Re: [gedit-list] gedit 2.15.2 released

["Dimi Paun" <dimi lattica com>]

On Tue, May 16, 2006 7:03 am, Paolo Maggi wrote:
> You were not silently ignored. We know some people do not like tabs, but
> we as gedit developers, think that there is a vast majority of our users
> that like them.

This seems to be very unlikely. The vast majority of users open a file
in gedit once in a blue moon, and for whom it makes no sense to subscribe
to a mailing list and argue till the cows come home. It's simpler to live
with the annoying behaviour.

The only user group for witch MDI makes sense for a text editor are
programmers, and those are by definition a minority. And within that
user group, most people use _other_ editors like emacs, vim, Eclipse,
etc. for their programming needs.

Unless your workflow revolves around gedit, and you use gedit
_exclusively_, MDI gets in the way. Its as simple as that. Lets
look at a few common use cases:
  A. Open on-off file with the default editor to see what's inside
     Clearly the tab is silly, in the way, and confusing. Moreover,
     it eats precious vertical real estate.
  B. Open a few files for viewing (say as a reference)
     In this case, I need to switch between apps (say between
     console, and the few README files I have opened for reference).
     Instead of simply Alt-TAB'ing between apps, each back-and-forth
     takes a _lot_ more effort. Not only that, but I have to remember
     what files where opened with gedit/gvim/etc. It's insane.

In fact, the only use case where MDI makes sense is as a Emacs/Eclipse
replacement. But this is not the proper role for the "official" GNOME
editor.

> Furthermore, no one is paying us to develop gedit or
> donating money to the project. We offer our limited time trying to
> develop a fine editor, but we really have not the time to duplicate part
> of the code to support SDI and MDI behavior.

Fair enough. Everybody is free to cater to whatever niche. But gedit
is the _official_ (default) GNOME editor, and as such has a duty to
cater to the common user first and foremost. The bells and wistles are
a bonus, but shouldn't come in the way of the most simple and common
use cases.

-- 
Dimi Paun <dimi lattica com>
Lattica, Inc.