Tab reordering drag and drop approach is confusing #5227

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opened 2026-01-31 00:08:05 +00:00 by claunia · 0 comments
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Originally created by @andriysavin on GitHub (Nov 27, 2019).

I find it confusing from the point of user experience that tab reordering is visually implemented as regular drag and drop. It makes me feel that in addition to reordering I can:

a) detach a tab into its own window, like I'm used to do with web browser tabs;
b) drag a tab from one terminal window to other and thus move the tab between windows (again, like in web browsers);
c) and some users may even expect that they can drop a tab into some other app (e.g. embed it into a word document).

My opinion on this is unless implementing features mentioned above is on the roadmap, tab reordering should not allow dragging a tab outside of the tab panel. Instead, the tab being moved should slide within the tab row. A good example is how the tabs are visually sliding during reordering in MS Edge (Chromium version).

And even if tab detaching is planned, it can be done exactly the same as in Edge (Chromium), i.e. the tab header is not floating with the mouse, but is detached with tab content after significant mouse movement.

Originally created by @andriysavin on GitHub (Nov 27, 2019). I find it confusing from the point of user experience that tab reordering is visually implemented as regular drag and drop. It makes me feel that in addition to reordering I can: a) detach a tab into its own window, like I'm used to do with web browser tabs; b) drag a tab from one terminal window to other and thus move the tab between windows (again, like in web browsers); c) and some users may even expect that they can drop a tab into some other app (e.g. embed it into a word document). My opinion on this is unless implementing features mentioned above is on the roadmap, tab reordering should not allow dragging a tab outside of the tab panel. Instead, the tab being moved should slide within the tab row. A good example is how the tabs are visually sliding during reordering in MS Edge (Chromium version). And even if tab detaching is planned, it can be done exactly the same as in Edge (Chromium), i.e. the tab header is not floating with the mouse, but is detached with tab content after significant mouse movement.
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Reference: starred/terminal#5227