I'm sure like me, you all have multiple Photoshop documents/projects on the go at the same time. Well as soon as you get to around 5 or more documents open at once, the tab list of documents no longer fit across the toolbar.
It's also equally frustrating that the active tab you're currently working on doesn't just display the name of the psd, but also displays the name of the currently selected layer (like I care), the zoom level (why on earth?!) and the colour mode (meh?). I'm confident that there are ways in which Adobe could change the layout of the tabs and I have a few ideas which could work. Let me know what you think. And if you have any other good ideas, leave a comment:
Note, I've listed these in order of 'usefullness'. The first being less helpful and the final option being most useful.
The least effective, but simplest change:
This update would not solve the issue, certainly not for me but others may disagree. However, it would make a small difference. At the very least, why not just remove the unnecessary text/information from the tab (selected layer, zoom level, colour mode). It's not helpful in any way, shape, or form. and all tabs would be the same size, regardless of whether they're active or not.
Extra small text:
I found that in preferences - workspace there is an option for large tabs which is turned on by default I turned this off and it the tabs are made smaller. Yay, right!
...No. The tab is adjusted by its height and not the width 😞
So, how about an extra option called something like, "Extra Small Tabs" which just reduces the text size on the tab, thus making it smaller and more will appear across the toolbar.
Scroll tabs:
So this one I'm dubious about as there's room for user error. But an option to allow the ability to scroll across the tab toolbar would help. When you hover the cursor over the toolbar and scroll your mouse wheel, the tab bar would scroll left and right. Again, user error could be an issue here. I would certainly find it annoying if I accidentally moved by mouse to the wrong part of the screen when it's 3am and I'm sleep deprived, only to see tabs moving around! Still, food for thought.
Tab width slider:
This edit would be a fantastic approach, in my opinion. An option in the preferences to allow users to slide the width of the tabs down. Think MS Excel and altering the column width. Hey presto!
Span the tabs toolbar to the entire window width
Allow the tabs toolbar to span across the entire width of the window = more visible tabs! 5/6 visible tabs now become 9/10 tabs. I honestly don't know why this isn't a thing anyway to be honest. It's possible to move all other groups/toolbars/windows/etc. So why not the file tabs?!
Stacked tabs!
Now this one, I'm most proud of. It's sooooo simple and the effect would be great. Also, combine it with the point above and you're onto a winner! As soon as the amount of tabs open becomes too many for the width of the space, why not stack the tabs on top of each other. I'm sure I've seen web browsers do this in the past. Maybe on Firefox or Opera, or one of those dormant browsers. Yes, the stacked tabs would start to eat into your workspace. But, combine it with the ability to have tabs fill up the entire screen width AND combine it with the aforementioned 'Large Tabs' option currently available in preferences and this is gold.
Let me know what you think. Add suggestions. Rip my ideas apart if you want, I don't really care. Let's just try and see if we can change this, once and for all!
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