Both gnome terminal and terminator (which I am using on my laptop these days) can be customised to look very pretty. By using full screen and keeping desktop clutter down to a minimum it's possible to get a good-sized area to work in, even on my little EeePC.

However, there is one element that I don't seem to be able to control. Gnome's tabs are massively oversized and ugly at best. They don't fit into the theme at all which looks silly, but for me the biggest problem is the screen real estate that is wasted. On a small laptop screen in particular, it's a real problem.

Is there a way to change these tabs? I realize it's possible to put them up the side of the window, but then they take up even more space!

If this isn't possible with theme-ing or gnome configuration, are there any terminal programs like terminator that can handle the tabs themselves? (Ideally in a more elegant fashion!)