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1) When I open a new file (e.g. by pressing the "Go To Source" shortcut, or double click in Files window), the new tab seems to be placed randomly among the existing tabs... usually at the end, but not always. I expect it to always appear at the end, but the current action seems random. The result is that when I open a chain of several related files, they may be spread far apart and scrolled off the visible tabs, so navigation between them is cumbersome. 2) When I use "Go To Source" to investigate a chain of classes, the new file opens in a new tab with the current focus. This works great. When I'm done with that fork of an investigation, I close that tab (click on tab's X, or CMD-W on my Mac). Now I *need* to see the previous window (where I previously selected Go To Source) but unfortunately the focus traverses to the next tab in visual order of tab on the screen, not in my chain of working order. This is more troublesome when some of the files in the chain were previously opened in other tabs so the editor (properly) sets the focus to the existing tab when it is the result of Go To Source... so the tab stays in its place. I think the solution to both problems is the same: Always open new files at the end AND move existing tabs to the end when they receive focus indirectly (via Go To Source or re-selecting via Files window). This will create both a visual and logical stack so tab traversals will naturally follow workflow. I have tried using the "Go Back To" and "Last Edit" toolbar buttons, but they are an extra (I think unnecessary) step, and they don't seem to correctly track my workflow for some reason.
I'm changing this from an enhancement to a defect. I think the behavior is simply broken. Although it initially seems minor, I'm suggesting a priority of P3 since it affects the general productivity of all NetBeans users. If I may be so bold, it "insults" the quality of all the other workflow features that NetBeans users now enjoy. When I have a dozen tabs open, then close them (press the 'x' on the tab) starting on the far right, the next tab that gains focus is somewhat random. It should be the next right-most tab. Instead it sometimes jumps to some other tab. See previous comment for in-depth info.
the first part of the issue is a duplicate of #121218, i think and the second part probably contradicts with other people's view of how the editor tabs should work, see e.g. #125995
Passing to Standa, this could be good candidate for visual option IMHO, as people seems to have contradicting tastes.
fixed - there's a new option in tools/options where user can choose between the most recent document and next document being activated when a document is closed f017df586cb4