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Sorry, that’s on me for not clarifying well enough in my wording. What I mean is that:
Ahh, very interesting, and excellent point. Thank you for clarifying! I’ve pretty much just used simple extensions like Return YT Dislike and Grammarly, and the few extensions I use that I DO want settings to sync across devices for usually have a setting for it. That’s definitely good to know though, and I’ll keep that in mind for my tech support for the future!
Oh yeah, and there are so many great ways they could implement it, too. I know you said you’re on Android so this is FUNCTIONALLY irrelevant for you, but when you get a chance, check out a video on how Safari handles this on iOS. Legitimately the BEST navigation of mobile browsers, hands-down.
It’s slick and elegant, well-animated, snappy, and functional all in one. You can swipe up on the navigation bar to see all your tabs, then your tab groups are all available via a bar at the bottom to switch between quickly, and if you swipe all the way to the end of your tabs and swipe again, it automatically creates a new one for you. This, and a handful of other cool things, make it legitimately almost convincing enough for me to use Safari just on iOS and set up some complicated syncing method for my desktop and Android browsers, if it only supported extensions. (Orion does all of this + extensions as well and could become a viable alternative once it gets more platforms, if they can get a better implementation of vertical tabs on desktop.)
Good to know, at least there is hope for iOS. I absolutely love this feature, especially the way it’s implemented with Safari on iOS where you can swipe up to view all tabs, as well as swipe left on your last tab to create a new one.
More or less a convenience thing. It works on my phone, but it’s absent on desktop and makes the experience just a bit more inconvenient. we already suffer from not having true APPS like Netflix or YouTube on most desktop OS, but PWAs at least can lighten that. (And yes, I can use quick launchers like Spotlight, Raycast, Powertoys Command Pallete, Krunner, etc., but that’s still not anywhere near as convenient. I’m literally the dude who made a Launchpad remake for macOS Tahoe; of course I know “better” methods exist, but things like this can still be nice to have IMO.)
As I said to someone else, “Built-in browser splitscreen in a browser that handles it well is genuinely game-changing. You can do things like link the Split View (links you click on one side open in the other; excellent for reviews and information gathering), quick window resizing, all your typical tab grouping and collections, and more – all without having to open another window instance.“ And yes, I use macOS (also with Rectangle), Windows, and Linux, and still have this sentiment.
I know, right? I think it’s a WIP thing. At least, I hope it is, as the address bar ALSO hides in vertical tab mode if I use true fullscreen, but the sidebar doesn’t. I could be wrong, but I think this is also ONLY the case if vertical tabs are enabled, not just for the usual sidebar with horizontal tabs, but don’t quote me on that.
Ahh, okay, fair enough. That stinks, do I do feel slightly better knowing that it isn’t some major feature I’ve just been ignoring. Not that there ISN’T probably some benefit to it, but it’s just not for me, and I’ve not met anyone so far who prefers them… but then again, I am also THE tech for literally everyone I know 😅
Follow-up: What exactly do you like about tree-style tabs? I’ve not really looked into them before, and even in all my tech-ness (I taught myself macOS, Windows, Linux, and programs like GIMP, Darktable, Inkscape, and a good amount of DaVinci Resolve, for reference)… the two times I tried Vivaldi, I couldn’t quite get it. I mean, it visually makes sense, but why? What are your thoughts as opposed to just tab groups and a single column or row as most browsers do things?
Very cool. Always loved the extent of customization available on Firefox desktop. For me, the current implementation of Firefox’s vertical tabs is “fine” for now, but even Brave’s ultra-basic version of the feature still does it more in line with MS Edge (who does it best, IMO). I’d look into something like this for myself if the iOS app tab swiping got implemented and Zen didn’t handle things better than vanilla Firefox, though. Keep up the great customization work!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally open to forks… if they have all of these. As things stand currently though, I’d have to use Zen OR Floorp to get the features I wanted, and there’s still not a solid Firefox app (original or fork) with the tab-swiping feature so I’d be using a different browser on mobile and desktop. Not IMPOSSIBLE, but less than ideal.
I’ve used Zen before and it came the closest to actually switching browsers since Arc, but as a tech support provider who frequently uses just about EVERY OS except Chrome OS and BSD, I need something reliable and available on everything (which excludes Arc) that also has the features I need for tab swiping and all on mobile (which excludes every Firefox fork… so far.) I’m hopeful, though, that Mozilla will act on what they said here. https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/swipe-on-url-field-to-switch-tabs/idi-p/83548
It’s definitely worth a shot. Again, Arc probably has the best implementation of this feature, and is worth trying out if only to understand what I mean. MS Edge’s variation is better than basically everything else that’s not Arc in my testing, and Zen might also have a variation of this but I hadn’t used it in a while.
Built-in browser splitscreen in a browser that handles it well is genuinely game-changing. You can do things like link the Split View (links you click on one side open in the other; excellent for reviews and information gathering), quick window resizing, all your typical tab grouping and collections, and more – all without having to open another window instance.
P.S. macOS window management is certainly not its strong suit, but with the right programs and tweaks, it’s not half bad either :)
I’m totally open to Firefox forks, and Zen’s great. Problem is, that doesn’t fix the Firefox MOBILE issue… no matter how great the desktop client is, if I can’t tab swipe, I’d be using two different browsers anyway. And sure, Zen uses Firefox sync so a theoretical Zen iOS app with tab swiping would fix the issue, but said iOS app doesn’t exist (yet).
Thankfully, Mozilla said they’re looking into tab swiping on iOS, so hopefully it gets added sooner than later… hence why this post is called “Notify me when…” https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/swipe-between-open-tabs-on-ios/idi-p/2088
By “native split screen”, I simply mean the ability to display multiple windows side-by-side or on top of each other (or in other arrangements with multiple windows) within a single browser tab or window instance. I think Arc has the best implementation of this feature, but MS Edge is not far behind with the basic ability of horizontal and/or vertical Split View, plus a possible third view with the sidebar since it is distinct from vertical tabs.
Firefox’s implementation, last time I checked, still required the sidebar extension and only allowed two tabs side-by-side. It’s a start, but even vanilla Chromium has that much now and it’s built in with a flag rather than being an extension. Not to mention, again, if the vertical tabs were separate from the sidebar, you could still use separate sidebar extensions more easily and all.
Any particular reason you don’t just sign in? Genuine question, and you could even create a dummy account that solely holds those extensions and anything else you would want to sync.
‘Nother former Asashi Linux user here (now using a Fedora VM on my M4 MBA until Asahi is natively supported 🤞); just here to say we are all for it! From the moment I first tested it on my M1 MBA, I knew this was the way for the future, and I am glad to see wider adoption of Linux on ARM device devices beyond Apple Silicon.
While it’s obviously sad to see devices lose support, Android 5, 6, and 7 came out ±10 years ago. If you’ve been running those Android versions on a device as your primary driver for this long, you’ve already missed out on a decade’s worth of software and security updates.
At this point in time, assuming your battery hasn’t given out and still lasts <2 hours (trust me, I have an iPhone SE 2016 I’d love to use as an MP3 player, but I’d need to replace the battery first to get any meaningful usage out of it), if you still don’t want to/can’t upgrade your device to a new phone…
…It might be (long past) time to upgrade to a new OS such as LineageOS. Even if your device can’t reach the latest Android 15 or 16, newer “custom operating systems” can oftentimes be even better than the original. This is speaking from a Pixel 2 XL owner who recently upgraded it from the long-discontinued Android 11 to the newest Android 15, now getting significantly better battery life and performance on top of a beautiful near stock experience.