5 ms·

Chrome 51 Arrives on Android, Officially Kills Off “Merge Tabs and Apps”

34 points by ikeboy 10y ago

EpicEng 10y ago
Good riddance. Maybe others found this useful, I don't know, but all it did for me was conflate two disparate concepts (really; tabs are not apps) and cause clutter in what was a useful UI. It was the first thing I disabled after switching back to Android from iOS.
- reustle 10y ago
  I got pretty comfortable with it. If I opened up hacker news, then the messenger app, then reddit, it stayed in that order which felt very natural.
  - DavidTWco 10y ago
    I found it particularly helpful when combined with the quick-switching between apps in Android N.
- reidrac 10y ago
  I liked it. It felt quite natural to look for the pages in my app list, instead of getting to the browser and then switch tabs. I guess I tend to use more websites than native apps. Also the new (old?) behaviour keeps the last tab open when I close the browser, which is annoying and a step backwards in usability. It doesn't seem to be possible to change this. In my opinion it would have been better to leave the functionality and just turn it off by default.
  - EpicEng 10y ago
    My issue is that I tend to have a lot of tabs (> 5) open at once. Because apps and tabs were combined, switching between apps became a chore as I had to swipe through so many tabs. I like keeping them separate.
- thechriswalker 10y ago
  I did not like the feature and did not use it. That doesn't make it OK to remove a feature that people did use and like. That feels like a bit of a slap - what if they decide to remove some other feature I like but other people don't use (e.g. the always allow zoom feature which I would not like to go without)
  - EpicEng 10y ago
    Well, I can commiserate there. I'm currently delaying my chrome update to avoid losing backspace functionality.
zspitzer 10y ago
I never used it, mainly because it removed the simple UI to close all tabs in the browser
donretag 10y ago
I love this feature. Did not care for it at first, but I quickly learned to enjoy it. I never update software that works, so hopefully I will enjoy this functionality until my next phone.
- ok_craig 10y ago
  I agree. I loved it, and I miss it.
- ikeboy 10y ago
  Thing is browser updates can be security critical and chrome won't backport fixes as far as I know. I think firefox will to ESR branches though.
- smt88 10y ago
  > I never update software that works This is such a terrible mistake for a browser. You're missing vital security patches. Never browse with an out-of-date browser!
  - c_m_u 10y ago
    Yeah, gee. Thank god for the security update treadmill. Prefect excuse to force other people to accept unwanted changes. This is the way bills in congress work, so let's apply the same social engineering to software. Someone else gets to ruin my system by bundling a non-essential change with an "essential" change. Never waste a good disaster.
    - ikeboy 10y ago
      On the other hand it costs time and money to backport fixes to older versions. We add feature X and remove feature Y, refactoring a bunch of code. Now we fix a security bug. Applying that patch to the old version won't build. Someone needs to fix that, right? Microsoft supported XP for a long time, but that was paid. At some point it becomes unfeasible to maintain older versions.
      - 10y ago
Illniyar 10y ago
I didn't like it or use it but it feels like a pretty major functionality to remove. Anyone know what is the reason behind it? Was it unpopular? A security risk? Hard to maintain?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- xbmcuser 10y ago
  previously 50 recent apps were available in future version of Android 7 most recent only so this would make all the recents chrome tabs mostly so they removed it
fahrradflucht 10y ago
I was very disappointed as a first saw that change pop up in Chrome Dev for Android, but thought it was maybe a change of defaults and the option would get put in again before the release. Now it's not in and I think thats very sad. It just degrades the open web in relation to native apps even more and the context switch between browser tabs and native apps is as big as it was years ago. Why don't keep the option? I know progressive web apps that are added to the homescreen still have that functionality but the main idea of PWAs was that the move from a website becoming an app should be as seamless as possible...
- currywurst 10y ago
  A "homescreened" PWA will still appear as a separate app though ..
  - fahrradflucht 10y ago
    > I know progressive web apps that are added to the homescreen still have that functionality but the main idea of PWAs was that the move from a website becoming an app should be as seamless as possible...
egeozcan 10y ago
And I thought that I had accidentally turned that feature off and have been searching for a while to get it back. Really disappointing.
currywurst 10y ago
I was among the folks who at first didn't care for the feature, but it quickly grew on me. Things I noticed (perhaps useful for UX folks) * In a default one-handed grip, it was easier to switch between tabs because the multitasking button on Android is near where one's thumb usually is. Now to switch tabs, you have to reach diagonally across the screen on top near the address bar (which is aggravated by unnaturally big phones, but that's another story) * I am not on the dev channels, and was not particularly "in the know" about the upcoming change. So I was extremely frustrated to find one day that not only suddenly a fundamental behaviour changed, but there was no option to set it back!! Really disrespectful to the user. If I was dead-set on changing it I would put a highlight near the setting that it was going to be deprecated soon. I then resolve to switch to Firefox on Android, and I can't believe I didn't do it earlier. While I've made peace with the fact that "merge apps and tabs" are gone, I found out that Firefox had a vastly superior feature set, the most delightful of which is the "Tab Queue" feature. (E.g. when browsing in the Twitter app, and you click on links it doesn't switch to the browser, it queues the link in Firefox. Once you're done with Twitter, you can now switch to Firefox and all the links are retrieved then)
- unprepare 10y ago
  and firefox supports add ons, so i can browse the web with an ad-blocker
tdkl 10y ago
Good. The recent apps since Lollipop was so convoluted already, since they allowed up to 50 items in it, which kills the convenience of having a recent app list in the first place. If you open the recent list and the app you want isn't in the first 7+-2 items, it'll take longer then going to the shortcut/app drawer. That's why they got to their senses in N and limited that list to 7. [1] Sadly we'll get that sometime next year (my phone just got offered M). But that's another bag of dicks. [1] http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/05/18/android-n-includes-tweak-of-recent-apps-ui-with-clear-all-button-at-top-only-7-apps-included-in-switcher-and-quick-switch-shortcut/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/05/18/android-n-includes-t...
aashu_dwivedi 10y ago
I really liked the feature. Is there a performance reason because of which it was removed or is it only related to ux ?
JohnTHaller 10y ago
Now if we can just get rid of different search entries appearing in task switcher. I want to switch apps not see the complete nonsense of my search history. I get it, you want me to use search more, but get it out of my way. While we're at it, stop shoehorning Chrome views into the Search app and everything else, too. The only reason for it to be there is to make it harder for folks that use a different default browser to be able to launch it. And to ensure that ads are shown since Chrome and Chrome views don't support ad blocking.

34 points by ikeboy 10y ago

Good riddance. Maybe others found this useful, I don't know, but all it did for me was conflate two disparate concepts (really; tabs are not apps) and cause clutter in what was a useful UI. It was the first thing I disabled after switching back to Android from iOS.

reustle 10y ago
I got pretty comfortable with it. If I opened up hacker news, then the messenger app, then reddit, it stayed in that order which felt very natural.
- DavidTWco 10y ago
  I found it particularly helpful when combined with the quick-switching between apps in Android N.
reidrac 10y ago
I liked it. It felt quite natural to look for the pages in my app list, instead of getting to the browser and then switch tabs. I guess I tend to use more websites than native apps. Also the new (old?) behaviour keeps the last tab open when I close the browser, which is annoying and a step backwards in usability. It doesn't seem to be possible to change this. In my opinion it would have been better to leave the functionality and just turn it off by default.
- EpicEng 10y ago
  My issue is that I tend to have a lot of tabs (> 5) open at once. Because apps and tabs were combined, switching between apps became a chore as I had to swipe through so many tabs. I like keeping them separate.
thechriswalker 10y ago
I did not like the feature and did not use it. That doesn't make it OK to remove a feature that people did use and like. That feels like a bit of a slap - what if they decide to remove some other feature I like but other people don't use (e.g. the always allow zoom feature which I would not like to go without)
- EpicEng 10y ago
  Well, I can commiserate there. I'm currently delaying my chrome update to avoid losing backspace functionality.

zspitzer 10y ago

I never used it, mainly because it removed the simple UI to close all tabs in the browser

donretag 10y ago

I love this feature. Did not care for it at first, but I quickly learned to enjoy it. I never update software that works, so hopefully I will enjoy this functionality until my next phone.

ok_craig 10y ago
I agree. I loved it, and I miss it.
ikeboy 10y ago
Thing is browser updates can be security critical and chrome won't backport fixes as far as I know. I think firefox will to ESR branches though.
smt88 10y ago
> I never update software that works This is such a terrible mistake for a browser. You're missing vital security patches. Never browse with an out-of-date browser!
- c_m_u 10y ago
  Yeah, gee. Thank god for the security update treadmill. Prefect excuse to force other people to accept unwanted changes. This is the way bills in congress work, so let's apply the same social engineering to software. Someone else gets to ruin my system by bundling a non-essential change with an "essential" change. Never waste a good disaster.
  - ikeboy 10y ago
    On the other hand it costs time and money to backport fixes to older versions. We add feature X and remove feature Y, refactoring a bunch of code. Now we fix a security bug. Applying that patch to the old version won't build. Someone needs to fix that, right? Microsoft supported XP for a long time, but that was paid. At some point it becomes unfeasible to maintain older versions.
    - 10y ago

Illniyar 10y ago

I didn't like it or use it but it feels like a pretty major functionality to remove. Anyone know what is the reason behind it? Was it unpopular? A security risk? Hard to maintain?

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
xbmcuser 10y ago
previously 50 recent apps were available in future version of Android 7 most recent only so this would make all the recents chrome tabs mostly so they removed it

fahrradflucht 10y ago

I was very disappointed as a first saw that change pop up in Chrome Dev for Android, but thought it was maybe a change of defaults and the option would get put in again before the release. Now it's not in and I think thats very sad. It just degrades the open web in relation to native apps even more and the context switch between browser tabs and native apps is as big as it was years ago. Why don't keep the option? I know progressive web apps that are added to the homescreen still have that functionality but the main idea of PWAs was that the move from a website becoming an app should be as seamless as possible...

currywurst 10y ago
A "homescreened" PWA will still appear as a separate app though ..
- fahrradflucht 10y ago
  > I know progressive web apps that are added to the homescreen still have that functionality but the main idea of PWAs was that the move from a website becoming an app should be as seamless as possible...

egeozcan 10y ago

And I thought that I had accidentally turned that feature off and have been searching for a while to get it back. Really disappointing.

currywurst 10y ago

I was among the folks who at first didn't care for the feature, but it quickly grew on me. Things I noticed (perhaps useful for UX folks) * In a default one-handed grip, it was easier to switch between tabs because the multitasking button on Android is near where one's thumb usually is. Now to switch tabs, you have to reach diagonally across the screen on top near the address bar (which is aggravated by unnaturally big phones, but that's another story) * I am not on the dev channels, and was not particularly "in the know" about the upcoming change. So I was extremely frustrated to find one day that not only suddenly a fundamental behaviour changed, but there was no option to set it back!! Really disrespectful to the user. If I was dead-set on changing it I would put a highlight near the setting that it was going to be deprecated soon. I then resolve to switch to Firefox on Android, and I can't believe I didn't do it earlier. While I've made peace with the fact that "merge apps and tabs" are gone, I found out that Firefox had a vastly superior feature set, the most delightful of which is the "Tab Queue" feature. (E.g. when browsing in the Twitter app, and you click on links it doesn't switch to the browser, it queues the link in Firefox. Once you're done with Twitter, you can now switch to Firefox and all the links are retrieved then)

unprepare 10y ago
and firefox supports add ons, so i can browse the web with an ad-blocker

tdkl 10y ago

Good. The recent apps since Lollipop was so convoluted already, since they allowed up to 50 items in it, which kills the convenience of having a recent app list in the first place. If you open the recent list and the app you want isn't in the first 7+-2 items, it'll take longer then going to the shortcut/app drawer. That's why they got to their senses in N and limited that list to 7. [1] Sadly we'll get that sometime next year (my phone just got offered M). But that's another bag of dicks. [1] http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/05/18/android-n-includes-tweak-of-recent-apps-ui-with-clear-all-button-at-top-only-7-apps-included-in-switcher-and-quick-switch-shortcut/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/05/18/android-n-includes-t...

aashu_dwivedi 10y ago

I really liked the feature. Is there a performance reason because of which it was removed or is it only related to ux ?

JohnTHaller 10y ago

Now if we can just get rid of different search entries appearing in task switcher. I want to switch apps not see the complete nonsense of my search history. I get it, you want me to use search more, but get it out of my way. While we're at it, stop shoehorning Chrome views into the Search app and everything else, too. The only reason for it to be there is to make it harder for folks that use a different default browser to be able to launch it. And to ensure that ads are shown since Chrome and Chrome views don't support ad blocking.