*spinoff from bug 460960 comment 25* We need user documentation for tabmail.

Karsten, since you implemented it, can you give us a short summary of what this feature is all about? It's obvious that you can open accounts and messages in new tabs (in addition to windows), have a shortcut and a middle click option. Tabbed browsing preferences apply. Tab switching shortcuts (Ctrl(+Shift)+Tab, Ctrl+PageUp/Down) work. Other than that, did I miss something?

Regarding placement I think it probably fits best after Using Mail / Reading Messages / Choosing How You View the Mail Window.

While comparing with the existing documentation of Tabbed Browsing for the browser I noticed that MailNews (and TB) doesn't support reordering tabs using drag & drop yet (filed bug 519045). Bookmarking Tabs doesn't apply to MailNews. The remaining topics are What is Tabbed Browsing?, Setting up Tabbed Browsing, Opening Tabs and Closing Tabs. For MailNews I think we can go with just one subsection consisting of multiple paragraphs explaining what you can do (open accounts, folders/newsgroups and mails in individual tabs) and how (open: shortcut Ctrl+T, File menu item, context menu item, middle click; close: shortcut Ctrl+W, File menu item, context menu item, middle click, X button). We should also note that Tabbed Browsing preferences also apply to MailNews unless the corresponding bug for disentangling that is resolved in time for 2.0. Finally we may start the subsection with a reference to the existing Tabbed Browsing section so people reading that can easily see that it's basically the same concept behind it all.

(In reply to comment #3) > Bookmarking Tabs doesn't apply to MailNews. Yet! :) > (open accounts, folders/newsgroups and mails in individual tabs) Basically, these three modes are just different "states" of the same standard layout. You can use F8(old)/Shift-F8(new)/F9(old) or the respective View->Layout menu to toggle messagepane/threadpane/folderpane and thus transfer one mode into the other. (Selecting an account instead of a mere folder will imply hiding the messagepane.) > and how (open: shortcut Ctrl+T, ...which *clones* the current tab... > close: shortcut Ctrl+W, File menu item, context menu item, middle click, > X button). The X button placement is controlled by browser.tabs.closeButtons which we don't have UI for, but that probably shouldn't be mentioned in help then. > We should also note that Tabbed Browsing preferences also apply to MailNews > unless the corresponding bug for disentangling that is resolved in time > for 2.0. Yep, the pref splitting didn't happen for 2.0. Also note that doubleclicking a folder can't be turned off anymore: up to now, it either opened a new main window or did nothing, depending upon mailnews.reuse_thread_window2. This pref is gone; instead, doubleclicking a folder will open a new main window or open the folder in a new tab, depending upon browser.tabs.opentabfor.doubleclick. Also noteworthy, imo: - If you close a main window with multiple tabs, you will get asked for confirmation. - Switching between (mail) tabs will remember pane width and pane visibility. The last such setting will be remembered on next startup, but see bug 513515.

separate preferences for mailnews tabs would be very much appreciated. (I don't want mailnews tabs, but being addicted to navigator tabs, like the tab bar there always displayed.)