Wingware Python IDE

Home » Support » Index of All Documentation » Wing IDE Reference Manual » Customization » User Interface Options »

When working in the default windowing policy, Wing's main user interface area consists of two tool boxes (by default at bottom and right) and an area for source editors and integrated help.

Clicking on an already-active notebook tab will cause Wing to minimize the entire panel so that only the notebook tabs are visible. Clicking again will return the tool box to its former size. The F1 and F2 keys toggle between these modes. The command Maximize Editor Area in the Tools menu (Shift-F2) can also be used to quickly hide both tool areas and toolbar.

In other windowing modes, the tool boxes and editor area are presented in separate windows but share many of the configuration options described below.

Configuring the Toolbar

Wing's toolbar can be configured by altering the size and style of the toolbar icons in the toolbar, and whether or not text is shown in addition to or instead of icons. This is controlled with the Toolbar Icon Size and Toolbar Icon Style preferences.

Alternatively, the toolbar can be hidden completely with the Show Toolbar preference.

Configuring the Editor Area

The options drop down menu in the top right of the editor area allows for splitting and joining the editor into multiple independent panels. These can be arranged horizontally, vertically, or any combination thereof. When multiple splits are shown, all the open files within the window are available within each split, allowing work on any combination of files and/or different parts of the same file.

The options drop down menu can also be used to change between tabbed editors and editors that show a popup menu for selecting among files (the latter can be easier to manage with large number of files) and to move editors out to a separate window or among existing windows when multiple windows are open.

Configuring Tool Boxes

Each of the tool boxes can be also be split or joined into any number of sub-panels along the long axis of the notebook by clicking on the options drop down icon in the tab area of the notebooks (right-clicking also works). The number of tool box splits Wing shows by default depends on your monitor size.

The options drop down menu can also be used to duplicate tools, or move them around among the splits or out to separate windows.

The size of each panel and the panel splits can also be altered by dragging on the dividers between them.

All available tools are enumerated in the Tools menu, which will display the most recently used tool of that type or will add one to your window at its default location, if none is already present.

Creating Additional Windows

In addition to moving existing editors or tools to new windows, it is also possible to create new tool windows (initially with a single tool) and new document windows (with editor and toolbars if applicable to the selected windowing policy) from the Windows menu.

Wing IDE will remember the state of windows as part of your project file, so the same window layout and contents will be restored in subsequent work sessions.