Edit: got confused, I don’t open firefox subjects in a new workspace, just a new window. And, within that workspace, I can have I guess unlimited Firefox windows open, ALL showing the text of the focused tab.
Hello, XFCE4/Firefox. I like opening new windows in a new workspace. Separation of subjects etc. My longtime home laptop currently has 6 windows open (I have 6 workspaces, 6 Firefox windows is a lot for me), each showing text for the focused tab. Very handy!
My longtime “field” laptop XFCE4/Firefox has usually only had one window open, but I am needing to expand that. I don’t think I ever noticed with just one window, but there is no text in the panel workspace showing focused tab.
How did I get there on the home laptop? I tried internet search, right clicking panel to examine preferences, forum search.
thank you
If I understand your predicament correctly, you are perhaps looking for a panel item called “Workspace Switcher”?
(right click on panel → add new item …)
You can switch workspaces without it - there are two by default.
CTRL+ALT+left or right arrow
You can simply compare the list of items in each machines panel - it’s probably easy to spot the difference and then you also have the name of what you are looking for.
Ah! Good idea, comparing the panel list on each machine. Thanks! I do see “workspace switcher” on the home machine (that shows text of focused tab), I’ll check out the Field machine next time it’s open.
I’ve always just changed workspaces with the mouse. Using a ball type, cursor moves very quickly. Without the text of the focused tab, though, there’s no reminder what you’re changing to.
Perhaps even easier (for the purpose of comparing the list):
the settings accessible from the menu
or directly call: xfce4-settings-manager
There is an item “Panel” and this has three tabs, the third is “Objects” (or something like that).
There is the list …
Thank you, apparently I already made the 2 machines’ panel settings the same a long time ago. The only thing that is different is that the “field” unit with no text showing the workspaces are taller.
Edited my post:
Edit: got confused, I don’t open new firefox subjects in a new workspace, just a new window. And, within that workspace, I can have I guess unlimited Firefox windows open, ALL showing the text of the focused tab.
end
Anything open in a workspace will show text identifying it, file, picture, whatever.
Edit: tabs on Field unit are spreading out (but no text in workspace), “open in new window” is stacking on top of the old one.
What a mess, I’m going to root around r/firefox. I need this fixed, business concerns.
OK, I got confused. It seems to be something about Firefox. Both units already had all the same panel items.
Because I only ever use one window on the Field unit I never noticed that “open link in new window” is STACKING the new window on top of current open one.
Here’s what the 2 machines do to open items in a workspace. One picture is just Firefox in one workspace, 6 windows are spread apart and named, as I’m used to. The other pic is the Field unit with 3 Firefox windows dragged to a new workspace, no names.
Settings → Panel → third tab: Items
there click on “Window Buttons”, then select to Edit from the little menu below the list
(it’s a Hamburger Menu for me)
a new window comes up - at the top is “Appearance” and four check boxes
check “Show Button Labels”
here is a similar picture from a Mint system, so a different theme:
Well, “window buttons” shows text, but bizarrely the Workspace has a big Firefox icon, the open window is now in its own space, labeled, but over on the far right. I can’t drag it.
“Home” laptop has no firefox icon, just the open windows in a nice image.
And, these labels are over to the left where they belong (in the workspace)
I believe Field already had “window buttons” set up exactly like Home.
With Field there’s a Firefox issue of opening in a new window is stacking. Tabs spread out, windows stack.
I must admit that I have no idea about what you want to achieve, what is different between the two.
I just don’t get the issue from your description.
I could tell you how to reset the whole configuration to the defaults at installation time.
But comparing the set and checked options between the two and setting it to the same values should result in the same look and behavior …
Thanks. Field unit:
I have my usual 6 workspaces over on the left. One has a large Firefox icon in it, no
labels.
Perhaps this is what I’ve been seeing for years but never thought about it because I only used one window on “Field” and could see all my tabs (never more than 10 or so).
The focused tab in the open window just appeared on the far right as a label (outside of the workspaces field, I believe). This is new, it has the appearance of what Home does but all the labels are in the workspaces, and not obscured by icons.
I dragged that into the Firefox icon, the label disappeared.
Double clicking the icon, the label reappears, over to the extreme right (not in the workspace where the icon is.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this.
Well, you are making it very difficult for me to understand, because first of all, I don’t use Xfce, and secondly, if I understand you correctly — more or less — then you are referring to the desktop pager and the task manager by unusual names.
The workspace is the virtual desktop you are on. A preview of this and other virtual desktops can be seen in the pager, if you do indeed have a pager on your panel — I’m not sure but I believe Xfce comes configured with four virtual desktops by default, and with a pager on the right of the panel.
What you are calling “tabs” are most likely the task manager entries. And it is possible for a task manager entry to not show any text — which you call “label” — if the window is minimized or not in focus. I do not know for certain, but it’s an educated guess based upon my experiences with other window managers.
OK, sorry, thanks for trying. As far as tabs go, I’m talking about open tabs in Firefox.
I have 6 of what I’ve always called “workspaces”. When I hover the mouse over each one, it says, “Switch to workspace 1”, workspace 2, etc.
Here again is the pic of one workspace on Home laptop with 6 open Firefox windows, each neatly showing the focused tab in each window.
That is not a browser page, that is the labels shown within a workspace that has 6 windows open. I can then click on any of those labels and know which open Firefox window I’m going to.
The Field unit has none of this, just Firefox icons.
Then it’s a setting in the task manager configuration.
I don’t know about Xfce, but in Plasma you can right-click any part of the task manager — including one of the application entries — and bring up the task manager configuration from the popup menu that appears.
In addition to this, Plasma has two types of task managers you can choose from — actually three if you count the “window list” — being an icons-only task manager and a traditional task manager that also shows the name of the open window.
The task manager itself is a widget on the panel. So perhaps Xfce also has an alternative task manager that only shows the icons, and then that would be the one on the other laptop. In that case, you’ll need to find the configuration tool for the panel and select the other task manager.
That reddish picture shows a panel with a “Window Buttons” applet,
which gives you one “Label” for each new Firefox Window you open.
Beside it, to the right, is the “Workspace Switcher” applet @Aragorn called it “Pager”.
The second picture you posted is of a panel without the “Workspace Switcher” applet
and with the same “Window Buttons” applet, but configured to only show the icons on the buttons, but not the labels
(the Name of program and the website, in case of Firefox).
Configure the “Window Buttons” applet to show button labels (check a check mark as described)
and add a “Workspace Switcher” applet
and you have the same configuration as in the reddish picture.
Good eye, thanks! Both units had the same panel parameters set up a long time ago. I’ll have to sleep on this, there are severe time restraints… I may just reinstall Firefox on the Field unit as there’s still the problem of new firefox windows are stacking.
And you say you’re not seeing something, but panel preferences are set the same on both. Something is… messed up
I may have made some long forgotten change in about:config
Fortunately Firefox on Field unit is very simple/minimalist.
I’ve been here before, thanks