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.

[molio]

I use sideberry and think it is the best solution for the current firefox, but there are some things I would like to see improved.

This is due to the limitations of the current firefox,
First, group tabs need to stay in the sidebar, so only the width of the icon can be used, and the number of tabs in the group is drawn above the icon, making it difficult to see both the icon and the number of tabs. This is good or bad, however, because it is convenient to place the group icons vertically.

Second, it is slower than tree-style tabs.
This may be because of its multiple functions.

Also, although the author of sideberry does not seem to be interested in adding it, it would be nice if the total number of tabs, the number of tabs in a window, and the number of active tabs were also displayed, as is possible with the customization of the tree-style tabs.

If Mozilla is going to revive tab groups, as the linkhttps://discourse.mozilla.org/t/any-chance-tab-groups-will-ever-come/121265/45  suggests, it would be better to consider and implement the UI for tab groups and vertical tabs separately. Of course, the functions should be linked.

If vertical tabs are to be created by Mozilla itself, Piro (piro_or) and mbnuqw (the author of sideberry) should be officially hired. At the very least, they should get advice from both of them.
They will have a much better insight and Mozilla will gain insight rather than Mozilla developers worrying and devising on their own.

I am Japanese, so my English may not be correct, hence I leave the Japanese text below as well.

sideberryは私も愛用しており、現状のfirefoxでは最適解だと思うが、改善して欲しいところがある。

これは現在のfirefoxの制限に起因するものであるが、
まず、グループタブがサイドバー内に留まる必要がある為、アイコン分の幅しか使えず、しかもアイコンの上にグループ内のタブ数を描画するというアイコン、タブ数共に観づらい状態になっていることである。これはグループアイコンを縦置きにするには都合が良いため、善し悪しと言ったところであるが。

二つ目は、ツリースタイルタブに比べて動作が遅いと言うことだ。
これは多機能だからかもしれない。

また、sideberryの作者は付ける気が無いようであるが、ツリースタイルタブのカスタマイズで出来るような、総タブ数、ウィンドウ内タブ数、アクティブなタブ数なども表示されるとありがたい。

リンクにあるように、Mozilla自身がタブブループも復活させるのであれば、タブグループのUIと縦タブのUIは別に考え実装した方が良いだろう。もちろん機能は連携するべきである。

縦タブをMozilla自身が作るのであれば、Piro (piro_or)さんとmbnuqw（sideberryの作者）を正式に雇うべきである。すくなくとも、二人からアドバイスを受けるべきだ。
その方が、Mozillaの開発者が独自に悩み工夫するより、彼らはずっと良い知見を持っているだろうし、Mozillaは知見を得られるだろう。

[molio]

[Seraph4]

Sidebery ADDon its work for this..

[Kazper]

Sideberry does *not* solve this.

1) It still has the horizontal tab-bar at the top wasting precious vertical space

2) It requires trust in a third-party developer - now and forever

3) It is relatively slow, and occasionally unstable

What we should get is a basic, fast vertical tabs implementation (that removes the horizontal tabs, when active), and they do not need to look at Sideberry for that. Look at Edge instead.

That implementation should of course then be customizable, allowing add-ons - like Sideberry - to further customize the vertical tab bar/well to allow more advanced features that some might want.

[Erlendm]

Suggestion: Could you please release the ability to hide the horizontal tabs as soon as possible, and not wait until the vertical ones are done?

A toggle for that would make it much easier to get Sideberry et al working well in the meantime.

[noname1966]

@Erlendm 

You can use this https://superuser.com/questions/1424478/can-i-hide-native-tabs-at-the-top-of-firefox to hide the native horizontal tabs.

[molio]

---

---

1) It still has the horizontal tab-bar at the top wasting precious vertical space

2) It requires trust in a third-party developer - now and forever

3) It is relatively slow, and occasionally unstable

 

First of all, 1) is the fault of firefox and Mozilla itself, which used to be able to easily hide horizontal tabs and realize vertical tabs.
It was Mozilla itself that restricted it.

2) is also due to Mozilla's insistence on horizontal tabs, so add-on authors have no choice but to create them, which is why I am officially recommending that Mozilla hire Piro (piro_or) and mbnuqw (the author of sideberry). (the author of sideberry).

Since 3) also has to be produced as an add-on, it must be buggy and heavy because it manages to function within the limitations imposed by Mozilla.

All the problems you are describing are Mozilla's fault, and there used to be many light and fast vertical tabs, including tree-style tabs. It was Mozilla that killed them.

You can use Edge as a reference, but Edge tabs are very simple just 90 degree tilted tabs. No wonder it runs so fast. If it's slow, it's just MS's lack of technology.

If you don't like sidebery, then you can use tree style tabs. Tree-style tabs are light, fast, and relatively stable. Moreover, they were popular before Mozilla imposed restrictions on them, and they have been used as a great reference for chrome extensions and so on.

I only mention sidevery as an example because I want tab groups along with vertical tabs, and Mozilla is trying to implement tab groups along with vertical tabs, preferably with a tree.

If Mozilla can implement a light and fast vertical tab as quickly as Edge, I think that Mozilla developers should develop it, but I just hope that consulting piro, who has been creating tree-style tabs for almost 10 years, will help them implement it sooner. And we believe that paying piro formally would have a positive impact on firefox, as piro would be more motivated to develop.

I am Japanese, so my English may not be correct, hence I leave the Japanese text below as well.

まず1)はfirefox とMozilla自身の所為で、以前は容易に水平タブを隠し、垂直タブが実現できていたではないか。
制限したのはMozilla自身である。

2)もMozillaが水平タブにこだわっているから、仕方なくアドオン作者が作ってくれているのであって、であるから、私はMozillaに正式に Piro (piro_or) and mbnuqw (the author of sideberry)を雇うように提言しているわけである。

3）もアドオンとして製作しなければならないため、Mozillaが科した制限の中で、なんとか機能を実現しているから、バギーで重くなってしまうのだろう。

あなたの言っている問題点は全てMozillaの責任であり、昔はツリースタイルタブを始め、多くの軽くて速い垂直タブが多く存在していた。それらを殺したのはMozillaである。

Edgeを参考にするのは構わないが、Edgeのタブは非常に単純なただ90度傾けたタブにすぎない。動作が速いのも当然である。それで遅かったりしたら、MSの技術力がないと言うだけの話だ。

あなたがsideberyを嫌いなのであれば、べつにツリースタイルタブでも構わない。ツリースタイルタブは動作も軽く速い、そして比較的安定している。その上Mozillaが制限を掛ける前から人気があり、chromeのエクステンションなどでも大いに参考にされている。

私は、垂直タブと共にタブグループも欲しており、Mozillaも垂直タブと共にタブグループを実装しようとしており、出来ればツリーも欲しいため、例としてsideveryをあげたにすぎない。

MozillaがEdge並に軽く速い垂直タブをすぐに実装できるのであれば、Mozillaの開発者が開発すれば良いと考えるが、10年近くツリースタイルタブを作成し続けているpiroに相談した方がより早期に実装できるのではないかと期待しているだけである。そして、piroに正式に賃金を支払えばpiroの開発へのモチベーションがより高くなりfirefoxにとって良い影響があると考えている。

---

[maxiu]

Hello

not sure if this is the right place to ask but I'd like to suggest a design I've come up with using sideberry and a little bit of custom css. Most browsers seem to include lots of unnecessary clutter or very small icons/text.

Also a few crucial features:

- autohide & expand tab bar on hover

- changing active tab with scroll on hover

- autohide bookmarks bar and expand when hovering over address bar

- hide horizontal tab bar

[fptbb1]

Please make sure to follow the method of tree style tabs as an option, it's really helpful, also, there's an option in brave that hides the topbar like you could do in firefox by editing chrome userCss, that's also really useful for people with widescreen monitors.

[Mte90]

The Vertical tab is available on the latest nightly https://www.ghacks.net/2024/06/25/you-can-try-vertical-tabs-in-firefox-now/

[lyqst]

I agree with @maxiu, specially hiding the horizontal tab bar (or actually merging what's left of it with the toolbar) is key if we're gonna have vertical tabs, without that we're not getting a bigger viewport (the main advantage of vertical tabs), but a smaller one.