Tab Groups

cspotcode

Feature Request:

Allow users to configure tab stacking to simultaneously meet the following requirements. Currently, Vivaldi's tab stacks only meet some of these requirements, and only in ways that are mutually exclusive. This means some of these behaviours can only be achieved by disabling others.

Requirements:

Tab Group has clickable expand/collapse header preceding the group of tabs (not following)
Tab Group's name is always visible, whether group is expanded or collapsed
- name is semantically meaningful; is used for visual navigation. Should not be hidden when group is expanded
Tab Group's name can be changed while group is expanded, does not require collapsing group before naming
Tabs within multiple expanded groups are visible at once, instead of being forced to view tabs within a single group at a time
Single-click on group's header to expand/collapse the group
In vertical / sidebar tabs, header appears inline within list of tabs, does not appear as a separate column
- Should not waste screen real-estate.
- Relatively few tab groups compared to # of tabs, so reserving a column of screen real-estate for group names is wasteful compared to using same column as for tabs
Compatible with Tab Group extensions API, so third-party extensions understand the groups

Vivaldi's current tab stacking does not meet these requirements; is less ergonomic than Chrome and Edge's Tab Groups.

Before being defensive, please consider that Vivaldi does not currently meet these requirements. Some are partially met in ways that are mutually exclusive.

However, tab stacking could be augmented with additional configuration options allowing it to meet all these requirements simultaneously. This would grant users the benefits of Edge's/Chrome's tab groups.

A few extensions which integrate with tab groups API:

Related feature requests:

mib2berlin

@cspotcode
Hi, this is not really a feature request, more a statement.
Post only one feature request per topic.
Is bold with a reason in the description, I cant vote anything here.
The linked feature requests got 3 and 12 user votes in Years, I guess they will not implemented in Vivaldi.
As many user use Vivaldi because of the better Group/Stack management I am not sure about the sense of this post.

If you want a feature post one request per post and the user decide. Then the Vivaldi team decide if and when it gets implemented.

Cheers, mib

cspotcode

I've added a prefix to my post to clarify the request.

Some, but not all, of these bullet points can be split into separate posts.

However, it is necessary to keep some of them in a single request, because the request is that they are achievable with a single configuration. Claiming that this would be impossible -- that a user must commit to one configuration or another -- does not make sense, because Edge and Chrome achieve all these benefits with a single configuration.

For example, in Vivaldi, it is possible to simultaneously view the contents of multiple tab groups only when using accordion stacking. But it is possible to simultaneously view the titles of multiple tab groups only when using Two-Level stacking. These benefits are mutually exclusive in Vivaldi. But in Edge and Chrome, they can be achieved at the same time.

An example of multiple groups in Edge. Each has a name, each can be expanded/collapsed, group titles can be viewed whether expanded or collapsed, all tabs in both groups can be viewed simultanously, and horizontal screen real-estate is not wasted on a separate column for group names.

Contrast this with Vivaldi:
When "Bar" is expanded, its name is hidden. It is not possible to rename the "Bar" group with first collapsing it.

When both are expanded, neither title is visible.

The only way to view both titles at all times is with the two-column layout. This, however, prevents us from seeing the tabs within both groups at once. It also wastes screen real-estate with an extra column.

mib2berlin

@cspotcode
Hi again, the Vivaldi way is to use Compact or Accordion view and choose tabs from the popup:

But this one could be a feature request.
May you check a user page from @LonM to search in the 5000+ user requests, I bet you find one.

Stack requests

cspotcode

Linking to another person posting that Chrome's/Edge's tab groups are better, attempting to configure Vivaldi behave more like Chrome & Edge.

In particular, their "Unresolved" list -- where Vivaldi cannot be sufficiently configured -- overlaps with mine.

https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/36738/color-for-group-of-tabs?lang=en-US

cspotcode

I'll keep collecting posts mentioning bad tab stack UX:
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/91355/a-bunch-of-problems

razvanab

Hi, I am new here.
I would like to see tab groups like in Edge too. I notice that the current tab stacks work nice if you use the horizontal position of tabs, but not so well in the vertical position. At least make tab group an option and let people choose what they feel more comfortable using.
Edge is starting to let me down in performance, and Vivaldi is what I would like to use.

Thank you.

Well, Ops, I should be paying more attention to the post next time.
The accordion option for tabs is what I was looking for. If there is one complaint to make, it is that I would like to have names for stacks.

I guess bye-bye, Edge.

WildEnte

@razvanab said in Tab Groups:

If there is one complaint to make, it is that I would like to have names for stacks.

Welcome to the forum!

https://help.vivaldi.com/desktop/tabs/tab-stacks/#Rename_Tab_Stacks

razvanab

Wow Is there anything this browser can't amaze me with?
Thank you.

mnerec

@cspotcode I think you make a great case and I would really like this to be implemented!

I use Edge at work and Vivaldi at home. There are many reasons I love using Vivaldi, but the tab stacking interface is not one of them. I do not understand the arguments for Vivaldi's way of doing it.

I use vertical tabs as you describe at work and I hate coming home to Vivaldi's tab stack interface as it is.

dehyde

If we want to simplify it without losing existing paradigm we can just frame is as having the option to add an editable independent title element to accordion style tabs.

I cannot stress enough how the "Vivaldi way" is the number 1 reason I personally do not commit to Vivaldi as my main browser. It doesn't have to be this way. As a UX professional for the past 8 years, I can go on about the UX problems with existing functionality and how it increases the mental load, reduces efficiency and clarity and is especially problematic for people with ADHD.

Having the option to add this element is not expected to break existing functionality for whoever wants to keep using tabs the way they like.

dehyde

@WildEnte This is not a valid solution.

A. People are visual (read about preattentive attributes). When you rename a tab stack, it still uses the strong visual cue of the favicon of one of the tabs inside. If on every tab stack I have Jira or Figma or Airtable, that's so confusing. I see an Airtable/Jira/Figma... icon which does not help me understand what's inside that stack, and then next to it, there's text that absolutely does not correspond to the icon which creates even more mental load in trying to figure out why this is happening, especially when there's very very very little visual distinction between tab stack and a single tab.

B. When you open a tab stack it's because you're trying to reach a certain tab within that stack. Current pattern makes me load an see a tab that is not necessarily what I'm looking for, which is repeatedly confusing.

C. When looking for a tab stack, because they're so visually similar to tabs, I have to focus on identifying those subtle differences between tabs and stacks which is an inefficient process and is causing a heavy cognitive load.

It's not a big ask, the impact of that is so much larger than all those widgets you guys are adding. Please just do that.