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In graphical user interfaces in computer applications, a tabbed document interface (TDI) is one that relies on tabbed panes to hold child windows. This style of interface may work in conjunction with a full Multiple Document Interface (MDI) or as an alternative. In the latter case, it is more limited than MDI: it is only possible to display only one child window at a time in the parent window; they cannot be tiled or cascaded.Internet web browsers are notable for implementing this kind of interface (called tabbed browsing), an approach pioneered by NetCaptor, an alternative interface to Microsoft Internet Explorer. It was soon followed by Opera v6.0 in November 2001 (before this Opera only allowed a full MDI implementation) and subsequently adopted by Mozilla and a number of others. As of February 2004, most current graphical web browsers, with the notable exception of Microsoft Internet Explorer, natively support a TDI. Software, such as the freeware Crazy Browser, is available to add a TDI around Internet Explorer. OmniWeb version 5, released August 2004, includes visual tabbed browsing which displays preview images of pages in a drawer to the left or right of the main browser window.
One important advantage of the tabbed document interface is that it holds many different documents logically under the one window, instead of holding a lot of small child windows, though, if too many documents are open, the tabs can be rather difficult to manage or label. Another is that sets of related documents can be grouped within each of several windows.
Document interface comparison:
- Tabbed Document Interface
- each window contains several views displayed one at a time
- Multiple Document Interface
- each window contains several views displayed as child windows
- Single Document Interface
- each window contains one view
1 Example programs
1.1 Browsers
- KazehakaseWeb browsers Kazehakase is a web browser for GNU/Linux that uses the GTK2 libraries. Like Galeon, Skipstone, and Epiphany, Kazehakase embedds the Gecko layout engine. However, the author also plans to add the ability to switch between different rendering
- CaminoCamino is a web browser for Mac OS X based on Mozilla. It replaces Mozilla's XUL-based user interface with a native Cocoa implementation. Camino doesn't include Mozilla's email or composer components; it concentrates on the providing "just the browser" by
- Mozilla FirefoxMozilla Firefox (originally known as Phoenix and intermittently as Mozilla Firebird is a free web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and hundreds of volunteers. Before its 1. 0 release on November 9, 2004, Firefox had already garnered a great dea
- KonquerorIn computing, Konqueror is part of the K Desktop Environment (KDE), primarily developed for the Linux platform, but also available for some other platforms (including BSD and, recently, Microsoft Windows, although Windows support is very limited). It func
- KonsoleKonsole is a terminal emulator in the K Desktop Environment which runs on Unix-like operating systems. It supports a tabbed document interface, history, printing, and bookmarks. 2 included Konsole 1. Some applications including Konqueror and Kate use Kons
- EpiphanyEpiphany is the default web browser for the GNOME computer desktop. Epiphany is one of a family of web browsers that use the Gecko layout engine from the Mozilla project to display web pages. It provides a GNOME integrated front-end to Gecko, instead of t
- Mozilla
- Netscape
- OmniWeb
- Opera
- Safari
- ELinks
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