Enable Tab Groups in Vivaldi Android
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UPDATE: My deepest apologies to anyone who read this original update thinking the flags were no longer required. I posted in the wrong thread. The original post is still accurate. Mea culpa!
This feature has changed the way I create a large series of bookmarks when doing research. I'll use this to create anywhere from a dozen to a couple hundred bookmarks in one quick pass. I've detailed the process in this post in this thread below.
ORIGINAL POST
Hey Folks,
So it's possible to have Tab Groups (a.k.a. Tab Stacking) in the current release of Vivaldi Android. All it requires is enabling a flag or two in the vivaldi://flags Experiments page.
Here's the 3 relevant flags that I enabled to get the UI elements shown below. I think only the first one is required, but the other 2 provide some additional features/UI elements that you probably also want.
I created the tab group used for these screenshots by opening search results links in new tabs. They all just automatically created a new group with the tab that had the search engine results.
You can also create tab group manually. If you press & hold on a tab in the tab switcher and wait until the UI indicates that you have a hold on the tab by shrinking it, you can then drag & drop it on the tab you want to group it with. You can stack more tabs into that group, or you can drag the group itself and drop it onto whichever tab you want to add to it.
Here's what a tab group looks like in the tab switcher.
Here's what the group looks like when you click on it in the tab switcher, it loads a slightly smaller secondary switcher just for the group. If you want to remove one of the tabs, press & hold to grab the tab and a Remove From Group area appears at the bottom where you can drop the tab and it'll be put back in the main tab switcher.
Finally, here's what it looks like when you're viewing a tab that is part of a group. There is an additional navigation bar at the bottom to easily switch between tabs in the same stack. I assume this is enabled by one of the extra flags shown above, but I haven't bothered testing to be certain.
So for everyone who has been wanting this feature... enjoy!
Tested on Vivaldi Android Beta version 2.9.1741.39
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Does not seem to work for me (or at least not as I would expect it to be, since I cannot drag and drop tabs over each other [tablet version]).
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@jumpsq said in Enable Tab Groups in Vivaldi Android Beta:
oes not seem to work for me (or at least not as I would expect it to be, since I cannot drag and drop tabs over each other [tablet version]).
You did make sure to restart the browser using the button that appears when you modify a flag?
Edit: Also, which version of Vivaldi do you have installed? I did this on 2.9.1741.39, the current beta version.
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@bonetone Don't enable the third flag. That seemed to work for me on the current Beta version.
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The bottom bar doesn't always update when you open or close a tab, but the chevron ^ and tab manager itself work well, so there's that.
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Hi, it is working on snapshot, too.
Nice find.Cheers, mib
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@sirfredrick I'm only using it on beta right now, still with all 3 flags, but I'm curious what the difference is for you.
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One thing I've found, as is common with these flags and experimental features, there are some bugs. It can get into a funky state sometimes where one of the following may be happening:
- the bottom bar disappears
- the page won't scroll
To fix either of these issues, I click the V menu at the top and choose "New Tab", then I click the normal tab manager close that new tab and go back to my tab group with everything working.
Another issue that might be related to what @madiso is describing is that the bottom bar won't respond to clicks. To fix that just scroll up and the bottom bar will move up a little and become responsive again.
With that bottom bar, clicking the icon for other tabs obviously switches to that tab, you can scroll the list left & right. Clicking the icon for the current tab closes it.
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Efficient Bookmark Creation for Many Tabs
This has changed the way I create bookmarks when doing research to a faster method. Let's say you've done a search, then opened a few dozen tabs from the results and want to bookmark them.
Old Method & Its Problems
Previously I would use swipe to create all my bookmarks, then go back and close the tabs. This has a few issues in that you have to be aware of where you are with other tabs.
The 2 main potential errors are:
- Bookmarking unrelated tabs
- Closing tabs that aren't bookmarked, aren't part of this research process, etc.
The Tab Stack / Tab Group Method
Keeping all the related tabs in a group isolates them from all other open tabs and prevents both issues above. So what you've done before getting to this point is a search, and for each interesting result you long-pressed on it and selected open in new tab in tab group. When done opening tabs you can close the search tab. This creates a tab group full of just the tabs from the search.
The first step is the same as always, create a bookmark and edit it to place it into the desired folder (note that the edit link that shows up when creating a bookmark can be hidden by the tab bar now, so just click the bookmark icon in the menu to edit it. )
After you've edited the first to put it into the correct folder, all subsequent bookmarks will be created in the same folder.
Now comes the new faster method for creating a series of bookmarks. You can do this from either the left or the right most folder in the list but I find using the left most to be most natural -- my left thumb works the tabs and my right thumb works the V menu.
Close the tab for the first bookmark you've just created and get set on the tab at the start of your list.
Create All the Bookmarks Quickly
- Click V menu
- Click bookmark to create it
- Click the icon to close the current tab.
- Repeat.
At the end you've bookmarked all those tabs and restored Vivaldi to a clean state or the state it was in before your search.
Reopen a Few Tabs to Read Now
If you want to reopen any of those pages, there may have been a few you want to read right now, you can access them in 2 different ways. Obviously you can go find them in your bookmarks. A faster way that I usually use is to go to the tabs history or the tabs trash can (for the 25 most recent tabs only). They'll all be right at the top of the list.
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Thanks alot for letting us know. This feature is really helpful and enjoyable. I also enabled all of the 3 flags.
Would be great if they could be implemented into vivaldi's android settings by the devs. -
@BoneTone Is it possible to open a new tab within a group, instead of needing to move the new tab into the group manually? (By drag&drop myself)
Is there a option that says "open new tab in group" ? -
@hyperboraeer The plus button in the bottom bar or the context menu of any link.
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This post is deleted! -
@madiso @BoneTone
This is not what I meant. The plus button for ''open tab in new group'' only appears after I created a group. After I added a tab to another by drag&drop.
But there's no plus button for a standalone tab.
There's no plus button in a single tab. Also not accessable in the V Logo of a single tab. Plus button only appears AFTER drag&drop one tab to another / creating a group.
For some odd reason I get a error when trying to upload a screenshot from my phone here... -
@hyperboraeer said in Enable Tab Groups in Vivaldi Android Beta:
@madiso @BoneTone
This is not what I meant. The plus button for ''open tab in new group'' only appears after I created a group. After I added a tab to another by drag&drop.
But there's no plus button for a standalone tab.
There's no plus button in a single tab. Also not accessable in the V Logo of a single tab. Plus button only appears AFTER drag&drop one tab to another / creating a group.
For some odd reason I get a error when trying to upload a screenshot from my phone here...My initial reaction was the same as @madiso, to chick the plus button on the right of the bottom bar listing all the tabs in the group. So, let's make sure I understand the scenario you're describing.
- You have a tab currently open and some page loaded in that tab.
- That tab is not a part of a tab group right now, it's just an individual tab.
- You want to create a new tab, which loads the default new tab page (speed dial), that also creates a new tab stack and groups itself with the current active tab
Is that accurate? If so, I don't even think that's possible on the desktop, let alone Android. Though I've never tried it on the desktop I don't recall any such action being available.
The quickest way to get what you want (a new tab group created with 2 tabs, the current active tab and a new tab, with the new tab active and the speed dial loaded) would be to long press on any link in the current page and choose open new tab in group, then just tap the new tab's icon and tap the speed dial icon. That, to me, is easier than creating a new tab in the normal way and then stacking them manually.
I wouldn't expect this feature to be created any time in the foreseeable future (if ever). Especially when you consider that 1) the feature doesn't exist on the desktop, and 2) tab stacks/groups on Android are not even an official feature yet. So your best bet is to come up with some workflow for this that's reasonably fast for the way you work. If you find a way that's different than what I suggested, let us know.
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- You have a tab currently open and some page loaded in that tab.
- That tab is not a part of a tab group right now, it's just an individual tab.
- You want to create a new tab, which loads the default new tab page (speed dial), that also creates a new tab stack and groups itself with the current active tab¨
That's exactly what I want. You described it perfectly well.
Is that accurate? If so, I don't even think that's possible on the desktop, let alone Android. Though I've never tried it on the desktop I don't recall any such action being available.
The quickest way to get what you want (a new tab group created with 2 tabs, the current active tab and a new tab, with the new tab active and the speed dial loaded) would be to long press on any link in the current page and choose open new tab in group, then just tap the new tab's icon and tap the speed dial icon. That, to me, is easier than creating a new tab in the normal way and then stacking them manually.
That's actually a good idea and solution. Thank you.
I wouldn't expect this feature to be created any time in the foreseeable future (if ever). Especially when you consider that 1) the feature doesn't exist on the desktop, and 2) tab stacks/groups on Android are not even an official feature yet. So your best bet is to come up with some workflow for this that's reasonably fast for the way you work. If you find a way that's different than what I suggested, let us know.
I also have my doubts, that it'll get implemented the way I want it, any time soon. I just think this should've been naturally a flag/feature for Android and/or for the desktop version, if it's not allready.
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@hyperboraeer said in Enable Tab Groups in Vivaldi Android Beta:
I also have my doubts, that it'll get implemented the way I want it, any time soon. I just think this should've been naturally a flag/feature for Android and/or for the desktop version, if it's not allready.
Yeah, I mean, it's an experimental feature as it is now. Any of these flags that you enable are not guaranteed to work, be free of severe flaws, or remain in the product come the next release.
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I have been using these flags for a while now, and it really isn't very reliable.
The Tabgroups just moves around the screen, and sometimes even goes to the middle of the screen. When trying to play Videos in Landscape mode, they still appear within the video, and block the Playback settings.
The group's don't ever stay at the bottom, where they should be. -
@hyperboraeer I'd say it's very reliable, but buggy -- I can rely on the bug to behave the same all the time. But, this kind of thing is to be expected any time you modify flags; there's a giant warning at the top of the page. It reads in part, "you could lose browser data or compromise your security or privacy." That the issue is merely a piece of UI being drawn incorrectly, and it can easily be reset, is quite minor in comparison to the potential issues when using experimental features.
Now that Vivaldi has a native tab strip, the tab group icons at the bottom of the page are a bit redundant. If the bug is really bothering you, then I'd recommend turning it off and using Vivaldi's tab strip instead.
Personally, I prefer the group's tab strip, even with three bugs, so I do the opposite and turn Vivaldi's off. Vivaldi's native tab strip should be more stable however, since it's a released feature and the Chromium tab strip is experimental. I forget which flag it was that is for the strip but I think it's one of the other two.
The consistency of the bug actually makes it quite manageable. If the tab strip is visible but untouchable, just scroll up and it'll move up a touch and become responsive. Each time you open a link in a new tab in the group it'll jump up the screen a bit. If you do this 4 times in a row, it'll go off the screen. The next time you scroll up, the page itself and the tabs icon on the toolbar at the bottom can become unresponsive. If you find yourself in this situation, use the Vivaldi menu to create a new tab, then you can go into the tabs manager, close the new tab and open the tab group to get back to where you were.
When you go into the tab manager (to the root, not the group), and then open the group and select your tab, the tab strip resets to where it belongs. So, taking advantage of this fact, after opening 3 new tabs in a row, I just click into the tab manager, open the group and select my tab, which is highlighted making it easy to find. That avoids the page getting stuck and having to create a new tab like above.
When the bar moves to the middle of the screen, the page is initially unresponsive if you try to scroll by clicking below the tab strip. Just do a quick little scroll above the tab bar and now it'll scroll when you click below as well.
Sometimes, if I'm opening lots of tabs, I won't bother with the 3 new tabs then reset workflow and just keep opening new tabs. As long as I'm scrolling down and not up, everything is fine. Then after 4 pages of search results I'll create the new tab, close it, and return to my group to start reading all those tabs I created.
I hope all these workflows help some people manage this issue until it gets addressed, which should be done upstream I believe since these flags exist as part of Chromium. It's possible Vivaldi might need to make a fix, but I think it's likely Chromium does. Additionally, since Vivaldi has implemented their own tab strip UI, I would assume that they would focus on increasing its functionality and stability rather than addressing this experimental flag from Chromium.
I haven't had a chance to submit the bug to Chromium. I'm redoing my office -- I have a new sit-stand desk I'm halfway through building and my new chair is being delivered today. So I'm a bit busy at the moment. They may or may not already be aware of the issue.
*NOTE:* If somebody does check in with Chromium and either submits or finds the relevant bug, please post a link in this thread so we can all follow it and provide extra info if they need it.
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@BoneTone I love those flags, along with Tab Dragging, all my websites are organized. I strongly encourage the use of flags.