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Vinci480
Strollin' around
Status: In development

I'm personally a heavy tab user but have always wondered why there is almost no support for tab grouping or customization in the native tab bar in Firefox.

I think making it able to group like Google Chrome does for example or at least giving more access for extensions and add-ons would significantly improve the UI in that regard.

777 Comments
jimjwilliamson
New member

"Tab Grouping, Vertical Tabs, and our handy Sidebar"

No.. if I wanted vertical tabs and sidebars, there are plet=nty of existing add-ons already.
FF has already been demoted to a second class citizen on my machines because of lack of Horizontal tab management.. you know, like we used to have but for some reason it was deprecated?
I get the feeling FF is going to eventually just have to be removed due to lack of use on my machines.  Vertical tabs, sidebars, Yuck! Valuable screen real estate wasted..

R0rspaws_moz
Strollin' around

Connect the tabs in a category!

In a category , I think that the tabs should be together with a single light, not lots of short ones. Another idea is to make then compressible, like in Microsoft Edge. I have got a picture of whit i think it should look like.

R0rspaws_moz_0-1716625492984.png

asaduzmn
New member

Yes, I also feel that. I tried to use simple tab group but unfortunately I faced some problems like:

It does not always load the groups when I open the browser first time. I need to turn off and on again the extension. But in chrome and also in Microsoft edge they are offering really good and user friendly tab grouping. I think It will add an extra helping hand while we need to use a lot tabs for our project/works.

EternalSunset
Strollin' around

@JonIf it's not a secret, can we know what implementation you decided to go with? I hope it's like Chrome 👀

Techwikiaa
New member

firefox desktop: put tabs into groups

Add a simple solution for multiple tabs, it not convenient for user to click and search for specific tab. It would be really help if you add group feature for multiple tabs @https://www.laptopmag.com/how-to/group-tabs-on-chrome-firefox-safari-and-edge

Jon
Community Manager
Community Manager

(Note: similar ideas have been merged into this thread)

Jon
Community Manager
Community Manager

@Techwikiaa good news, this featured is currently being worked on — we'll share updates here as they become available 😃

OG
Strollin' around

@EternalSunsetI don't hope to see ONLY Chromes implementation. check how Firefox tab grouping was and how it got better with an addon (google Firefox Panorama tab grouping and check the YouTube videos)

Also check Vivaldi's implementation. which is similar to how Firefox used to be + How chrome groups tabs. I want that.

 

Firefox, having Firefox's Multi-account Containers, Chrome-like profile management, and how VIvaldi browser group tabs, is a dream come true for me. I don't like or maybe not used to Vivaldi UI/UX otherwise I would've have switched, I like Firefox community and I love how I can customize Firefox with the help of the community.

Firefox's Multi-account Containers:

  1. I can manage my parents account without using a whole dedicated profile for each. or loging in private browsing mode every time. it is magical this container thing.
  2. I have several accounts for shopping on the same website and Multi account is awesome for that.

Chrome-like profile management:

  1. I Hate how archaic profile management is on Firefox, I like how it is on Vivaldi/Chrome/all other browsers.
  2. Just a photo with a picture, click on it to change to a different profile or create a new one, it is just faster.

 

Vivaldi way of Tab grouping+ chrome's tab grouping:

  1. In Vivaldi, you have Work Spaces and Tab Stacks (which is like chromes tab grouping
  2. Where inside the Work Space you can have multiple tab-stacks and tabs. and I Like that concept. but I think the UI/UX of Vivaldi is not nice and intuitive.
  3. I liked how Firefox's panorama was and I love to see it with Chrome-like Tab grouping. The UI was fun. you just click and drag to create a "tab group" but now I would call it Work space instead of tab grouping.
  4. For Example I would have a Shopping Work-Space which includes many tab groups or tab stacks for each product I am researching.

 

janl
Strollin' around

Just wanted to second @OG's thoughts.

With so many browsers (Safari, Edge, Vivaldi, Arc) having now implemented some sort of tab workspaces, I think it would be a huge missed opportunity to only copy Chrome's simpleton tab groups, especially considering that we already had built-in tab workspaces in Firefox with Panorama and tabs.hide() API still exists.

EternalSunset
Strollin' around

@OGAs a casual user, I prefer Chrome's implementation because it's simple. I haven't tried Vivaldi's tab stacks, but they look like they take up unnecessary vertical space. Chrome offers a simple one-click solution to expand or collapse my groups. It's convenient yet minimalistic, and gives flexibility in terms of what tabs are shown in my current view without having to go through dropdowns or a separate setup screen (sorry, Panorama and Simple Tab Groups), or having a second row taking up real estate on my screen.

Of course, there is no right way to do tab groups because our workflows are different, so we'll prefer different implementations. As long as Firefox gives us a choice, I'm happy.

OG
Strollin' around

@EternalSunset 

I am more of a casual user than you... I think. I don't know much about tech. but please hear me out and I will add screenshots as well as (It was not EASY to add these screenshots) Vivaldi have exactly what chrome have... and more! and that's how every product should be.

I come from the believe of having a product that out of the box should just be like any other product from that category to help usability of new users, but can offer more. unless if the product designers thought the defaults of the competitors is not desired by most users or they think based on evidence that the their default is intuitive. That is my belief!

Because this way new users who come from Google chrome, Vivaldi or whatever can just start using Firefox. 

And at the same time users who hates Google Chrome's or any other browser lack of features will  google that said feature and find somewhere in a forum or the product page of Firefox that by just changing a simple settings or add-on they will have that said feature with Firefox.

That is me when I first downloaded Firefox, and that is my friend who recommended Vivaldi to me.

 

Now for your point that Vivaldi take up vertical space! where did you get that from!? the way Vivaldi manages Tab grouping out of the box, is exactly the same as Chrome,as far as I remember, I tested it days ago! So I might be wrong, so it is better for me to show you.

What surprised me is the flexibility, I didn't check things online just went into the settings and searched "tabs"  and I found three ways tabs are grouped on the tab bar, it was so fast and intuitive, I loved that:

 

So the last option in the screenshot "Accordion" is exactly like chrome. and I was impressed by the thumbnails that illustrate the functionality of each setting. Firefox should do that. I personally liked the Two level idea, I find the user experience much more appealing, and I don't mind the sacrifice of losing the screen real estate.

Screenshot 1

Additionally, I was also impressed by the settings, I still am not really used to Firefox's settings, and I hate how Thunderbird and Firefox went for this colorless flat UI design which is hard for people with disability to navigate. I hope Firefox would implement similar settings layout and style/theme.

Each group of settings have a different color, the colors really helps, it is not just aesthetics to me. and the search was fantastic.

 

Screenshot 2

I didn't switch to Vivaldi for these reasons:

  1. I am a loyal person.
  2. I hate change.. Maybe that why I am loyal.
  3. I don't know but I think you can't modify Vivaldi's UI using custom css like firefox, and I love that because again I have a certain disability and the good folks in Firefox community helped me with CSS code that drastically improved my life. 
  4. I believe software like OS, Browsers, Password manager should be open source and a community project.
  5. Maybe I am in love with FIREFOX.

 

GoLLuM13
New member

@EternalSunsetI second that I like the Chrome way especially with an extension that allows me to auto create groups, for example I have a list of news website, and it automatically creates the group or add the new page to it if the domain is "detected" and same thing for e-shops.

Obviously one way can't make everyone happy, so as long as we have the choice I guess more people will be happy.

aminought
Making moves

If you asked me how I would like tab grouping to be implemented, my answer would be that I would prefer a tree-style implementation, where the horizontal tab bar would flatten branches at the first level and the vertical tab bar would show the entire tree structure.

diplodoq
New member

I really need this feature

OG
Strollin' around

@aminoughtCan you show us a screenshot of this, and if you can also explain the benefits.

I love design and testing new software/app etc.