JupyterLab Desktop UI Modes
We are pleased to announce UI Mode features recently added to JupyterLab Desktop (JLD). JupyterLab Desktop now provides a convenient way to set the JupyterLab UI layout per project and introduces an new layout mode: “Zen Mode”.
UI Mode menu
There is now a new sub-menu under session menu, titled “UI Mode”, which lets you change the UI layout mode. You can choose one of the pre-defined modes or leave the layout management to the web app.
If you select “Zen Mode”, “Single document IDE” or “Multi document IDE” for a project, UI layout will update to the selected mode and it will also be reset to this mode next time the project is opened. Even if you made modifications to the layout using JupyterLab View menu, UI layout will still reset when the project is reopened. You can choose “Managed by web app” option if you would like the selections on View menu to persist.
“Reset to session default” option resets the UI mode to either to default of “UI Mode for opening a single file” or “UI Mode” as defined in the settings dialog (described in UI Mode configuration below) based on the number of files opened by the session.
Multi document IDE mode
This mode is the default layout mode in JupyterLab web app. Activity bar and side bar on the left, activity bar on the right and status bar are visible in this mode. Multiple documents and terminals can be opened at the same time.
Single document IDE mode
This mode corresponds to the “Simple Interface“ mode in JupyterLab web app. Activity bar, side bar and status bar visibilities are the same as “Multi document IDE” mode but tab bar is not shown and only one document or terminal can be open at a time.
Zen Mode
“Zen Mode” is a newly introduced mode in JLD which simplifies “Simple Interface” further by hiding activity bars, side bars and status bar. Zen Mode is great for focusing on a notebook document. It is the new default mode for opening a single notebook or creating a new notebook in JLD.
Below is a demo of “Zen Mode” in action. Notice that using menus or keyboard shortcuts you can still very easily navigate between different notebooks and terminals.
UI Mode configuration
Default UI Mode for sessions and for opening a single notebook can be configured from the Settings dialog as shown below. Setting both options to “Manage by web app” makes JLD behave the same as the JupyterLab web app.
Try it out and share your feedback!
Try the latest JupyterLab Desktop and share your feedback with us using project’s GitHub issues! User feedback from the community shapes the project roadmap.
For more information and updates on the project, follow us on GitHub and Jupyter Blog.
About the Author
Mehmet Bektas is a Senior Software Engineer at Netflix and a Jupyter Distinguished Contributor. He maintains and contributes to JupyterLab, JupyterLab Desktop and several other projects in the Jupyter eco-system.
