Sublime Forum

Terminology

#1

Hi, I’m relative new to Sublime Text (having used TextMate for over a decade, and BBEdit before that). I’ve been using it for a few weeks, and by now feel that I like to dive a bit deeper.

On of the struggles I have is that I do not know the correct terminology.

For example, when I make a diff between two tabs, a frame(?) at the bottom shows with the diff. I did not know how to close that, and couldn’t Google for the functionality, because I did not know how that part of the screen was called.

Is there a good source naming the different parts of the window/screen below, including diff output, console, console output, file/project/folder browser, preview, list of headlines/defined functions, tabs, split view of a file, etc. Preferable also explaining the relation between the classes defined in the API (and relation between them 1:1, 1:many): window, region, sheet, view, phantom. One of the things that surprised me is that the is no “Tab” class in the API.

For easier reference, here are two windows with some numbers for common elements:

35
Screenshot 2023-10-13 at 17.38.35.png2654×1018 107 KB

If there is no good source, could you get me started with some of the terms?

Thanks!

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#2

Hi, welcome to the community.
I can help give names to the numbered items, no doubt that somebody with more time will be able to link you to a good source with more info or describe more themselves. :slight_smile:

  1. Sidebar. Note: Doesn’t show Open Files by default, but when it does it is often referred to as “Vertical Tabs” (and some users hide the tab bar). Mainly useful for showing open folders in the project.
  2. Main editor area. When it contains editable text, it is a View in API parlance. When containing an image or html, it is a Sheet.
  3. Another pane or group which also contains Views and Sheets / which are shown as tabs.
  4. Inactive tab
  5. I guess part of a multi-select tab
  6. Active tab
  7. Python Console (history panel)
  8. On the left, the Python Console Input widget, on the right an output panel.
  9. I didn’t see a number 9 anywhere
  10. Status bar
  11. Window titlebar
  12. Minimap
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#3

In addition to the above, the first video below discusses the UI of Sublime in particular and the various things you can do with it. It does not discuss things like the Minimap or how to close panels though (that is the Esc key or the menu item in the panel chooser).

For terminology related to the API in general, see the second video below, which is part of my Plugin 101 video series that teaches you how to create packages and plugins in Sublime.

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#4

Thanks!
@kingkeith, especially the “View”, “Sheet” and “Pane”/“Group” terminology is useful here! (I was looking for “tab”, and had trouble find the right info). 5 was a split view by the way.
@OdatNurd, thanks for the esc tip, and the useful video links.
I appreciate the time both of you took to reply.

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