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.

[kxra]

@grahamperrinwrote at ‎09-26-2022 11:59 AM:

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/native-vertical-tabs-like-in-microsoft-edge/idi-p/85

@Irvinwrote at 03-03-2022 08:35 AM:

or just provide an API to hide the tab bar and …

1332447 - API to hide the tabstrip
<https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1332447>

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Hard to believe it's been the better part of a decade waiting for this to be implemented. I remember some security concerns, so maybe they will make the functionality native and never implement such an API.

All of these discussions have given me a bit of a crazy idea too: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/concept-mapping-graph-view-of-tabs-bookmarks-amp-notes/idi-p/37...

@Jonwrote at ‎06-30-2023 07:58 AM:

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

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There's more:

• https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/tab-trees/idi-p/2705
• https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/option-to-put-tabs-vertically-on-the-left-right-side-of-t...

Related but not identical:

• https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/firefox-adding-a-two-level-tab-stacks-like-in-vivaldi/idc-p/373...

[SoraHjort]

I do not think simply implementing an API to hide the tab bar is enough. I can't stand the current extension implementations of vertical tabs for one reason. They are forced to use the same panel as Bookmarks and History. As someone who likes to have the Bookmark panel open all the time, and loves vertical tabs, this is not compatible for my browsing needs.

Pre WebExtension vertical tab solutions was better because they could create their own panel separate from everything else. A few other browsers like Vivaldi understand this. But the thing is, I would rather be using Firefox as it feels better to use. So I'm constantly fighting between the better browsing experience vs the better user experience. 

[lokan]

One year and a half.

See you Firefox. I still love you, but I deserve better. Of course, you will cry because everybody is leaving, but you can't say you don't know why.

[Erlendm]

I mean, even just being able to disable the tab bar (with the ability to set a hotkey) would be a super simple way to "add" this feature, as it would make the existing extensions more viable. That shouldn't take years...

(And they can then develop a good native solution in the meantime.)

Also, if you have a native way to quickly (hotkey) switch between vertical and horizontal tabs, and the tab bar automatically disappears if you only have one tab open (like Safari), split screen becomes less important. For instance, you could have one window on the left, with a nice tab tree, and then have a window on the right with horizontal tabs (and no tab bar, if only the one tab).

[roworu]

With latest update, my custom css for vertical tabs broke again. Sorry, Mozilla, you made me switch to Edge.

I will miss Firefox 😞 

[Megamind5000]

Your Sync of tabs is not useful when I have to reopen the menu 200 times for 200 tabs from my other device.  You also don't have vertical tabs like Vivaldi, Brave and Edge.  Need to get with the time FF.

[jkemp]

One year, six months, still exploring. I have been a Firefox user since Netscape ended and Firefox arrived. This is really dis-heartening. Not just the vertical-tabs feature, but other features, fixes, and enhancements. Starting to feel out-dated. Is this the slow demise?

[xiy]

“I've read through all of 11 pages of comments and I can't see any convincing argument for why the vertical tabs themselves should be done natively instead of being relegated to an extension. Remember, extensions are one of Firefox's strengths. The…”

there is no reason why Firefox should forfeit clean native implementations to their browser especially when it's one of their most top suggested features right now in favor of going through addons that this make this process harder than it needs to be for the casual user (that probably doesn’t know what a userChrome.css file is) for a workaround that is in most cases buggy or inferior. (not being to use the bookmarks page and vertical tabs at the same time, or vertical tabs not opening properly when using incognito with most implementations currently, etc) basic productivity features that most browsers are implementing, in most cases, should not be left to the community or your user to implement themselves, no one should have to run dozens of addons just to emulate the features of things that browsers have added to improve the user's experience. basic productivity features that most browsers are implementing, in most cases, should not be left to the community or your user to implement themselves, no one should have to run dozens of addons just to emulate the features of things that browsers have added to improve the user's experience. something else they could do is make an addon to remove the top bar and add sidebars easily so there's no major bloat and it appeals to both types of users and their use cases. There’s ways to implement features to gain users without affecting the customization aspect of it or the end users who use extensions to further their use of Firefox. 

[Chipthe1st]

To piggyback off of @xiy ’s comment (and also reply to the “Extensions” part):

There are literally Add-Ons that hasn’t been updated in YEARS, close to a decade after FF’s inception or the Add-Ons inception: they popped up, existed, then the dev(s) either jumped ship or stopped making Add-Ons altogether. Whereas there are more Extensions on Chromuim browsers than I can even count, even some I never thought I’d need are on other browsers, and completely forgotten support over here in FF world.

Point being: the ones that do exist, as stated, haven’t been updated proper in some time. I believe there’s one that doesn’t even do away with the tab bar up top, taking up more space on the screen that one can handle. (I’m working with a Surface Pro tablet, with is a square aspect ratio. I need more screen real estate, not less). So sure, you could say that Add-Ons are what makes FireFox unique and ours, but without some QoL TLC done to FF also, users are leaving regardless. And I back the OP from a year and a half ago: Vertical Tabs would be nice as an option and not a permanent addition, like Edge & Vivaldi has it as a toggle. 

[nikelton]

I really hope that Mozilla adds vertical tabs as soon as possible.

The moment they do this is the moment I immediately get back to Firefox as a daily browser. Also they should enable grouping tabs like Microsoft Edge and now Brave, as this increases the productivity of someone having to deal with a lot of tabs immensely. Currently I have a lot of open tabs and I group them on Brave, but I really hope that Mozilla adds this option back, as I will switch back to it immediately when they do this. The Tree-style tab/vertical tab extensions just won't cut it.

I hope that Mozilla takes my comment to heart and develops the vertical tabs for their browser.

Here is an example of the use of vertical tabs for me:

The grouping just allows me to navigate so easily and I can leave useful websites and web-based utilities too, as well as vertical tabs being an ease for my eyes.

[Name1]

This is a big reason I still also use Edge!

[soc]

> @Chipthe1st Point being: the ones that do exist, as stated, haven’t been updated proper in some time. I believe there’s one that doesn’t even do away with the tab bar up top, taking up more space on the screen that one can handle.

Yeah, because Mozilla decided that extensions are not allowed to do that.

[FirefoxEnjoyer]

wow 2022 they never added this!?

[thelancastrian]

Joined just to +1 this thread. I concur with @Chipthe1st 's comment in that the add-on should be used for extending non-core features into a browser. The presentation of tabs (whether horizontally, vertically, or however you want them to be) is a core component of any browser and as noted, add-ons can be developed once & left to rot.

@Jonwould you be able to provide an update please? We're all waiting!

[axelSage]

+1