Enhance tabs

[redwing]

I think v3 now has got much clean and streamlined look especially for tabs. Probably that's the main area people would immediately notice differences from prior versions. But functionality-wise there's almost none newly added to tabs. Now it's time to build up some useful features on that groundwork. I'll start with the two.

1. lock tab to pin tab

Currently "lock tab" feature is misleading in that people might think the tab would be locked with the selected node but it isn't. With firefox or chrome, if you open another link on a pinned tab, you get moved to a new tab, but MB's locked tab is not locked with its content. What it does is only disable closing the tab, which is not much useful.

A while ago I proposed iTunes style horizontal navigator (http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=14253.0) but MB's overall functionality wasn't fully prepared for that such as managing playlists. Now v3 has got all the necessary functionality and only requires just one additional feature: lock tab in the sense of pin tab.



- If you lock a tab, that tab would shrink, only showing an icon. And you can't change the selected node unless you unlock the tab.
- Nodes with the same icon like filters & playlists would display its icon and the first letter for distinction. But when it's selected, it displays as full tab (Classical tab in the screenshot)
- Inbox & podcast node would show count.
- Locked tab would gather to the left (up to "playlist i" tab from the screenshot)
- If you right-click on a locked tab, context menu shows "unlock tab" & "close tab". If you select "unlock tab", it becomes a full tab and moves to the right.
- Locked tab doesn't show close tab icon (x) even with the mouseover and only can be closed via "close tab" context menu.

2. polish the visual



- I really miss uppercase tab header from endeavour1934's Win10 Style mockup. Please support uppercase and regular font option instead of the current bold font. Also tab header might look better when it's center aligned.
- Tab close button is unnecessarily too bright. How about making it almost invisible and only highlight with the mouse over the tab (not just over the icon as of now)? That would make tabs look better.
- Also consider adding mouseover highlight effect for inactive tabs and "add tab" icon, either auto-generated or as skin overrides.

[hiccup]

1. lock tab to pin tab
Currently "lock tab" feature is misleading in that people might think the tab would be locked with the selected node but it isn't.

+1 for the general idea of having a serious look at improving 'locking' or 'pinning' tabs.

There are many very good ideas in your suggestions.
But I do hesitate on the idea of making inactive tabs horizontally very small. This would work if you only have tabs with differentiating content (=icons).
But if you have several 'Music' tabs with different settings and renamed tab headers, they would all look the same if you would only see the icon of those tabs.

I also hesitate on mouse-hover-over close buttons, since that could be a 'problem' for touch interfaces.
And 'all capitals' for the tabs would of course mostly be a design choice. It might look good on some modern skins, but I am not sure it would on many others.
Also it might work o.k. for short words, but less good for longer, or several words.

[redwing]

But I do hesitate on the idea of making inactive tabs horizontally very small. This would work if you only have tabs with differentiating content (=icons).
But if you have several 'Music' tabs with different settings and renamed tab headers, they would all look the same if you would only see the icon of those tabs.

You don't have to lock all tabs you're using. It would be only a few tabs people use most frequently. Unlocked tabs will display just as regular tab. Also I suggested "icon plus first letter" for filters and playlists when they're locked.

And 'all capitals' for the tabs would of course mostly be a design choice. It might look good on some modern skins, but I am not sure it would on many others.
Also it might work o.k. for short words, but less good for longer, or several words.

That's why I requested it as an option, not as default.

[Steven]

i like the tab pinning suggestion and will look to include it in v3 or very soon after that

[redwing]

i like the tab pinning suggestion and will look to include it in v3 or very soon after that

That'd be great!