diff --git a/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/java/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/dialog/pref/PreferenceDialog.java b/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/java/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/dialog/pref/PreferenceDialog.java
index 2c16140dfa..3bc73cdf60 100644
--- a/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/java/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/dialog/pref/PreferenceDialog.java
+++ b/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/java/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/dialog/pref/PreferenceDialog.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.cayenne.modeler.dialog.pref;
 
+import java.awt.Color;
 import java.awt.Component;
 import java.awt.Dialog;
 import java.awt.Frame;
@@ -28,13 +29,20 @@
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
+import javax.swing.JButton;
+import javax.swing.JComponent;
 import javax.swing.JDialog;
+import javax.swing.JLabel;
 import javax.swing.JList;
+import javax.swing.JPanel;
+import javax.swing.JTabbedPane;
+import javax.swing.SwingConstants;
 import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
-import javax.swing.event.ListSelectionEvent;
-import javax.swing.event.ListSelectionListener;
+import javax.swing.event.ChangeEvent;
+import javax.swing.event.ChangeListener;
 
 import org.apache.cayenne.modeler.util.CayenneController;
+import org.apache.cayenne.modeler.util.ModelerUtil;
 import org.apache.cayenne.pref.PreferenceEditor;
 
 /**
@@ -51,6 +59,9 @@ public class PreferenceDialog extends CayenneController {
     private static final String[] preferenceMenus = new String[] {
             GENERAL_KEY, DATA_SOURCES_KEY, CLASS_PATH_KEY, TEMPLATES_KEY
     };
+    private static final String[] preferenceMenusIcons = new String[] {
+    	"icon-general.png","icon-datasource.png","icon-classpath.png","icon-template.png"
+    };
 
     protected PreferenceDialogView view;
     protected Map detailControllers;
@@ -72,20 +83,23 @@ public PreferenceDialog(CayenneController parent) {
     }
 
     protected void initBindings() {
-        final JList list = view.getList();
-        list.setListData(preferenceMenus);
-        list.addListSelectionListener(new ListSelectionListener() {
-
-            public void valueChanged(ListSelectionEvent e) {
-                Object selection = list.getSelectedValue();
-                if (selection != null) {
-                    view.getDetailLayout().show(
-                            view.getDetailPanel(),
-                            selection.toString());
-                }
+    	final JTabbedPane pane = view.getPane();
+    	
+    	for(int i=0;i<preferenceMenus.length;i++){
+    		JLabel lbl = new JLabel(preferenceMenus[i]);
+    		lbl.setIcon(ModelerUtil.buildIcon(preferenceMenusIcons[i]));
+    		lbl.setHorizontalTextPosition(SwingConstants.CENTER);
+    		lbl.setVerticalTextPosition(SwingConstants.BOTTOM);
+    		if(i!=0) pane.addTab(null,null,null);
+    		pane.setTabComponentAt(i, lbl);
+    	}
+        pane.addChangeListener(new ChangeListener() {
+            public void stateChanged(ChangeEvent e) {
+            	view.getDetailLayout().show(
+                        view.getDetailPanel(),
+                        preferenceMenus[pane.getSelectedIndex()]);
             }
         });
-
         view.getCancelButton().addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
 
             public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
@@ -123,6 +137,7 @@ public void showDataSourceEditorAction(Object dataSourceKey) {
 
         // this will install needed controller
         view.getDetailLayout().show(view.getDetailPanel(), DATA_SOURCES_KEY);
+        view.getPane().setSelectedIndex(1);
 
         DataSourcePreferences controller = (DataSourcePreferences) detailControllers
                 .get(DATA_SOURCES_KEY);
@@ -135,9 +150,8 @@ public void startupAction(String key) {
         if (key == null) {
             key = GENERAL_KEY;
         }
-
+        
         configure();
-        view.getList().setSelectedValue(key, true);
         view.setVisible(true);
     }
 
@@ -148,7 +162,6 @@ protected void configure() {
         registerPanel(CLASS_PATH_KEY, new ClasspathPreferences(this));
         registerPanel(TEMPLATES_KEY, new TemplatePreferences(this));
         view.getDetailLayout().show(view.getDetailPanel(), GENERAL_KEY);
-        // view.getSplit().setDividerLocation(150);
         view.pack();
 
         // show
diff --git a/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/java/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/dialog/pref/PreferenceDialogView.java b/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/java/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/dialog/pref/PreferenceDialogView.java
index 216be9a2e5..a885c7c94a 100644
--- a/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/java/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/dialog/pref/PreferenceDialogView.java
+++ b/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/java/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/dialog/pref/PreferenceDialogView.java
@@ -21,8 +21,11 @@
 
 import java.awt.BorderLayout;
 import java.awt.CardLayout;
+import java.awt.Color;
+import java.awt.ComponentOrientation;
 import java.awt.Container;
 import java.awt.Dialog;
+import java.awt.Dimension;
 import java.awt.FlowLayout;
 import java.awt.Frame;
 
@@ -32,13 +35,13 @@
 import javax.swing.JPanel;
 import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
 import javax.swing.JSplitPane;
+import javax.swing.JTabbedPane;
 
 /**
  */
 public class PreferenceDialogView extends JDialog {
 
-    protected JSplitPane split;
-    protected JList list;
+    protected JTabbedPane pane;
     protected CardLayout detailLayout;
     protected Container detailPanel;
     protected JButton cancelButton;
@@ -55,40 +58,32 @@ public PreferenceDialogView(Frame parent) {
     }
 
     private void init() {
-        this.split = new JSplitPane(JSplitPane.HORIZONTAL_SPLIT);
-        this.list = new JList();
+        this.pane = new JTabbedPane(JTabbedPane.LEFT);
         this.detailLayout = new CardLayout();
         this.detailPanel = new JPanel(detailLayout);
         this.saveButton = new JButton("Save");
         this.cancelButton = new JButton("Cancel");
 
+        
         // assemble
-
-        Container leftContainer = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
-        leftContainer.add(new JScrollPane(list));
+        pane.setBackground(Color.WHITE);
+        pane.add(detailPanel);
+        Container mainContainer = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
+        mainContainer.add(pane);
 
         JPanel buttons = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.RIGHT));
         buttons.add(cancelButton);
         buttons.add(saveButton);
 
-        Container rightContainer = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());
-        rightContainer.add(detailPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
-        rightContainer.add(buttons, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
-
-        split.setLeftComponent(leftContainer);
-        split.setRightComponent(rightContainer);
+        mainContainer.add(buttons, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
 
         getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
-        getContentPane().add(split, BorderLayout.CENTER);
+        getContentPane().add(mainContainer, BorderLayout.CENTER);
         setTitle("Edit Preferences");
     }
 
-    public JList getList() {
-        return list;
-    }
-
-    public JSplitPane getSplit() {
-        return split;
+    public JTabbedPane getPane() {
+        return pane;
     }
 
     public Container getDetailPanel() {
diff --git a/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/resources/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/images/icon-classpath.png b/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/resources/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/images/icon-classpath.png
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index 0000000000..eb409e6cd0
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diff --git a/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/resources/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/images/icon-datasource.png b/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/resources/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/images/icon-datasource.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0af40a5ad5
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diff --git a/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/resources/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/images/icon-general.png b/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/resources/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/images/icon-general.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f93f58748c
Binary files /dev/null and b/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/resources/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/images/icon-general.png differ
diff --git a/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/resources/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/images/icon-template.png b/modeler/cayenne-modeler/src/main/resources/org/apache/cayenne/modeler/images/icon-template.png
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index 0000000000..70cc18f28e
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