Window Panel: Make finding active tab easier
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I am using the Window(s) panel as a replacement for the tab bar. It works nicely and takes less space than a vertical tab bar.
The one thing that slightly bugs me is that it's not easy to find the active tab in a long list of workspaces and tabs. There is no way to "jump" to the active tab, and by default the optical emphasis is not very strong.
So I installed a CSS mod using the example given here: https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/33795/big-o-active-tab-marker-tiny-dot-unread-marker-for-window-panel
This works better, but I wish it was already better by default.Some ideas:
- There should be a way (shortcut? button?) to jump to the active tab in the window panel.
- In the window panel, the active tab should have stronger emphasis, like a different background colour.
- The window, workspace, and tab-group of the active tab should also receive a (less strong) emphasis, maybe a less strong background colour.
- Maybe the window, workspace, and tab-group of the active tab should always be expanded? Right now you can switch to a tab that's in a collapsed tab-group with CTRL-Tab, and you won't see the active tab in the window panel.
- Having some small optical feedback when hovering the mouse over the list would also be nice.
Thanks for building the best browser of them all!
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Use this code that some user put in the forum:
/* WINDOWS PANEL*/ .vivaldi-tree { font-size: 15px; } .vivaldi-tree .title.active{ color: red; font-size: 18px; } #window-panel .vivaldi-tree .title.active:after {content: ''; position: absolute; left: 0; width: -webkit-fill-available; height: 24px; font-size: 24px; background: #5070f0; mix-blend-mode: overlay;}
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@mred I think the emphasis is good enough, but I never liked the dot as indicator. You can change it to any unicode symbol, e.g.
#window-panel .vivaldi-tree .title.active::before { content: "⌑"; }
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Thank you both for the CSS ideas!
I already have built my own version out of the example I linked above.
My issue is, yes, I can make the optics better for me, but it should be better by default - That's why I put this in "feature requests".
And also, I would love further improvements to the UI, e.g. to be able to quickly jump to the active tab, or have the active tab always visible. -
@mred Said:
to be able to quickly jump to the active tab, or have the active tab always visible.
Could you explain what is for you the "active" tab?
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@barbudo2005
The active tab is the one that is shown in the browser. The default UI for the window panel marks the active tab with a little dot and bold font.If you change the active tab by double-clicking in the window panel, then of course you will see the active tab. But if you scroll around a long list of tabs / groups / workspaces in the window panel, it's not quickly possible to find your way back to the active tab.
Also I noticed that in case your active tab is in a tab group or workspace that is folded / closed in the window panel, you can't find it at all.It's possible to change the active tab with CTRL-Tab, this will allow you to switch from a tab that was visible in an opened tab-group to a tab that is in a closed tab-group. Then if you look at the window panel, you can't see which is the active tab any more.
My suggestion no. 3 from the OP would make it possible to find the active tab visually.
Another solution would be to automatically open the tab group / workspace that the current tab is in. (This would need thought about what to do when you leave that tab again with CTRL-Tab. Return tab group to previous state or leave opened?)Another idea: when switching the active tab in any way, the window panel could automatically center on the new active tab (necessarily opening any group it's in).
I like the backslash shortcut to close all the workspaces in the window panel.
It would be cool to have another shortcut to jump to the active tab, again necessarily opening any group it's in. -
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@mred Said:
to be able to quickly jump to the active tab, or have the active tab always visible.
In the image of the Window Panel the "active" tab is not visible.
You don't need to jump to the "active" tab. You are ALWAYS in the "active" tab. And is ALWAYS visible.
Could you say what is the "active" tab in the image although it is not visible in the Window Panel?
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@barbudo2005
Sorry, I think I don't quite understand what you are trying to say.
In your screenshot I can't say from the window panel which tab is the active one. Can you?I'll show you a screenshot that uses the CSS mod that was linked in my first post.
I can tell you that a Wikipedia page is the active tab shown in the browser. If you can read the window title on top ("Fenster - Kernel-Modul...") then you know, this is the name of the active tab. Then you can try and look for that title again in the tab stacks, and then you can open the stack and find the active tab in there. But if there are more items in the panel, and the top window title is scrolled out of view, you won't know with a single look what's the name of the tab you are seeing in the browser right now. Also, if the active tab is in a renamed tab group that is collapsed, or in a collapsed workspace, you can't find it in the panel without opening all the possible workspaces and tabgroups. -
Here I renamed the tab group which has the active tab in it.
And here you can see the open tab group. The CSS mod makes the active tab nicely visible. Something like this would be cool to have by default, without needing CSS mods. But, as said above, it could be even better if there were visible indicators where to find the active tab, like the needle in a haystack of all the entries in the window panel. -
@mred
Said:In your screenshot I can't say from the window panel which tab is the active one. Can you?
Yes, from the Window Title: "Home Vivaldi"
Use this setting:
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I see what you mean. You can get that without the native window with "CTRL-M".
But I am not interesting in seeing the title of the tab somewhere, I want to see the tab in the windows panel next to the other tabs in the stack. They are grouped for some reason, I want to have a quick overview what else is there in that "neighborhood". Also I will scroll in the window panel sometimes without changing to another tab, and I want to be able to come back and find the current tab more easily.
With the CSS mod it's ok, as long as the stack / workspace remains open. This "feature request" is just one humble idea how to improve Vivaldi even more from the factory settings. -
I really love the usage of the Windows panel - it obsoletes the tab bar for me.
However, I wish there was a way for me to navigate to the current tab in the Windows Panel. Right now, there's only a small dot to the left of the tab in the list which indicates it is the current tab. But ideally, I want to be able to press a button/key shortcut to get to the location of the current tab in the list.
This should also open the parent window/workspace/tab-stack , if they are collapsed, to expose where the current tab is.
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@tmab2003 Please vote for the existing request: Window Panel: Make Finding Active Tab Easier.
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I'm testing using window panel to replace tab bar as well. I have too many tabs for work, and so far this feels really good. In order for the window to completely replace tab bar, I think it does need a few touchups in design. "Current" tab is not highlighted enough, and sometimes another tab could be highlighted with color while active tab is highlighted with a small dot (as shown in screenshot), making it even more difficult to find where I am. The workspaces are stacked as folders, which logically makes sense, but somehow defies the idea of "workspace".
Below is a comparison between what I got on Arc and what I got on Vivaldi. I even adjusted the color of Vivaldi to make it a bit more blue-ish. But the design language is obviously more appealing in Arc.