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tab groups

  • 11 replies
  • 53 have this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by Earl_J

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I am a longtime user of Firefox, and I consider my usage advanced. (I use many add-ons and frequently use Firefox for web development debugging, etc.)

I like Firefox, except for one thing: I really must use Tab Groups, but default Tab Groups Panorama implementation is useless to me. I don't want to switch back and forth between a screen of squares visualizing bookmarks. Panorama is slow and doesn't scale well for large numbers of tab groups. (It becomes disorganized and visually disorienting quickly.)

The functionality in this add-on was absolutely perfect: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/tabgroups-manager/

The add-on is no longer maintained, and given all the architectural changes in Firefox, I would think that any developer trying to keep such an add-on maintained would face daunting challenges.

I would like to have this functionality available in the default version of Firefox.

I am a longtime user of Firefox, and I consider my usage advanced. (I use many add-ons and frequently use Firefox for web development debugging, etc.) I like Firefox, except for one thing: I really must use Tab Groups, but default Tab Groups Panorama implementation is useless to me. I don't want to switch back and forth between a screen of squares visualizing bookmarks. Panorama is slow and doesn't scale well for large numbers of tab groups. (It becomes disorganized and visually disorienting quickly.) The functionality in this add-on was absolutely perfect: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/tabgroups-manager/ The add-on is no longer maintained, and given all the architectural changes in Firefox, I would think that any developer trying to keep such an add-on maintained would face daunting challenges. I would like to have this functionality available in the default version of Firefox.

All Replies (11)

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Who creates these add-ons?

The add-ons listed here have been created by thousands of developers from our community, ranging from individual hobbyists to large corporations. All publicly listed add-ons are reviewed by a team of editors before being released. Add-ons marked as Experimental have not been reviewed and should only be installed with caution.

Just check out with some other addons

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Hi jayakumars,

Thanks for your feedback. I have tried almost every single other tab group add-on that is available, but none of them work nearly as well as TabGroups Manager.

You should install that add-on yourself and see how slick it is.

The only problem is that it eventually breaks down and locks up during a browser session, since it isn't maintained and isn't fully compatible with the current version of Firefox. That's why I'm suggesting that, rather than rely on an external developer to maintain an add-on for this functionality, i would like to see the functionality brought in as default Firefox functionality.

Really, I think people would be super-excited if their default Firefox could do this. Makes tab groups so much easier.

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If you have queries with particular addons, you can contact the Addon developer

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Hi jayakumars,

Thanks for your suggestion.

Axel Shootingstar, the add-on developer, does not have any contact information available. Further, all of Axel's support links (http://axel.my-sv.net) no longer exist. Axel also does not respond to posts at the add-in page ( https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tabgroups-manager ). Therefore, I cannot find a way to prompt further support on the add-on.

Instead, since the functionality is so excellent, I would like to see the add-on's functionality built-in to Firefox by default.

Modified by ultrafox

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try with his website contact

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First, how do you know this is a male developer?

Second, please show me where I can find valid, current contact information and I will gladly contact the developer.

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Both the Support Site and Add-on Homepage for that extension are coming up as 404 Not Found for me.

With a version number of 2011.11.28.1, I would classify that extension as abandoned, although the AMO website says that add-on is still compatible with the latest version of Firefox. But they don't check that everything about each add-on works correctly or as it once did work.

The appropriate place to discuss matters regarding Add-ons is the Add-ons forum.
https://forums.mozilla.org/addons/


If you really think that feature within a particular add-on should be part of Firefox, file a Bug at Bugzilla as a request for enhancement. If you do decide to do that, do a piece-by-piece or feature-by-feature itemization of what you are looking for, the Mozilla developers aren't going to replicate every feature in a particular add-on as a substitute for an abandoned add-on.
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/

Any possibility that this - http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2422055&hilit=TabGroups+Manager - support thread over at MozillaZine describes the same issue you are having?


IMO, you are better trying to fix whatever problems you are having with that extension by yourself, or recruiting someone to help you fix those problems. I extracted the files which are packaged in that extension, and although I was unable to read the license.txt (probably) due to the developer's native language, it seems to be documented pretty good in English so that I could partially follow what was documented as far a what he/she was doing. Personally, I have no interest in that type of extension for my own use, and currently don't have the free time to fiddle with trying to update or fix an add-on. My advice is to post over at MozillaZine and see how much interest there might be in resuscitating that extension, and/or if anyone there can't help you fix it. You'll need to register for that forum and login there to be able to post in any of the Extension and Themes fora over there.

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@the-edmeister: thanks. The bug you linked does not describe the problems I saw. The most important one, by the way, is the broken compatibility with Firefox 20, the addon's bar just does not appear any more. I would like to understand how you manage 1000s of tabs without needing Tabs Group Manager.

@iamjayakumars: although the-edmeister said he has no use for this addon, I not only became dependant on this addon, I think this is one comfortable way of browsing that should be the next step for all browsers. I do not use bookmarks any more. I just name my tab groups and keep them. If there are too many, I hibernate some until I need them. I never found any method of managing tabs that comes even near to this experience. I tried others. Tab trees seemed an even better idea, but the present addons had no name-able sub-trees and did not save well enough between sessions. Tab Groups manager even has built-in session backup and restoration. Really, I cannot understand why not everyone jumps on this. It is several steps ahead. Not using it feels like living 10 years in the past. Thus big is the improvement. Would be a shame if this died! I cannot code well enough and do not have the money, I can just say: do not miss this opportunity of Firefox and for yourself.

Modified by klausThorn

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I am a user of TGM for years, FF20 broke it and I ended down this path of what to do. I see the addon appears to be abandoned...I have resorted to downgrading to FF19 and turned off any upgrading and will remain on FF19 forever. I am an IT consultant, with 10-20 groups used at all times, half dozen more hibernated - and tab count in the hundreds. Could not do this w/o this addon.

Hope somehow this gets picked up by someone for what seems like it could be fixable...by a programmer who can then take it over.

X my fingers.

Ron

Modified by rjameson3

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I have this problem, too. TabGroups Manager is an add-on/extension that turns Firefox into the most productive internet browser, BAR NONE!!!

Do the developers/managers/professors at mozilla fully understand the subtleties as to why?

Bookmarking is slow and tedious. Months later, difficult to remember exactly what/when/where, too.

TabGroups Manager provides the user an additional display bar, so may organize projects by groups of tabs. Just as importantly, it removes the many hundreds of other project tabs from memory; otherwise, FF becomes painfully slow.

Likewise, often projects are complete for the moment, but will need revisiting at a future date. Months later, most people will not recall where they forwarded to back and forth during the task at hand. Once one goes back and follows another search thread, the previous thread forward from that point is lost when browsing.

TabGroups Manager allows the user to create many groups of browsing projects. Tabs may be moved between projects easily. Within any group, one may also utilize TreeTabs and Colorful Tabs, to further enhance functionality. Backing up of sessions and settings happen automatically or manually, to ensure may always get back to one's hundreds of projects at any point in time, as understandably when handling such volumes of user data, occasionally data corruption may occur (such as when Firefox becomes unresponsive for extended times with the "spinning wheel of death").

TabGroups may remain visible on the Group Bar, yet "suspended" from occupying memory, only displaying an icon for easy user recognition. TabGroups also may be "hibernated" into a list, if currently inactive, though the user may want to easily re-create all tabs active in a project at a later date.

Groups of tabs, with all the tree-structure and varied colors may be exported, saved manually, saved by timer, saved upon Firefox quit, etc.

The programmer who developed this provides a near-miraculous implementation with a phenominal amount of user-control and parameter settings to accommodate various preferences and compatibility with related add-ons. I would love to meet him or her, someday!

Works wonderfully through 19.0.2; in 20.0, it appears that Firefox no longer allows TabGroups Manager (TGM) to read stored data, so all prior tabgroups or sessions are no longer available; likewise, FF 20.0 will not allow ability to add new tab groups, nor access session settings.

I was hoping if saved TGM sessions in FF 19.0.2, that perhaps in FF 20.0 could reload all data. Without TGM being able to access it's session settings, other than "export" and "save", could not find any way to load previous settings. Likewise, since FF20 no longer allows TGM to create new sessions, seems related that when one clicks on the session icon to choose the hundreds of saved TabGroups, nothing is displayed, either.

Firefox should seriously look to integrate this code into the default browser. If not, at least consider taking over maintenance of this add-on as an optional extension. At absolute minimum, mozilla should discover why such robust capabilities are not working in FF20 and code into Firefox code work-a-rounds so that TGM continues to function!!!

If anyone at mozilla would like to discuss further, I am local to Mountain View and would be happy to bring my laptop by to demonstrate how important these capabilities are for thousands of "power-browser users".

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I quit using FF about two years ago with a long profane rant about closing my session wrong or opening it improperly only to have all my tab groups disappear. . . (sigh)

I come back now and the same arguments are going on. . . Opera has stacking and IE has multiple tabs and grouping of their own - and he sits the breakthrough browser that started it all floundering around... now without a tab group function at all, it appears. . .

That welcoming video about not being a different browser but a browser that makes a difference certainly had me fooled until I started looking up how to handle tab grouping. . . (sigh)