Option for configurable tab width?

xterm.js inherits from term.js the default tab width of 8 characters:

for (; i < this.cols; i += 8) {
  this.tabs[i] = true;
}

I think it would be very useful, especially for space-constrained web applications, to be able to set this width to a lower setting.

[vincentwoo]

It’s certainly possible to change tabwidth from within a normal TTY: https://linux.die.net/man/1/tabs

This is more difficult on the web unless you want to have terminals secretly run the specific commands emitted by a program like tabs. I think saner is to configure default tab stop width.

Any program that does any kind of tricky spaced display almost certainly does not depend on hard tabs.

I think a feature as simple as options.initialTabStopWidth defaulting to 8 would work nicely.

[vincentwoo]

I am fine with whatever nomenclature you deem appropriate!