do you see that tab as becoming a "window"?

The latter seems to be the behavior in other browsers, and it makes sense to me. It would be odd to suddenly get an empty window without asking for a "new" one.

Usually, you want to close additional tabs to focus your attention on one tab (i.e. "close other tabs") and then continue your browsing from there.

This is not that critical, mind you. I'm just seeking a way to close tabs with a key-command or gesture that will not close the "last tab" aka "the window".

[Forrest]

The latter seems to be the behavior in other browsers, and it makes sense to me. It would be odd to suddenly get an empty window without asking for a "new" one.

That doesn't make sense to me. Currently, there is always a tab open. And since you're not requesting that a blank window be left up, it seems weird to me. If command+w closes each tab, except the last one... it doesn't seem intuitive or user friendly to me.

This is not that critical, mind you. I'm just seeking a way to close tabs with a key-command or gesture that will not close the "last tab" aka "the window".

This is what I was afraid of :( I like the fact command+w can currently be used to close a tab, and if it's the last tab, closes the window with it. This is the same as Firefox & Safari. In fact, they do both function the exact same was as OW as far as keyboard shortcuts are concerned.

[Handycam]

My bad. I agree with Forrest that the command-w should close everything, a la Safari and FF.

I would like ONE THING fixed, and one thing only: Gray out the "close tab" menu command when there are no more opened tabs.

This is also the way Safari and FF work, and solves the problem with Cocoa Gestures. If it's implemented just like Safari, I'd be very happy :-)

[Forrest]

To clarify:
Firefox
- With two or more tabs, FF shows Close Window (command+shift+w) and Close Tab (command+w)
- With one tab, FF shows just Close (command+w)*

Safari
- With two or more tabs, Safari shows Close Window (command+shift+w) and Close Tab (command+w)
- With one tab, Safari shows Close Window (command+w)** Close Tab is grayed out.

I agree that it's slightly strange OW Close Tab option works the same as Close Window when only one tab is open. However, I think both the FF and Safari alternatives are a bit odd as well.

*For FF, it just says "Close." This could be confusing as some apps have used "Close" to mean "Quit." In other words, it would quit the entire app. Just "Close" seems a bit vague.

**For Safari, I don't like how the keyboard shortcut for one option suddenly changes based on the number of tabs that are open. That also does not seem like a clean way to do it.

From a keyboard perspective, all three ways work the same so I'm happy with all three ways. I realize there are other factors here that don't apply to how I use the browsers in question. Maybe there's another solution that would be the best of all worlds. That said, I haven't cared in the past what the options were named, so I just hope that the keyboard shortcuts remain the same.

[afb]

From a keyboard perspective, all three ways work the same so I'm happy with all three ways. I realize there are other factors here that don't apply to how I use the browsers in question. Maybe there's another solution that would be the best of all worlds. That said, I haven't cared in the past what the options were named, so I just hope that the keyboard shortcuts remain the same.

Exactly. That's what I meant by calling it a semantic issue. I rarely use the menubar, so as long as the keyboard shortcuts work as they do, I'm happy too.

[Handycam]

Agreed. My only issue was that whatever the menu option that closes a tab is greyed out when there is one tab. So that a Cocoa Gesture mapped to that command won't close the last tab.

I mean, I can live with the way it is, I was just looking to maybe make it better.