diff --git a/demo/MainWindow.cpp b/demo/MainWindow.cpp
index bf09f44..949591d 100644
--- a/demo/MainWindow.cpp
+++ b/demo/MainWindow.cpp
@@ -301,14 +301,18 @@ CMainWindow::CMainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
 
 	// uncomment the following line if the tab close button should be
 	// a QToolButton instead of a QPushButton
-	//CDockManager::setConfigFlags(CDockManager::configFlags() | CDockManager::TabCloseButtonIsToolButton);
+	// CDockManager::setConfigFlags(CDockManager::configFlags() | CDockManager::TabCloseButtonIsToolButton);
+
+	// uncomment the following line if you wand a fixed tab width that does
+	// not change if the visibility of the close button changes
+	// CDockManager::setConfigFlag(CDockManager::RetainTabSizeWhenCloseButtonHidden, true);
 
 	// Now create the dock manager and its content
 	d->DockManager = new CDockManager(this);
 
 	// Uncomment the following line to have the old style where the dock
 	// area close button closes the active tab
-	//CDockManager::setConfigFlags({CDockManager::DockAreaHasCloseButton
+	// CDockManager::setConfigFlags({CDockManager::DockAreaHasCloseButton
 	//	| CDockManager::DockAreaCloseButtonClosesTab});
 	connect(d->PerspectiveComboBox, SIGNAL(activated(const QString&)),
 		d->DockManager, SLOT(openPerspective(const QString&)));
diff --git a/src/DockManager.cpp b/src/DockManager.cpp
index 34e6e58..ca76413 100644
--- a/src/DockManager.cpp
+++ b/src/DockManager.cpp
@@ -778,6 +778,13 @@ void CDockManager::setConfigFlags(const ConfigFlags Flags)
 }
 
 
+//===========================================================================
+void CDockManager::setConfigFlag(eConfigFlag Flag, bool On)
+{
+	internal::setFlag(StaticConfigFlags, Flag, On);
+}
+
+
 } // namespace ads
 
 //---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/DockManager.h b/src/DockManager.h
index 63e1237..ce2cffd 100644
--- a/src/DockManager.h
+++ b/src/DockManager.h
@@ -123,13 +123,15 @@ public:
 	 */
 	enum eConfigFlag
 	{
-		ActiveTabHasCloseButton = 0x01,    //!< If this flag is set, the active tab in a tab area has a close button
-		DockAreaHasCloseButton = 0x02,     //!< If the flag is set each dock area has a close button
-		DockAreaCloseButtonClosesTab = 0x04,//!< If the flag is set, the dock area close button closes the active tab, if not set, it closes the complete cock area
-		OpaqueSplitterResize = 0x08, //!< See QSplitter::setOpaqueResize() documentation
-		XmlAutoFormattingEnabled = 0x10,//!< If enabled, the XML writer automatically adds line-breaks and indentation to empty sections between elements (ignorable whitespace).
-		XmlCompressionEnabled = 0x20,//!< If enabled, the XML output will be compressed and is not human readable anymore
-		TabCloseButtonIsToolButton = 0x40,//! If enabled the tab close buttons will be QToolButtons instead of QPushButtons - disabled by default
+		ActiveTabHasCloseButton = 0x0001,    //!< If this flag is set, the active tab in a tab area has a close button
+		DockAreaHasCloseButton = 0x0002,     //!< If the flag is set each dock area has a close button
+		DockAreaCloseButtonClosesTab = 0x0004,//!< If the flag is set, the dock area close button closes the active tab, if not set, it closes the complete cock area
+		OpaqueSplitterResize = 0x0008, //!< See QSplitter::setOpaqueResize() documentation
+		XmlAutoFormattingEnabled = 0x0010,//!< If enabled, the XML writer automatically adds line-breaks and indentation to empty sections between elements (ignorable whitespace).
+		XmlCompressionEnabled = 0x0020,//!< If enabled, the XML output will be compressed and is not human readable anymore
+		TabCloseButtonIsToolButton = 0x0040,//! If enabled the tab close buttons will be QToolButtons instead of QPushButtons - disabled by default
+		AllTabsHaveCloseButton = 0x0080, //!< if this flag is set, then all tabs that are closable show a close button
+		RetainTabSizeWhenCloseButtonHidden = 0x0100, //!< if this flag is set, the space for the close button is reserved even if the close button is not visible
 		DefaultConfig = ActiveTabHasCloseButton | DockAreaHasCloseButton | OpaqueSplitterResize | XmlCompressionEnabled, ///< the default configuration
 	};
 	Q_DECLARE_FLAGS(ConfigFlags, eConfigFlag)
@@ -159,6 +161,11 @@ public:
 	 */
 	static void setConfigFlags(const ConfigFlags Flags);
 
+	/**
+	 * Set a certain config flag
+	 */
+	static void setConfigFlag(eConfigFlag Flag, bool On = true);
+
 	/**
 	 * Adds dockwidget into the given area.
 	 * If DockAreaWidget is not null, then the area parameter indicates the area
diff --git a/src/DockWidget.cpp b/src/DockWidget.cpp
index fa2e363..5aae87c 100644
--- a/src/DockWidget.cpp
+++ b/src/DockWidget.cpp
@@ -289,25 +289,21 @@ CDockWidgetTab* CDockWidget::tabWidget() const
 //============================================================================
 void CDockWidget::setFeatures(DockWidgetFeatures features)
 {
+	if (d->Features == features)
+	{
+		return;
+	}
 	d->Features = features;
+	d->TabWidget->onDockWidgetFeaturesChanged();
 }
 
 
 //============================================================================
 void CDockWidget::setFeature(DockWidgetFeature flag, bool on)
 {
-#if QT_VERSION >= 0x050700
-	d->Features.setFlag(flag, on);
-#else
-    if(on)
-    {
-        d->Features |= flag;
-    }
-    else
-    {
-        d->Features &= ~flag;
-    }
-#endif
+	auto Features = features();
+    internal::setFlag(Features, flag, on);
+    setFeatures(Features);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/DockWidgetTab.cpp b/src/DockWidgetTab.cpp
index ca4ad27..1cbeddd 100644
--- a/src/DockWidgetTab.cpp
+++ b/src/DockWidgetTab.cpp
@@ -167,9 +167,8 @@ void DockWidgetTabPrivate::createLayout()
 	CloseIcon.addPixmap(normalPixmap, QIcon::Normal);
 	CloseIcon.addPixmap(internal::createTransparentPixmap(normalPixmap, 0.25), QIcon::Disabled);
 	CloseButton->setIcon(CloseIcon);
-
     CloseButton->setSizePolicy(QSizePolicy::Fixed, QSizePolicy::Fixed);
-	CloseButton->setVisible(false);
+    _this->onDockWidgetFeaturesChanged();
 #ifndef QT_NO_TOOLTIP
 	CloseButton->setToolTip(QObject::tr("Close Tab"));
 #endif
@@ -389,8 +388,10 @@ bool CDockWidgetTab::isActiveTab() const
 void CDockWidgetTab::setActiveTab(bool active)
 {
 	bool DockWidgetClosable = d->DockWidget->features().testFlag(CDockWidget::DockWidgetClosable);
-	bool TabHasCloseButton = d->testConfigFlag(CDockManager::ActiveTabHasCloseButton);
-	d->CloseButton->setVisible(active && DockWidgetClosable && TabHasCloseButton);
+	bool ActiveTabHasCloseButton = d->testConfigFlag(CDockManager::ActiveTabHasCloseButton);
+	bool AllTabsHaveCloseButton = d->testConfigFlag(CDockManager::AllTabsHaveCloseButton);
+	bool TabHasCloseButton = (ActiveTabHasCloseButton && active) | AllTabsHaveCloseButton;
+	d->CloseButton->setVisible(DockWidgetClosable && TabHasCloseButton);
 	if (d->IsActiveTab == active)
 	{
 		return;
@@ -546,6 +547,17 @@ bool CDockWidgetTab::event(QEvent *e)
 }
 
 
+//============================================================================
+void CDockWidgetTab::onDockWidgetFeaturesChanged()
+{
+	auto Features = d->DockWidget->features();
+	auto SizePolicy = d->CloseButton->sizePolicy();
+	SizePolicy.setRetainSizeWhenHidden(Features.testFlag(CDockWidget::DockWidgetClosable)
+		&& d->testConfigFlag(CDockManager::RetainTabSizeWhenCloseButtonHidden));
+	d->CloseButton->setSizePolicy(SizePolicy);
+}
+
+
 
 
 } // namespace ads
diff --git a/src/DockWidgetTab.h b/src/DockWidgetTab.h
index 3b8136e..894b57a 100644
--- a/src/DockWidgetTab.h
+++ b/src/DockWidgetTab.h
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ class ADS_EXPORT CDockWidgetTab : public QFrame
 private:
 	DockWidgetTabPrivate* d; ///< private data (pimpl)
 	friend struct DockWidgetTabPrivate;
+	friend class CDockWidget;
+	void onDockWidgetFeaturesChanged();
 
 private slots:
 	void onDetachActionTriggered();
@@ -125,7 +127,6 @@ public:
 	 */
 	QString text() const;
 
-
 	/**
 	 * Sets the tab text
 	 */
@@ -136,15 +137,14 @@ public:
 	 */
 	bool isClosable() const;
 
-
 	/**
 	* Track event ToolTipChange and set child ToolTip 
 	*/
 	virtual bool event(QEvent *e) override;
 
-public slots:
-	  virtual void setVisible(bool visible) override;
 
+public slots:
+	virtual void setVisible(bool visible) override;
 
 signals:
 	void activeTabChanged();
diff --git a/src/ads_globals.h b/src/ads_globals.h
index 72967bc..6561b39 100644
--- a/src/ads_globals.h
+++ b/src/ads_globals.h
@@ -162,6 +162,27 @@ T findParent(const QWidget* w)
  */
 QPixmap createTransparentPixmap(const QPixmap& Source, qreal Opacity);
 
+
+/**
+ * Helper function for settings flags in a QFlags instance.
+ */
+template <class T>
+void setFlag(T& Flags, typename T::enum_type flag, bool on = true)
+{
+#if QT_VERSION >= 0x050700
+	Flags.setFlag(flag, on);
+#else
+    if(on)
+    {
+        d->Features |= flag;
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        d->Features &= ~flag;
+    }
+#endif
+}
+
 } // namespace internal
 } // namespace ads