Another Question/Suggestion for Native Tab Grouping
I use my monitor in portrait orientation for various reasons, one of which is a large cat. In reference to earlier comments elsewhere about the tab bar, I like having the tab bar across the top of the browser window, and I don't need the additional vertical space.
I've read the conversations about grouped or nested tabs, and I've looked at the add-ons for tab grouping. The add-ons seem inelegant, and they don't really do what I want them to do. It seems to me that the best way to approach grouping tabs is keeping the existing tab bar and adding a layer of function to it.
I have 117 tabs open because I'm approaching antiquity, something of a slob, a bit of a hoarder, need to have reminders for the rabbit-holes I plumb, and I find the Bookmarks cumbersome. Firefox doesn't seem to bog down under the load, which is great.
How about this: Rig the Tabs function to accommodate two or three levels. Along with the New Tab button, make a button to open a Tab Drawer, which can be named and would always be visible. Related tabs could then be dragged and dropped into the relevant Tab Drawer, and the Tab Drawers can be dragged to arrange them among exposed tabs on the Tab Bar. Tab Drawers could contain Tab Drawers to create one or two sublevels. (Even one-level tab grouping would be a huge improvement.)
Opening a Drawer would be by clicking on it; this would open a drop-down menu of the contents. Selecting a tab in a Drawer would open a that tab next to the drawer; selecting a Drawer would The right-click menu for the Drawer could include options for Open Drawer in New Window and Open All These Tabs and Drawers in One New Window. As the user would be navigating through tabs, the drop-down menus would not be too much of an intrusion.
As an example, I could have Tab Drawers to collect the 17 recipe tabs I have open, or the six peculiar Ebay search pages I keep, the twelve crossword and game tabs I visit regularly, the eight or so YouTube tabs I maintain and the multitude of medical, banking, utility and governmental tabs I need for logging in more often than I'd prefer. And it would be nice to have a Drawer for the tabs I have for online shopping; opening them all in a new window would be useful.
I don't know jack doe about coding or what bugs could possibly arise from such a feature, but this seems a reasonable approach to the problem of tab grouping. It keeps tabs as they are (It might require a few more vertical pixels so Drawers could be outlined for visibility), and allows one to fine-tune their use in a manner similar to using other features on Firefox. It doesn't require a new window that takes up space on the desktop as the current add-ons do.
Does this seem reasonable and possible? I'd do it myself, but I can't.
Thank you.
Windows 10, Firefox v. 124.0.2
All Replies (4)
How do you have 117 open tabs and not faced slowing firefox?
As I said, I'm approaching antiquity, something of a slob, a bit of a hoarder, need to have reminders for the rabbit-holes I plumb, and I find the Bookmarks cumbersome.
I don't know. Lots of RAM and a beefy processor, I guess.
Modified by AlphaCat
Wow. I would love to have your RAM and beefy processor.
Now coming back to your point about the new feature, this forum might not be the best place for such a feature suggestion on tab handling. Maybe this feature may make sense to be implemented in the Sidebar of Firefox in the future. If you would to like to see this as a feature as part of Firefox browser, then please go to Mozilla Connect and create a feature request by clicking on Ideas. For more details please refer to, File a bug report or feature request for Mozilla products
For time being there might be some extensions which handle tabs in a manner which is akin to what you have described, i.e. having a drawer, with folders in which the tabs are grouped. If you are not averse to installing an extension, then there is a collection of Tab Organizers extension that you can look at and see what fits your purpose best. It will not be one to one as per your needs. If you do find something which suits you and if you are able to contribute financially to the creator of the extension then please do so. Finally a caveat, please do expect a slight hit on firefox startup time after you install an extension.
Thank you for your prompt reply. I'd have responded sooner, but if I received an e-mail advising me that you had left it, then I didn't catch it. And the eclipse.
I have not yet sussed out the structure of this site, so I wasn't sure of the best place to post this question. I'll repeat it in the location you suggested.
I suspect that one reason I have no problem with all these tabs is that many of them are dormant for weeks or months at a time, and they don't ask much in the way of resources until I open them, which might take a second or two longer than they might otherwise require. I cull my tabs every once in a while, and using Pocket has reduced my reliance on tabs somewhat. I've looked at the tab management extensions available, and they require too much mousing to be useful to me, due to vision and coordination limitations.
I have a few extensions running, and I have no complaints about any time lost one or two seconds at a time. When I was six years old, I thought five minutes was forever. This is no longer the case.