Firefox Sidebar and Vertical tabs: try them out in Nightly Firefox Labs 131

[asafko]

Hi folks,

Vertical tabs and a new sidebar experience that make multitasking and context-switching easier are now available in Nightly 131. To try them, update to the latest Nightly and go to Settings > Firefox Labs, and activate the Sidebar and Vertical tabs experiments.

After you do this, you will be able to see the new sidebar, but you will still need to add the sidebar icon to the toolbar to be able to expand vertical tabs. Click Customize toolbar in the toolbar right-click menu, and drag the sidebar icon to your toolbar. This is a temporary situation, and in the future the icon will be added to the toolbar automatically. 

A few things to keep in mind:

• This work is still very much in progress and has some rough edges, functionally and visually. You’ll see us improve and polish things over the coming months.
• We will be sharing our informal backlog of improvements in this post today, so you can get a sense for where we ultimately want these features to be.
• To design this first version, we conducted extensive research, talked to many Firefox users to understand their multitasking and context-switching needs, and prototyped extensively to find the best solutions to address them.

What we’re putting out there is something that we believe will help the majority of people using Firefox achieve their day-to-day tasks. We know there is no perfect solution for everyone and welcome your feedback to shape the direction we move forward in.

[yoasif]

I've been using this for a while (with some time off due to a bug), and this feature should not overload the sidebar in "expanded" mode.

The tab strip isn't part of the sidebar in horizontal tab mode, why is it part of it in vertical tab mode?

Edge (as others have pointed to as desirable - I am not endorsing, simply observing) does not do this - the vertical tab strip is its own thing in that browser, not part of a sidebar (sometimes).

This looks really janky and if released is going to be rightly criticized as being so.

The expanded mode is also very slow (can provide performance profiles if interesting) to scroll through using the touchpad like a mousewheel.

[madefade]

I wonder if a full size (overlay over the webpage) tab grid/list overlay with a mappable keyboard/mouse shortcut is useful and faster. Seems like it would lead to less mouse movement for tab switching and faster than using the keyboard shortcut for those with a high number of open tabs. Group tabs with custom hotkey for each group would be of help as well? 

Understandable that it will very likely take a lot of work to get this done.

[chrizli]

1. A short key or a button to switch vertical tab
2. Auto expend vertical tab panel when cursor hovers on it

[Pfize183]

Nightly 134 is expected to release tomorrow. Hopefully at least we get auto expand.

[BelFox]

This exactly!

[CapedCrusader]

Please, remove these two scrollbars, use just one, like Edge.

[CapedCrusader]

These two buttons should be one, like Edge. Also the "setting" buttons in the vertical tabs should be inside this new button.

[JBrickelt963]

I'd like to thank Mozilla for this initiative, I've been trying for a long time to eliminate tabs from my field of vision when I'm concentrating.

After several weeks of testing on the Nightly version and with Firefox classic on the side, I've noticed a feature I'd like to have, even with vertical tabs in the sidebar. It's called Firefox View.

I think it's a really nice feature, even when the tabs are on the side (I admit I'm having trouble with the new side history approach) and it refreshes the Library - History view a bit.

NB: For me, these are two complementary things.
I hope that my opinion will be listened to or that the functionality will last.

[JBrickelt963]

Edit: For Firefox View, I found where it was

Thanks.

[dawdaw]

I am a long time user of vertical tabs with "vertical tabs reloaded" and user styles to hide horizontal tabs. I have tried out the new sidebar but don't like it:

1) hard links at the bottom of the side panel

    - waste of space and distracting visual clutter. I am quite sensitive to it as it affects my concentration. When trying to find something, I just keep reading the text on buttons again and again and again. I need to remove such permanent warts.

    - it makes no sense having it's own "settings" button and page when Firefox has integrated settings for everything else.

2) hiding the side panel turns into icons

    - when I hide the panel it's because I care about the space because e.g. I am tiling narrow windows or because I going into a low distraction mode for reading or media. I want it properly gone.

    - a dizzying mess of favicons from across the web is the last thing I want and it's rarely usable. I typically have multiple pages open from a single site so a favicon alone tells me very little.

3) indication of the currently active tab

    - it's a bit too subtle to notice at a glance. Erring on subtle is my preference instead of something glaring and distracting but it's just a bit too hard to discern at the moment

[OutlawHusbando]

Please take a look at how Zen implemented it and study from them, the current implementation of Firefox is too barebone, Zen is by far the closest browser that made perfect vertical tab, along side with Arc

Zen Browser's Vertical Tab 

[sartori-diego]

Zen has not been updated since 2022, I'll try Arc for now. Brave works nice with vertical tabs, don't understand why FF delay that feature.

Waterfox, palemoon, Basilic and others FF variants, what can you say about? thanks for the tip.

[tilwiti]

Why? https://github.com/zen-browser/desktop

[red_diter]

While Horizontal Tabs look awesome, I felt like Vertical Tabs in Nightly were completely out of place layout-wise. It feels like a totally different browser to me. So, I chopped it out a bit and tried to "fix" it:

1. Topbar was disconnected from everything. And with Sidebar being fixed width that can't be changed, I aligned top icons in a similar manner to Arc or SigmaOS, and URL bar with the page.

2. Vertical Tabs themselves had a lot less padding, more radius and different shadow than Horizontal Tabs. I just kept it as-is, and it's a lot easier to scan, click target is larger, and it's prettier to look at.

3. I lowered the contrast for bottom sidebar items, they're a bit less distracting this way.

What do you think? Let me know!

[BelFox]

Hi there!

1. I like how you moved the sidebar icon to the left (logical place) and left-aligned the address bar with the right sidebar border. It is easier on the eyes👍. However, I think it is important to respect and maintain the changes a user made to the toolbar icons (position, visible or not), address bar and sidebar (width). I'm not sure that I want Firefox to move items in the toolbar when it switches to vertical tab mode. There are a few solutions:
   
   * The sidebar icon can be placed on the left or right by default (depending on the position of the sidebar: left or right). I don't think users need to be able to change its position manually, only to hide it (e.g. for those who use a keyboard shortcut and don't want extra icons on the toolbar).
   
   * The default setting for non-customized Firefox installs and when first switching to vertical tab mode could be to align the sidebar width with the left border of the address bar. But allow users to change the width of the sidebar (and snap to the left border of the address bar when you drag the border within a certain margin, for easy alignment).
   
   
2. Not sure I would increase the padding on vertical tabs. I'd rather have as many tabs visible in the Sidebar as possible.
3. I think it's a good idea to visually discriminate between tabs and other sidebar options. Your solution could work, if readability is ensured for visually-impaired users (enough contrast).

My 2 cents.

[BelFox]

Hi again,

Kudos to the Firefox team for the great work on the Sidebar and Vertical Tabs! With enough polishing and taking into account community feedback, these features will turn out great! 🧡

I don't know if this is the right place for this kind of feedback, but I found the tab group and container indicator lines in the Sidebar a little overwhelming. Possibly, I'm not looking at the final design, but I created a quick mock-up in Paint to suggest how it could be made easier on the eyes (see attachment).

[Pfize183]

I dont really like the new floating adressbar on fullscreen mode (F11). If I on fullscreen I dont want to interrupt with such an unnecessary thing like the adressbar. Please make a toggle to deactivate it and please hide the sidebar in F11 mode.

[pakempf]

Great work team, makes a lot of sense and definitly going it the right direction !

I understand some may have already been raised, but here are some feedbacks and insights on what could come to make this great :

• Top Toolbar fully moved to side-bar: having the omni-bar, the extention icons, the bookmarks all in the same place is a must, and would allow to regain the top space of the screen.
• A short-cut to make the side bar appear/disappear would facilitate quick-usage integration greatly
• a "reduced" mode (where only the icon of tabs are displayed, à-la pinned-tab) could help keep an eye on the workflow while regaining space
• Auto-display of the meny when mouse-overing could be great ?
• An option to display the omni-bar on top, "floating", that appears only when mouse passes over it could also be a nice touch and ease of use
• tab-grouping, please: this would make so much sense in that mode, having a "tab-tree" view would help so much organizing

All in all, this is definitely going in the right direction, and I'm really looking forward to where it lands ! Kuddos folks !

[g13n]

I've been playing with vertical tabs and the new sidebar and I'm loving it so far. Initially it was very rough but now I'm seeing a much more polished UI. Yes, there are some fundamental things (like having a close button on each tab) that need to be rolled out but I don't mind the little annoyance.

Kudos to the team for bring these features in my favourite browser.

[Darkfangs]

Honestly, all I really want is the ability to use Sideberry instead - currently activating Sideberry with Vertical Tabs causes you to have two sets of vertical tabs at once which is annoying.

[fuseteam]

isn't that because you activated two vertical tabs implementations?

[pakempf]

Following up on my last comment, I realised it was possible to activate Tabs-Grouping in dev options, which I did.

When reducing the sidebar, all tabs name are hidden, but the icons are visible, which is expected behavior, perfect !

BUT : tabs-group names prevent the sidebar to totally reduce. It would be great if the font size was reduced a lot or the name were more truncated so no space is lost :

Also, when several tabs are in the same group, they are all underlined (which i suppose replicates the behavior of "top-tab" grouping mecanism). It'd be better if they were "boxed" together.

Also, when clicking a group-name to contract it (and hide all tabs in it), it does... nothing. When sidebar  is contracted, it hides the icons. When sidebar is not contracted, it just changes the color of the group tab but doesn't hide the tabs themselves.

Grouptab + Sidebar working together is just what it takes to make it AMAZING !

Pinned tabs behavior looks good both in expended and contracted views, kudos !

 

[Pfize183]

Where are the dev options to activate tab groups?

[Pfize183]

Found it in about:config.

[Ripperley]

Maybe this is a bit niche but I'd love the option to have the tab layout swap between horizontal and vertical layouts dynamically with window size (vertical when the window is wider than tall, horizontal when it's taller than wide) or even just set it on a per-window basis for those of us who have our windows snapped in different layouts on different screens.

[zkby]

Okay, first of all, side/vertical tabs are great, always are

now that's out of the way, this is my first impressions (worth about 30 mins) using firefox's vertical tab options, really good, just that the way to close them is a bit of a hindrance, needs a close button, maybe when hovering over the tabs it expands just a tiny bit to show the X? just a bit of feedback, yep, that's all, because right clicking and then clicking "close tab" is annoying, if there's a better option it isn't obvious enough so there's that too

[zkby]

okay wait, i'm a bit stupid, let me rephrase stuff, just make it expand a tiny bit when hovering over the tabs imo, to show the close button, because having to either right click or actively click the expand side bar button is a hassle long term

[Jinn]

You can middle click the tab to close it too. Also works with multiselected tabs.

[fuseteam]

i really like how we now have the addressbar shrink down now 😄
really coming along nicely~ kudos guys~

[xinelight]

Same as @witherzuo :

> Vertical tabs can be designed to expand and collapse automatically - just like Microsoft Edge, vertical tabs expand automatically when the mouse is moved into the vertical tabs, and collapse automatically when the mouse is moved out, and then provide a setting: Maximize, Minimum, and Auto-Expanding (there may be a better design).

[CapedCrusader]

I’d like to suggest consolidating the “Expand Sidebar,” “Customize Sidebar,” and “List All Tabs” buttons into a single, unified button, similar to the “Tab Actions Menu” in Microsoft Edge. This would provide a more streamlined and user-friendly experience by reducing visual clutter and simplifying navigation.

Additionally, integrating sidebar settings directly into Firefox’s main Preferences menu would make customization easier by centralizing options in one accessible location.

Thank you for considering these enhancements for a more efficient and intuitive Firefox experience!

[rodox]

really enjoying the implementation, upon testing alternative browser which try to achieve this functionality (arc, edge, orion and zen), this is hands down the best IMO, because of the snappy experience without getting in the way, also I do really like how the history and AI chatbot sections show when the sidebar is collapsed. PLEASE add the keyboard shortcut (customizable) for the expand/collapse sidebar toggle, it's the only thing lacking for keyboard-oriented productive users. thnx!!

[_kud]

Hey, amazing feature, I love it!

It would be nice to be able to hide the compact sidebar.

For now we have two options:

- Expand or compress the sidebar

- Hide or show the full sidebar.

Tho, there is no option to have an always compact sidebar and being able to hide it.

I think it should not actually a radio button here but a checkbox button. Like that we can use expand/collapse and also show/hide sidebar.

Actually we need two buttons with no option.

[heftig]

I've recently switched my Firefoxes to use the new sidebar + vertical tabs as it finally became usable. Thanks a lot!

My issues with the current implementation are:

• I have too many pinned tabs (5 to 8​) to fit without scrolling, and the collapsed sidebar hides some. I need them all to be visible to provide notifications, but my screen is too small to use the expanded sidebar.
• When the mute button is present, the collapsed tab seems visually pretty hard to click, even though a click on the margin also works. Maybe the favicon and the mute button should be separated a bit more, reducing the horizontal margin for these tabs.
• I think the collapsed sidebar has few pixels too much horizontal padding, overall. It looks a bit unbalanced compared to the slimmer toolbar in normal density mode. (Maybe this is only the case for the Linux variant.) The compact density collapsed sidebar should be a lot thinner.
• The vertical tabs should not disappear when the Customize tab is open.
• I wish the sidebar collapse/expand button and the tabs-related buttons were on the sidebar. An overflow menu like on the toolbar would be useful, as I need all the sidebars but don't need their buttons on screen all the time.
• The sidebar should expand when hovered to make all titles visible. This "temporary expansion" state would also need to have pinned tabs display like normal tabs (and not reflow), so they don't move.
• Alternatively, the sidebar collapse/expand needs a keyboard shortcut, so I can toggle it quickly.

[fenjen]

I've been using Vertical Tabs since ~ 15 years and consider myself a power user. Here's what I think is extremely useful:

• Hierarchy Tabs like in TST (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/)
• Mousewheel Switches Tabs (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab-mouse-wheel/)
• Minimize Tabs (click on active tab opens the previously open tab, repeatable)
• If at all planned, an Automatic Grouping of Tabs should be disableable as grouping can be highly confusing for people that keep a copy of their tab list in their minds

Vertical tabs combined with Mousewheel Switches Tabs will give you a super comfortable browsing experience, becauses to comfortably switch tabs, you just move the mouse a little to the left and use the mousewheel. (It's also a very good alternative when comparing tabs with Ctrl+PageUp/PageDown.)

[TheTrebuchet]

A great feature, but few things in aesthetics term
it's a bit weird for the vertical tabs button to be offset to the right, should be on the vertical tab or right above it
second of all, when the firefox window usually has the round corners, shouldn't the opened tab space also have the rounded corners? or be separated from everything else in a more thoughtful manner?

[CapedCrusader]

Dear Firefox Development Team,

I’d like to suggest a few enhancements to improve the user experience:

1. Unify Sidebar Buttons: Consolidate the “Expand Sidebar,” “Customize Sidebar,” and “List All Tabs” buttons into a single, unified button, similar to the “Tab Actions Menu” in Microsoft Edge. This would streamline the interface, reduce visual clutter, and simplify navigation.
2. Centralized Sidebar Settings: Move sidebar customization options directly into the main Preferences menu. Centralizing these settings would make them more accessible and easier to manage.
3. Simplify Scrollbars for Tabs: Currently, there are two separate scrollbars: one for pinned tabs and another for other tabs. This setup makes it difficult to view all pinned tabs at once. Instead, consider having a single scrollbar for both pinned and other tabs, similar to the tab layout in Microsoft Edge. This would enhance usability and ensure all tabs are easily visible and accessible.
4. Keyboard Shortcut for Expanding/Collapsing Tabs: Add a keyboard shortcut to expand or collapse the tabs sidebar, similar to the functionality available in the Arc browser. This would make it quicker and easier for users to manage their tab view efficiently without relying solely on mouse interactions.
5. Automatic Expand/Collapse on Mouse Hover: Enable the tabs sidebar to automatically expand when the user hovers the mouse near it and collapse when the mouse moves away, similar to Microsoft Edge’s behavior. This dynamic interaction would enhance usability by reducing the need for manual clicks while maintaining a clean interface.
6. Tab Grouping/Workspaces: Introduce a tab grouping or workspace feature, allowing users to organize tabs into customizable categories or sessions. This would benefit users who multitask across different contexts (e.g., work, personal, research).
7. Improved Memory Management for Tabs: Introduce better memory management features that allow users to hibernate inactive tabs manually or automatically to free up system resources, similar to Edge’s “Sleeping Tabs.”

Thank you for considering these improvements to make Firefox a more efficient and intuitive browser!