Repositioning file tabs - How to get it to work better (more like Dreamweaver 8) ?

[travise38589766]

[Due to a server upgrade, I was recently forced to switch from Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 to Adobe Dreamweaver 21.5.  I've encountered several issues with Dreamweaver 21.5.  This is one of them.]

In Dreamweaver 8, you can reposition tabs by dragging them left or right.  

In Dreamweaver 21.5, when I drag tabs left/right, I must be releasing them too high or something, because they often end up opening a new coding window/pane, which is really annoying.  I then have to carefiully drag the new window's tab back down to the original window's tab list.  This takes time.  Time which I could have spend coding.

Is there a way to prevent Dreamweaver 21.5 from opening multiple coding windows, specifically when repositioning tabs?

Also, while on the subject of tabs, Dreamweaver 8 lets you scroll through all the tabs horizontally.  Dreamweaver 21.5 instead has a double-arrow thing on the right which lets you select tabs from a drop-down.  While this lets you find tabs quickly, it doesn't let you quickly reposition tabs to the beginning of the list.

Let's say you have 40 tabs open.  What's the easiest way to move a tab from the 40th position (far right) to the 1st position (far left)?

Thanks!

[Nancy OShea]

Dreamweaver's GUI, Code Editor & Menus were completely rebuilt from the ground up in 2017.

It's not the same software it was in 2005. 

To swap tab positions: click, hold, drag & release on the same horizontal line. 

See about customizing your workspace. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/dreamweaver/using/dreamweaver-workflow-workspace.html

[travise38589766]

I find the tabs in Dreamweaver 21.5 smaller and harder to grab than the ones in Dreamweaver 8.  Also, in Dreamweaver 21.5, if you don't release a tab on the same thin horizontal line, a new code panel is opened, which is annoying.  In Dreamweaver 8, tabs always stayed within their horizontal bar, so it was impossible to accidentally open a new code panel.

So, again, I still have these questions:

1) Is there a way to prevent Dreamweaver 21.5 from opening multiple coding windows, specifically when repositioning tabs?

2) What's the easiest way to move a tab from the 40th position (far right) to the 1st position (far left)?

[BenPleysier]

Please print the following guide, laminate it and keep it handy for reference.

🧭 Dreamweaver 21.5 Tab Handling Cheat Sheet

A survival guide for ex-DW8 users navigating the new terrain

:locked: Preventing Accidental New Panels

Action	Shortcut / Tip
Reposition tab without spawning new panel	Drag tab horizontally only, keeping cursor aligned with tab row. Release precisely on the tab line.
Avoid docking mishaps	Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) while dragging to prevent auto-docking into new zones.
Undo rogue panel creation	Drag tab back into main tab row or use Window > Workspace Layout > Reset to restore layout.

:rocket: Moving Tabs Across the Tab Bar

Goal	Shortcut / Tip
Jump tab from far right to far left	Use the >> dropdown to select the tab, then drag it leftward along the tab line.
Close unused tabs quickly	Ctrl + W (Windows) or Cmd + W (Mac) to close current tab.
Cycle through tabs	Ctrl + Tab (Windows) or Cmd + ~ (Mac) to switch between open tabs.

🧰 Workspace Optimization

Task	Shortcut / Tip
Increase tab grab area	Go to Edit > Preferences > Fonts and increase UI font size slightly.
Save custom layout	Window > Workspace Layout > New Workspace to preserve your preferred setup.
Reset layout if things go wonky	Window > Workspace Layout > Reset <Your Workspace> to restore sanity.

Edit: It looks like this forum does not preserve the emoji's. This is an image of what the Cheat Sheet should look like:

---

[travise38589766]

Avoid docking mishaps

Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (Mac) while dragging to prevent auto-docking into new zones.

This doesn't work for me.  I tried holding Ctrl, Alt, and Shift, and none of them constrain the tab to the horizontal bar.  As soon as I drag a tab below the bar, a new window forms.

Jump tab from far right to far left

Use the >> dropdown to select the tab, then drag it leftward along the tab line.

This doesn't work for me.  If I select the last tab in the >> dropdown, the horizontal tabs shift so that the one I selected is the far right one.  I can drag left, but only as far as the (new) leftmost tab, which is not the very 1st tab.  For example, if I have 20 tabs open, and only 10 fit horizontally, then if I select the 20th tab, I can drag it to the 11th position, but no earlier.

Increase tab grab area

Go to Edit > Preferences > Fonts and increase UI font size slightly.

This doesn't work for me.  I changed "Proportional font" and "Fixed font" to 26pt, but that had no effect on the UI.  I even restarted Dreamweaver, but the UI fonts are still exactly the same.  "Code view" affects only on the size of my actual code, not the UI.

[Nancy OShea]

Don't open too many documents. 

Consider lowering your screen resolution at the OS level.

Don't drag tabs below the tab bar. 

If your mouse is giving you trouble, maybe you need one with greater precision. See trackball products below.

https://www.kensington.com/c/products/electronic-control-solutions/trackball-products/

[travise38589766]

How do I downvote an answer?

[Nancy OShea]

This user-to-user community isn't a popularity contest. We're unpaid forum volunteers and fellow or former product users like you. We neither make the software nor service it.  DW is what is it— on life support.

Except for occasional security updates, Adobe abandoned further development. It's been this way since 2021. ☹️

If you're unable to use DW, find another code editor— preferably, one that is in active development.
-- Codespaces (free, browser-based) - https://github.com/features/codespaces
-- Notepad++ (free) - https://notepad-plus-plus.org/
-- Nova (Mac only, formerly called Coda) - https://nova.app/
-- Pinegrow - https://pinegrow.com/
-- Sublime Text - http://www.sublimetext.com/
-- Visual Studio Code (free) - https://code.visualstudio.com/
-- Wappler ~ Visual Web App Builder - https://wappler.io/

Good luck. 

[travise38589766]

Nancy, sorry.  It's just that asking someone to lower their screen resolution is like telling a destructive cat owner to amputate their paws.  We shouldn't have to do that!

I understand now; you are trying to help people, but are not part of the dev team.  My frustration is with Adobe's dev team.  I can't stand the way they took Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 and made it uglier, buggier, and harder to use.  DW 21.5 a dramatic downgrade from DW 8, for me at least.  I am very, very frustrated because this is costing me and my company money.

I tried VSCode and PHPStorm over the past couple days.  I hated VSCode (even more than DW 21.5) due to its unfriendly UI and inability to connect to my server via SSH without tunneling.  PHPStorm at least lets me connect to my server, but it doesn't let me switch projects/sites (and therefore upload destinations) without closing files.  So it's hard to upload a file to a test server, and then upload it to a live server.

I will take a look at some of the others.  Thanks for the list.

And I think I will create a topic asking how to get Dreamweaver 8 to talk to a modern server.  If I can use DW 8 again, I'll be happy and you won't have to deal with my grumpiness on here.  Sorry again, and thanks for your help.

[Nancy OShea]

Use FileZilla client to upload files over S/FTP connections. 

It's free, it's secure, and it's regularly updated with the latest security patches.

Most commercial web hosts recommend it.

https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=client 

[Nancy OShea]

I don't recommend opening an excessive number of documents at the same time for a lot of reasons.  

But if you run out of real estate, click on the >> icon at the far right side of your tabs bar. 

You'll be presented with a list of opened documents to choose from.