Native Vertical Tabs

[Gecko]

From the previous post on Crowdicity:

I would like to see vertical tabs baked in. MS Edge now has it out of the box!

I currently use addons for this - but there's no way to disable the top tab bar, which duplicates the tabs and takes up space.

Vertical tabs (with top bar disabled) would free up more space for web content, which is (usually) vertical. Most screens are widescreen (RIP ThinkPad 4:3 ratios), so the less browser UI at the top/bottom, the more content we can view.

The original post received 154 votes and as such was the 3rd highest voted post in the "General" category.

[job]

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For the Vertical Tab Bar to make sense, you need to disable and hide the horizontal tab bar. This is essential.

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@look997Yes, that's why it should be made an option on its own, independent of vertical tabs because it can also be useful outside of it. That way vertical tabs can stay as an extension (this stuff takes more maintenance cost than simply giving the option of hiding the horizontal tab bar, you know), but the horizontal tab bar can now be hidden. Please read my comment again 😄

[look997]

@jobIf Mozilla wanted the option to manually disable the tab bar, it wouldn't have removed it a good few years ago. Remember those days? Mozilla wanted to limit Firefox's configuration options. It would rather add built-in features than give the option to configure manually, or than give configuration through extensions.

[TheRealBev]

TST had some deficiencies.  So does the 'Tree Tabs' which I use instead. 
  At one point TST was much better than it is now, but some change to FF 
made me switch.

It may be noted that old versions of FF and TB had many more 
personalization options than the current versions -- native, extension 
and .css.  Given that useful functions have been removed, I see no 
reason that useful functions -- or at least their capability -- should 
NOT be added.

I know people who have no idea about customization -- they just start it 
up and feed in a URL.  You can probably guess what I think of such people.

> The closest convincing argument I could find for doing vertical tabs 
> natively is an enterprise policy blocking the installation of add-ons, 
> but come on, can't you just talk to your IT about it? If everything is 
> just going to be justified by "but my enterprise IT doesn't allow me to 
> install add-ons" Firefox is just going to be bloated with features most 
> people wouldn't need.

Over the decades Firefox (and Thunderbird too) has implemented 
"improvements" that eliminated the use of many extensions that I loved 
and crippled many of the others.  Tab Mix Plus was perfect.  The guy 
made some changes so that it could still be used, but since nobody was 
willing to pay him to do a complete conversion he just dropped the 
project.  NONE of the replacements work as well.

No idea what the philosophy behind such 'improvements' is, but I have 
gained NOTHING since Firefox 57 (or so -- whenever the big change 
occurred), and I finally stopped updating at FF82.  Biggest problem is 
the inability to change the typeface in the toolbars and menus -- 
they're small and light and a bitch to read.  Surely the ability to 
NATIVELY change the text of the program itself (formerly dealt with via 
the .css file) should be a basic function.  Now it's not even possible.

I loved Netscape.  I could make it look and work the way I wanted it 
to look and work. Over the decades FF and TB have become LESS 
configurable.  I also run the nightly version with minimal 
personalization just so I know what's happening -- I'm not a COMPLETE 
luddite.

Configurability is a big plus, and the main reason I'm unwilling to 
change to one of the newer browsers;  it seems counterproductive for 
Mozilla to cripple their one big advantage.

[0x4C3DD]

the ARC browser - demonstrating sidebar and split screen tabs

#ARC Browser did it right. Unfortunately, Windows devices still now doesn't have support, and it's Chromium based.
But, Vertical Tabs & Split-screen tabs, is literally the need of the hour.

[avijayr]

Is this even being considered for implementation?

I have been with FF (and use nightlies as my daily driver for the past few years - even earlier when they were called alphas, etc)

I'm surprised that Mozilla is keeping silent on this much-requested feature! Using extensions for something this basic/native should not be the case.

[asafko]

Hi folks,

We are in the process of exploring this

In the meantime, if you could chime in on whether you see native tab grouping as:

• an integral part of the vertical tabs experience,
• OR a nice-to-have that can come later,

would help us greatly.

[MrMichaelangelo]

A nice to have to come later if it means getting vertical tabs faster.

But tab grouping is ultimately pretty important.

[Xanatos89]

@asafkoi think the grouping is essential for the experience to work, bit it can come later it doesn't have to be there from the beginning!! Very excited to finally have some feedback from an employee 🙂

[Ryota]

Integral part for sure.

it’s just so convenient and easy to organize. 
As I said earlier. MS Edge gives a very good example of how to do it right. 

[Allo1]

For me a nice to have. I personaly find tab grouping confusing and do not use it. (However from previous comments I see other people do).

[grahamperrin]

> … tab grouping …

@asafkoplease, which of the following do you mean?

• grouping akin to hiding by Simple Tab Groups
• grouping akin to nesting by Tree Style Tab

[avijayr]

I'm not sure what you mean by "grouping". If that feature is already present in the horizontal tabs, then sure - please include that behavior in the vertical tabs as well.

As most folks have chimed in, the behavior exhibited in Edge is really good.

At a minimum though, vertical tabs should behave the same way as in the horizontal layout - including the ability for container tabs, pinning, etc

[Rishik]

i personally feel it is nice to have feature that can come later
but would seriously prefer to be implemented soon
since it seriously makes me rethink to swap browsers every time i use edge

[NeoXeon]

Vertical Tabs in Firefox

Sir I think that the vertical tabs in is the single biggest feature which is required in the Firefox. With vertical tabs one is able to take control of hundreds of open tabs and not get lost in those hundreds of open tabs. Sir the legacy tabs in the Firefox do not allow oneself to take control of the open tabs and one is lost in those open tabs. Sir if the vertical tabs feature is introduced in the Firefox then the people of the world to Firefox in hordes and the Firefox will become the number one web browser of the world. The other web browsers which have introduced the vertical tabs have got lots of new users and the people of the world are hesitating to use those web browsers which do not offer the vertical tabs. Sir it is my advice to the team of Firefox to introduce the vertical tabs feature so that the people of the world can rely over the best web browser of the world that is Firefox.

[NeoXeon]

I think that the vertical tabs is the most important single biggest feature to enhance the surfing activities of the net users. Sir the with vertical tabs one is able to visit and track record of hundreds of open web sites and be more in control of the web surfing. Sir if the Firefox introduces vertical tabs at present time then the people of the world will migrate to Firefox in hordes and the Firefox will become the most used web browser. All the web browsers which have introduced the vertical tabs natively in them have been able to attract more users to them. With the vertical tabs one is able to open hundreds of open tabs and be in control of those open hundreds of tabs. Sir it is my request to the Firefox developer team to introduce the vertical tabs so that we can take use of the immense potential of Firefox and get an enhanced user experience in the Firefox web browser. I have been a long time user of the Firefox and like millions of other users of the Firefox I feel a great deal of the need to have vertical tabs in Firefox.