Split View == Viewports?

ladyslipper — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 04:16:16 GMT

I have a question about the Split View feature. The way I would like to use this is as follows:

I create a split view that displays two pages side by side.
I click another tab, and its contents are displayed in the view that was previously in focus. I still have two views, but one of them has been updated to reflect the just-selected tab.

This would allow me to create two views into which I can rotate the various tabs that I have open. In effect, I want to use views like viewports or "frames" (in the Emacs sense) to hold the content of various tabs that I select on demand.

The way it seems to behave now is that after I create the split view, if I click a third tab, that tab is displayed in the full window, overlaying the split view. It's as if the view and the content in that view (i.e., the tab associated with the view) have a permanent connection. This seems very inflexible.

I tried doing what I wanted in Vivaldi, too, but I ran into the same problem. I guess my mental model of how split views are supposed to work is at odds with the assumptions of many others. Perhaps Emacs has corrupted my mind.

To clarify for those who are not Emacs users: In Emacs, I can create two frames (i.e., windows) on screen. However, there is no permanent association between "buffers" (the files being edited) and frames. This allows me to display whatever buffer I want in whatever frame I want, or even the same buffer in both frames. I'm trying to do the same thing with the Split View feature, but apparently, it doesn't work like that.

topic Split View == Viewports? in Discussions

Split View == Viewports?