Conemu: Active tab is hard to see

[0anton]

Good morning Maxim,

I'd like again raise the question about the visibility of the active tab (not in the sense of active split area as Vitaly mentioned in the issue #164, but directly the tab area). Under WIndows 10 (and I guess Windows 8) the default difference between active and inactive tab is almost invisible, which makes it hard to work.
You can check what I mean with the following screenshots:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wofj7iy3q92ujgv/AAAUanJjY7XWTbYBXaBl8jXva?dl=0

Thank you and regards,
Anton

[nigurr]

+1 It's very hard to see active tab.

[Maximus5]

Why don't tell that to Microsoft designers???

[nigurr]

Can we move this to WPF instead of old Sys32 control. That will not be having this feature

[Maximus5]

.Net for terminal? Never. It must be portable and lightweight.

[nigurr]

Any work around for this? I must say I really like this terminal :)

[erichiller]

I think the ability to set the color of the active tab is all that is required. Say color_inactive_tab=#XXXXXX vs. color_active_tab=#XXXXXX if that is possible?

[Maximus5]

@variab1e Really? And how do you suggest to implement these colors?

[erichiller]

Sorry - if that is not possible - I do not mean to make it sound easy. I do not know the work/methods that would be required in this case.

[erichiller]

@Maximus5 -- one idea, if it is easier to implement -- would it be feasible to lighten/darken the icon in the tab? Or even if the icon could be changed. "Active" Icon and "Inactive" Icon.

[Maximus5]

No, dimming the icon is poor solution and it wouldn't be enough vivid.
Thanks to MS, developers have to invent a wheel instead of using standard controls.

[erichiller]

Besides being able to set an "Active" Icon and "Inactive" Icon -- the only other thought I have is -- only if possible -- to be able to set and "Active" tab title text colour and "Inactive" tab title text colour.

Damn shame otherwise.

Thanks !

[erichiller]

I realize now that the problem is particularly worsened by the fact that I have transparency. Is it possible to not apply transparency to the tab bar only?
Second alternative, possibly bold the active tab font?

[Maximus5]

@variab1e Nothing is possible until developer draw the TabBar themselves.

[alexzh2]

Please fix this. Really annoying to find active tab. At last add option to change font of text of active tab (for example set bold).

[Maximus5]

Please explain to Microsoft why their UI is bad.

[latonita]

its not about MS UI is bad. You won't get good UI in case you don't follow UI guidelines. :) And if not following MS'es - need to make your own.
Here is is tabs size vs tab colors - with current small tabs it is hard to see tab color behind text, eyes just dont catch difference

[cboos]

Just a thought: what about altering the formatting of the tab number?

The tabs have currently the following text content:

| <1> cmd.exe | <2> cmd.exe Admin | <3> bash.exe | 

I think it would already be helpful to hint at the active tab at the level of the tab number:

| <1> cmd.exe | *2* cmd.exe Admin | <3> bash.exe | 

(or use some more fancy unicode bracket characters, like ❰2❱, if that's possible in that place)

Alternatively, only keep <n> for the active tab:

| 1: cmd.exe | <2>: cmd.exe Admin | 3: bash.exe | 

[ryanerwin]

I'm with @cboos. Adding a character indicator around the active tab would be very helpful!

[erichiller]

Yes I concur @cboos this seems an ideal solution

[uahim]

@cboos that's a good, simple idea indeed

[cboos]

So here's a more concrete proposal: have tab templates support a new %* token for the Selected tab, which would translate to ⬤ in the tab name. See it here in action:

From a19bb4b8fb0185c6c6bf5cf50c5273d9a39b9ee7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Christian Boos <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2016 23:49:53 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] gh-552: Add %* format in tab templates for selected indicator

---
 src/ConEmu/ConEmu.rc         | 2 +-
 src/ConEmu/TabBar.cpp        | 6 ++++++
 src/ConEmuCD/ConsoleMain.cpp | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/ConEmu/ConEmu.rc b/src/ConEmu/ConEmu.rc
index 5f1f4a2..e9ec0f6 100644
--- a/src/ConEmu/ConEmu.rc
+++ b/src/ConEmu/ConEmu.rc
@@ -1007,7 +1007,7 @@ BEGIN
     RTEXT           "Charset:",stTabFontCharset,225,79,90,8
     COMBOBOX        tTabFontCharset,319,77,54,67,CBS_DROPDOWNLIST | CBS_AUTOHSCROLL | WS_VSCROLL | WS_TABSTOP
     EDITTEXT        tTabConsole,58,130,106,12,ES_AUTOHSCROLL
-    LTEXT           "%s - Title, %c - Console #, %n - Active process name, %p - PID,\n%a - ‘Admin’, %d - current shell directory, %f - folder, %% - %",stTabTemplateDescr,57,110,314,16
+    LTEXT           "%s - Title, %c - Console #, %n - Active process name, %p - PID, %* - Selected tab\n%a - ‘Admin’, %d - current shell directory, %f - folder, %% - %",stTabTemplateDescr,57,110,314,16
     RTEXT           "Maximum tab width (in chars):",stTabLenMax,8,168,123,8
     EDITTEXT        tTabLenMax,135,166,40,12,ES_AUTOHSCROLL
     EDITTEXT        tAdminSuffix,301,189,72,12,ES_AUTOHSCROLL
diff --git a/src/ConEmu/TabBar.cpp b/src/ConEmu/TabBar.cpp
index 5c912e1..60d0d61 100644
--- a/src/ConEmu/TabBar.cpp
+++ b/src/ConEmu/TabBar.cpp
@@ -1597,6 +1597,12 @@ int CTabBarClass::PrepareTab(CTab& pTab, CVirtualConsole *apVCon)
                    _wsprintf(szTmp, SKIPLEN(countof(szTmp)) _T("%i"), pTab->Info.nIndex);
                    pszText = szTmp;
                    break;
+               case _T('*'): // %* - Selected tab indicator
+                   if (gpConEmu->isVConValid(apVCon) == GetCurSel() + 1)
+                   {
+                       pszText = L"\x2b24";  /*"⬤"*/
+                   }
+                   break;
                case _T('p'): case _T('P'): // %p - Active process PID
                    if (!apVCon || !apVCon->RCon())
                    {
diff --git a/src/ConEmuCD/ConsoleMain.cpp b/src/ConEmuCD/ConsoleMain.cpp
index 71d2180..0e8cb5c 100644
--- a/src/ConEmuCD/ConsoleMain.cpp
+++ b/src/ConEmuCD/ConsoleMain.cpp
@@ -6980,7 +6980,7 @@ bool IsKeyboardLayoutChanged(DWORD* pdwLayout)
            {
                wchar_t szErr[80];
                _wsprintf(szErr, SKIPCOUNT(szErr) L"ConsKeybLayout failed with code=%u forcing to GetKeyboardLayoutName or 0409", nErr);
-               _ASSERTE(FALSE && "ConsKeybLayout failed");
+               // _ASSERTE(FALSE && "ConsKeybLayout failed");
                LogString(szErr);
                if (!GetKeyboardLayoutName(szCurKeybLayout) || (szCurKeybLayout[0] == 0))
                {
-- 
2.10.0.windows.1

@Maximus5, if you like the proposal and would prefer a proper pull request instead of a patch, please tell me.

(the patch also contains an unrelated change in src/ConEmuCD/ConsoleMain.cpp which avoids a "trap" dialog on startup)

[ryanerwin]

@cboos @Maximus5

Nice. This is great. Can't wait to see this come out in the next ConEmu Beta 👍

[cboos]

Thanks, that's perfect!

[ryanerwin]

I experimented with several iterations, and found that this snippet works great with the new selected tab indicator

%m ★ <m%M|M%c%m>m%M|M %s%m ★ m

I can always see which tab I'm on... No more guessing.

[rdslw]

This (different color background for active tab) is really needed.
I do understand it's not easy to do, but hey, recent gitlab HUGE problem with deleting production db, happened BECAUSE admin mistaken terminals he entered 'rm' command. Maybe he used conemu ;)

@Maximus5 that would be a GREAT feature for conemu.

[mikesigs]

Just putting my 2 cents in here. I think @cboos solution is perfect, considering the alternatives (or lack thereof) and it would benefit you @Maximus5 for not having to see this feature requested any longer!

[nigurr]

@Maximus5 Can you please consider this? This is really an important feature to distinguish between tabs

[Maximus5]

Sorry, but what "this"?
Anyone may configure their tabs like https://github.com/Maximus5/ConEmu/issues/552#issuecomment-266972278 and it was implemented long ago

[someoneinatree]

Other than maybe putting https://github.com/Maximus5/ConEmu/issues/552#issuecomment-266972278 @cboos solution into the default config (I'm personally using %m⬤ m), this works great.

Thanks for the great software @Maximus5 !

[randsu]

For a really visible big black square on active tab, go to:
Settings → Main → Tab Bar → Console, and then paste:

%m⬛ m %s

Works great 👌

[remborg]

Thanks @randsu !
I went for a friendly frog face instead, with current folder and active process name:
%m🐸 | m%f | %n
I wish Microsoft thought about this...

[mikesigs]

I don't mean to brag here, but I think my icon is the best...

%s %m👀m

[BobSimms]

After experimenting with a few fancy unicode characters, I like the heavy check mark (U+2714):
%m✔m %s
(shown using Ubuntu as the tab font)