Ctrl-W is not consistent with Epiphany & Terminal

[jlnr]

When only one tab is open in Files, Ctrl+W does not close the window, but instead opens the home folder again. I think that Epiphany's/Terminal's behavior is more intuitive here - Ctrl-W with only one open tab closes the window.

[jeremypw]

If the design team is in agreement this is easily changed.

[danirabbit]

We previously decided against this because Ctrl + W is the close tab shortcut, not the close window shortcut. If your intent is the close the window there is another shortcut for that. But changing this would mean that we're trying to be clever and assume your intent instead of following what you told the computer to do.

For example, if your intent is simply to close all of your open tabs so that you have a clear "workspace" and you mash Ctrl + W and then suddenly Files quits, this looks like a crash and does something different from what you told Files to do (Close tabs).

[cassidyjames]

So, this is actually a bug with Terminal and Epiphany. 😉

[jlnr]

There's some consistency behind Epiphany's/Terminal's behavior: If you press Ctrl+W when only one tab is open, the window closes. <=> If you press Alt+F4 when only one window is open, the application quits.

Other apps like Scratch/Code and most "workbench apps" (where mashing Ctrl+W is especially common) don't close the window when the last tab is closed (or dragged out from the tab bar). Instead, they display an empty state screen with an empty/hidden tab bar, which ignores further Ctrl+W presses and typically makes it easy to get started with the next project.

Files is an outlier because it neither closes the window, nor does it display an empty state screen. It immediately re-opens a new tab with the home folder.
In a way, this is also a guess at what the user wants to do next; it could also keep the last tab open, or show a list of recent locations as an empty state screen.

I don't think either behavior is unreasonable here, but I feel that changing Files to match Epiphany/Terminal would make the OS both more internally consistent and more compatible with muscle memory from third-party apps (all browsers seem to work like Epiphany now -- and I would guess that browsers are where most people learn how to use tabs).

This is the best case I can make for changing this :)

[jeremypw]

Elementary apps are supposed to restore their state at close when reopened. If the last tab has been closed what is intended to be restored? In fact Terminal restores the tab that was closed which seems illogical. It seems more logical for closing the last tab to put the app in a sensible "initial" state. In the case of Code then there is a sensible "no document" state but that is not the case for Files or Terminal. Showing the user home directory is not an unreasonable default state, however.

[artemanufrij]

@jeremypw
first thing what I do after fresh install is to disable tab restoring for all apps.
currently it's not possible disable it for code. It was the reason for me for switch to another editor.

[jlnr]

@jeremypw Terminal's restoration behavior is both practical and logical in my opinion: If you close the last tab of the last window, the tab will not be restored later, because you really meant to close the tab -- closing the window is only a side effect of that. However, if you close Terminal other than by closing all tabs (most common for me: by rebooting) and then relaunch it, the previous tab(s) will be restored.

I'm a big fan of tab/state restoration, but I still prefer the "Terminal model" (closing the window along with the last tab), and I think the two are perfectly compatible. I can't compare with Epiphany right now without losing my precious tab collection :)

Definitely food for thought, though. I agree that the home folder is a good default state, I just don't expect it to be reopened immediately when I close the last tab.

[jeremypw]

@jlnr: For me, closing the last tab in Terminal does restore that tab when you reopen the app. When you say "the tab will not be restored later", what does happen and what do you expect? Have you turned off tab restoration in settings?

[jeremypw]

It does seem reasonable that at least Terminal and Files have the same behaviour as they are both show one folder per tab. But I am not sure what that behaviour should be.

[jeremypw]

It would be interesting to know what proportion of users turn off tab restore (or would like to if they knew how).

[jeremypw]

@artemanufrij : Have you opened an issue in Code? It seems inconsistent have this setting in some apps and not others.

[artemanufrij]

@jeremypw we could start a survey on G+

[jlnr]

Regarding state preservation of the last tab, this is what I see in Terminal (and I don't remember changing any settings):

1. Launch Terminal
2. cd Pictures
3. Press Shift+Ctrl+W, or middle-click the tab, or click the (x) in the tab
4. Launch Terminal again
5. I see one tab in the home folder (initial/default state)

vs.:

1. Launch Terminal
2. cd Pictures
3. Click the (x) in the window header, or quit Terminal via the context menu in Plank
4. Launch Terminal again
5. I see one tab in ~/Pictures (tab restored)