14 ms·

Tree Style Tabs

455 points by gamma-male 8y ago

mitchtbaum 8y ago
Let us remember that these UX patterns are not browser specific features, but Tile/Window management features. https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/04/why-tabs-must-die https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/04/why-tabs-must-die
WaxProlix 8y ago
I used this for a bit but the duplication of information from this and the existing tab bar made it really annoying. Maybe you can hide the 'normal' bar pretty easily and I just didn't find the setting?
- nneonneo 8y ago
  If you install the new version of the addon, it (should) pop up a little help message telling you how to hide the existing tab bar. Basically (as I detail in my other comment) you need to edit a file in the user profile directory. Sadly, the Mozilla team hasn't gotten around to adding a real setting for this yet (although there are plans to).
- gamma-male 8y ago
  Firefox messed up big time with their flagship plugin with their last updates... not sure why.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- sparkie 8y ago
  You can add a few lines to userchrome.css to hide the horizontal tab bar for now.
nneonneo 8y ago
I use TST extensively to manage hundreds of tabs, and it is a real joy. FWIW, these are the customizations that made TST much more usable for me: 1) Very importantly, hide the horizontal tab bar. You get some vertical screen space back, and you aren't distracted by two ways of showing the same tabs. You'll have to edit your userChrome.css (see e.g. http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=UserChrome.css&printable=yes http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=UserChrome.css&pri... for details on how to find it), and add something like this: /* Hide tab bar in FF Quantum */ @-moz-document url("chrome://browser/content/browser.xul") { #TabsToolbar { visibility: collapse !important; margin-bottom: 21px !important; } #sidebar-box[sidebarcommand="treestyletab_piro_sakura_ne_jp-sidebar-action"] #sidebar-header { visibility: collapse !important; } } There are a few variations; this is the one that works well for me on Mac. The second block also hides the sidebar title for TST, which saves space in the tab bar. 2) I customize the tabs themselves to make them more compact, thus letting me see more tabs. This CSS can be placed in the TST addon preferences under the "Advanced" section. /* Compact tab layout */ :root { --tab-height: 20px !important; } .tab { height: 20px !important; } /* Shrink space between pinned tabs and tab bar, only when pins are present */ #tabbar[style*="margin"] { margin-top: 20px !important; } /* Show title of unread tabs with red font */ .tab.unread .label { color: red !important; } /* Add private browsing indicator per tab */ .tab.private-browsing .label:before { content: " "; } I highly recommend this addon, and it's a major differentiator for me between Firefox and Chrome.
- jplayer01 8y ago
  I really wouldn't do this. The add-on bugs out for me fairly regularly and doesn't let me interact with the tabs (like closing them). Still, I can't imagine using a browser without vertical tabs ever again.
  - darkpuma 8y ago
    This happens to me too. TST seems to currently be riddled with all kinds of unusual bugs that only crop up occasionally. Workarounds: Sometimes keyboard shortcuts still work when mouse interaction doesn't. Other times closing then opening the side panel again causes TST to stabilize it's state.
cocolos 8y ago
Anyone know of a way to bookmark the tree structure in TST?
- chrismorgan 8y ago
  Right clicking on a tab, I have an item `Tree Style Tab → Bookmark this tree…`. I use Firefox Nightly; this may be a Nightly feature, I don’t know.
  - cocolos 8y ago
    It saves the tabs but it doesn't keep the hierarchy. I will try Nightly. Thanks!
    - chrismorgan 8y ago
      Ah, it’s specifically the hierarchy you’re asking about. No, it doesn’t seem to save that.
    - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
      I just installed and it says it needs extra permissions for that to work, so that might be the problem, that you didn't check the box on the "just installed" page to enable the permissions?
- nneonneo 8y ago
  TST itself does not have that feature, but there are FF addons that extend TST (https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab#addons-extend-tst https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab#addons-extend-tst). "Bookmark Tree" looks like what you want: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bookmark-tree-for-tst/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bookmark-tree.... Give that a shot.
gamma-male 8y ago
I don’t understand how people browse the web without this extension. That’s the number one reason chrome is not usable for power users. I’m also wondering why this is not natively supported by both firefox and chrome.
- hbosch 8y ago
  Tomato/tomato. I don’t understand how people browse the web with more than 4 or 5 tabs open at the same time.
  - gamma-male 8y ago
    You never have more than 5 tabs open at the same time? You’re probably the minority and you probably have learned to do that because the tabs on top put these constraints on you. You would likely browse the web very differently if you had TST. Give it a try.
    - gbear605 8y ago
      I also work in this way. I use tabs as my “working memory” for whatever my current project is. Having fewer tabs helps keep me on track working on a single topic. When I’m done with that task, it helps me transition by having closed all the tabs. When I want to save pages in the long term, I use bookmarks.
      - mclehman 8y ago
        I use TST to supplement my working memory. I'm usually working within a particular subtree of all my (way too many) tabs. I probably still have more tabs in such a subtree than most people, but the same idea applies: the subtree keeps my focus on a single topic, and when I finish I can either collapse the subtree (my default) or close it entirely. What I find invaluable is the super quick ramp-up after context switching, especially if whatever pulled me away turned out to be more work/time than expected.
      - petepete 8y ago
TACIXAT 8y ago
I use a similar tab layout in Vivaldi and it's amazing. Page titles are wide, stacking them vertically along the side makes a lot more sense.
- aembleton 8y ago
  Last time I tried Vivaldi, it only had one dimension for the vertical tabs - middle click on a link and it just gets added to the list of tabs. With TST, I get a second dimension - child tabs are indented in underneath their parent, so that it is clear where they come from. This is the reason that it is called a Tree.
  - TACIXAT 8y ago
    Yea, there is one more level of nesting, you can group tabs but it is a manual effort. I mostly use that when I want to collapse a bunch of pages relevant to a single project that I'm not working on. What problem does the knowing where the tab came from solve?
leemailll 8y ago
I always feel this should be included in Firefox default settings. Vertical space is an asset on modern monitors especially on laptop, this extension is the reason Firefox is the default browser on my machines
- SubiculumCode 8y ago
  Isn't horizontal space what is excess on laptops? All widescreen these days edit: nevermind. i misread.
  - dualscyther 8y ago
    You're agreeing with parent
- gamma-male 8y ago
  I have no idea why Mozilla is ignoring this extension. This is definitely something that should be a core feature.
  - pletnes 8y ago
    They did a «pilot» experiment recently but apparently decided it’s not important enough. That code is available as another extension (don’t recall the name, perhaps tabcenter).
    - Vinnl 8y ago
      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/tab-center-redux/?src=search https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/tab-center-re...
      - sp332 8y ago
        As far as I can tell, this add-on doesn't let you hide the top tab bar.
larozin 8y ago
Used it before and it was slow and buggy. I found a better way to manage open tabs: stash them into bookmark stacks using simpler extension. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-stash https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-stash
- yesco 8y ago
  Oh very neat, I already mostly do this via "Select All Tabs" -> "Bookmark Selected Tabs" on the tab bar. I like how this addon appears to streamline that bit and shows them on the new tab page.
- mercer 8y ago
  I use OneTab for Chrome, which is similar. If I didn't have that I'd probably switch to FF, but OneTab is good enough for my browsing habits.
  - emmanueloga_ 8y ago
    Plus one for OneTab on Chrome. I also like the "Share as WebPage" feature (example [1]), which I end up using to share links with myself, in different devices, most of the time :-) 1: https://www.one-tab.com/page/PPPJag1tSsm1NFAWgaOUjw https://www.one-tab.com/page/PPPJag1tSsm1NFAWgaOUjw
unholythree 8y ago
I like this, but I visualized it differently. I assumed the tree style tab bar could be placed horizontally and each tab could be a drop down tree from there. I'm not sure if that would even be possible but I'd prefer that arrangement. I rarely maximize my browser so horizontal space isn't just dead space for me.
- yardshop 8y ago
  This is sort of what you get when you put folders in the Bookmarks Toolbar, but the links within them are just lists and not trees. This is how I manage my bookmarks.
rkagerer 8y ago
Is there a new hotkey for sibling (vs. child) tab? Does this play nice with tab save/restore addons similar to Session Buddy? (i.e. is hierarchy persisted?)
- henriquemaia 8y ago
  Have you checked the addon options? It has a submenu for defining keyboard shortcuts.
Rainymood 8y ago
Nice, when are we gonna get tree style ads ;)?
owaislone 8y ago
This is great when pinning dozens of tabs. Pinning dozens of tabs only leaves a few pixels of space for tabs I work with on the right side often making it impossible to clearly understand the open tabs adjacent to the active one. Is there a way to disable the main tab bar? This comment shows the solution: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18836967 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18836967
foreigner 8y ago
Has anybody tried the "Sidewise" Chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sidewise-tree-style-tabs/biiammgklaefagjclmnlialkmaemifgo?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sidewise-tree-styl... Looks like it has tree style tabs, among other features.
- yardshop 8y ago
  I used it for a while but didn't like that it was a separate window, and it also seemed to duplicate my tabs. Might be worth a try again because I do miss the tree style tabs in Chrome.
ttsda 8y ago
I've been using TST for many years and it's really the killer feature that keeps bringing me back to firefox. For those running on older machines who still like having a big tab hierarchy with stuff to check later, there's the "Auto Tab Discard" [1] extension which will discard older tabs from memory while keeping the tab itself, with optional exceptions for pinned tabs, tabs with filled forms, ... Unfortunately there are still some websites that force me to have Chrome installed, biggest culprit being Facebook which is completely unusable on my 2014 MBP through Firefox. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-discard/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-disc...
- agumonkey 8y ago
  I recently realized that chromium is a memory hog, with 50 tabs most of my ram (8G) is gone; while firefor nightly is around 1G, 1.5G maybe with a similar load. I guess this is gonna shrink memory usage even more.
  - ttsda 8y ago
    It does seem to use more memory, but at least on my Mac it uses a lot less CPU. For firefox it just takes one bad tab (gmaps, gmail, facebook, youtube/embedded youtube) to grind the whole system to a halt, all these things work fine on chrome, and use almost no CPU on safari.
    - agumonkey 8y ago
      I'm having issues with cpu usage, it's not binary, but very often some subprocess runs at 20-40% cpu usage even when nothing visible occurs. what a joy
    - therealdrag0 8y ago
      I feel like everyone has their own anecdotes about this. Surely some third party has done controlled performance profiling on the major browsers? That would be very interesting.
- progval 8y ago
hiccuphippo 8y ago
The one thing I don't like from extensions like this is that the inner window ends up in a non-standard width/height and I can't help but think how many sites could track me across domains just by checking for that.
yardshop 8y ago
This is the first thing I install when setting up a new Firefox. Next is Tab Groups or Simple Tab Groups. I will create a tab group for each major category: Common (email, HN, news, daily sites), Python, Powershell, specific groups per project, then have 30 to 40 tabs per group. At work I have further groups for Support, Purchasing, research for specific projects, etc. I use Chrome for web development jobs sometimes and really miss the vertical tabs and hierarchy. Everything squinched together across the top just feels cumbersome and less manageable.
clubm8 8y ago
How well does this play with Multi-Account Containers?
- ttsda 8y ago
  Very well! Even shows a little coloured strip on each tab, and respects regular tab hierarchy.
  - zimmund 8y ago
    I found the indicators too narrow, so I made this CSS change (in TST config): /* Better highlighting of tab container */ .tab { padding-right: 12px !important; } .contextual-identity-marker { width: 6px !important; border-radius: 2px; margin: 2px; opacity: 0.75; } Hope it's helpful for someone else :)
blitmap 8y ago
I use this addon, but I wish it showed as an actual tree (not an indented list of buttons). Also, there's some space to the left that can be reclaimed if you're not using tab groups.
- yardshop 8y ago
  There are a couple appearance options (Vertigo and Sidebar) which don't have the button outlines, may be closer to what you are after. They also don't have the dotted branch lines that some tree controls have. There is also a "No Decoration" option where you can add your own style rules in the Advanced section.
andrepd 8y ago
Alternative, which I personally prefer: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-tabs/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-tabs/
vfq 8y ago
Anybody knows if something like this is possible in Chrome?
- vickychijwani 8y ago
  There's a similar, though not quite as good, Chrome extension called Sidewise. Unfortunately Chrome itself is not as extensible as Firefox so there are issues in Sidewise, the most glaring being that the list of tabs appears in a separate window and Sidewise snaps its position and layout to match your Chrome window using some heuristics. All that said, just use Firefox. It's a much better experience and after Quantum it's on par with Chrome in terms of UI performance.
  - vfq 8y ago
    Sidewise... I already tried it, and it is nothing more than a bad hack... I guess we'll never get that. Firefox has worse performance than Chrome and I don't trust Mozilla, so unfortunately using Firefox is not an option for me.
    - vickychijwani 8y ago
      > I don't trust Mozilla Well you gotta pick your poison. It's either them or Google. To be honest, "poison" is too harsh. Mozilla has done a few stupid things, but they're far more trustworthy than other Internet players.
    - doliveira 8y ago
      What lead you to trust Google more than Mozilla or even put them in the same level of trustworthiness?
      - vfq 8y ago
        The decisions taken by the Mozilla Corporation for the past years make them look like they've completely lost control of themselves. I don't feel like I can trust them at all. I don't want to know what they are going to pull off next week, so I've decided they won't execute any more code on my machine.
CharlesW 8y ago
For folks using Chrome, check out Tabs Outliner if you like This Sort Of Thing™. I can't imagine using Chrome without it. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabs-outliner/eggkanocgddhmamlbiijnphhppkpkmkl?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabs-outliner/eggk...
- dredmorbius 8y ago
  Pale, buggy, and nagware implementation. Use the true original instead.
- WalterGR 8y ago
  Tabs Outliner doesn’t remember the hierarchy of your tabs between browser sessions. Every time you quit and then start Chrome, you end up with a flat list of tabs. That’s a huge non-starter for me. Not fit for purpose. I installed Sidewise Tree Style Tabs a few hours ago and it seems solid so far. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sidewise-tree-style-tabs/biiammgklaefagjclmnlialkmaemifgo?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sidewise-tree-styl...
- equalunique 8y ago
  I too depend on Tabs Outliner.
andrewaylett 8y ago
Recent Firefox has a drop-down with a list of all open tabs at the right side of the tab bar; it doesn't do the "tree" at all, but other than that has successfully removed enough of my demand for more that I'm happy. Along with the scrolling tab bar that lets me see at least a few close-by tab titles, it's usable to dozens of tabs at least. I really don't understand my Chrome-using colleagues who sit perpetually at single-icon-wide tabs and can never find the one they're looking for.
maciekmm 8y ago
Shameless plug. If you are using firefox's container tabs. I have created an addon inspired by tree style tabs that shows tabs under their container. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/container-tabs-sidebar/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/container-tab...
nsonha 8y ago
It was a real joy when I was a student doing extensive reading on topic(s), treating tabs as a reading list, since I didn't have enough stuff to do back then. Nowadays I find opening more than 10 tabs too counter-productive and distracting. What I'll do when it happens is using something like onetab to snapshot them all (with the hope of looking into it later, which never happens) and start fresh with the ONE thing I was supposed to focus at the time.
needle0 8y ago
This (well, actually, I use the simpler Tab Center Redux as I have no need for hierarchical complexity) is the biggest reason I kept using Firefox during its pre-Quantum dark years, still do now, and never once switched to Chrome. Firefox allows fairly seamless* vertical tab implementations; Chrome does not (IIRC they WONTFIXed the request a long time ago). Vertical tab bars are non-negotiable for me, simple as that. * Well, as others point out, it's now become slightly less seamless since hiding the horizontal tab bar requires a userChrome.css hack, but after you do that just once it's smooth sailing.
4n0m4ly 8y ago
Just yesterday i was thinking that it would be great to have tree style tabs, and here it is
gdanov 8y ago
hi, the CSS mentioned here has been serving me well for a while, but since ~month I don't see the RYG buttons anymore. After some experimenting I realized these buttons are rendered only with the native titlebar or with the tabbar. Having toolbar with address, search, etc. and the RYG buttons seems impossible now. anyone else experiencing this problem?
kevinmgranger 8y ago
I used to be a heavy TST user, but lately I've gone in the exact opposite direction. I now use Max Tabs[0] to limit how many I can have open at a time. It works wonders for my focus, and I find that whenever I sigh and have to close tabs to open a new one I need, I can easily find ones I didn't really need. If you're curious, no, it doesn't count pinned tabs-- so any web apps you like to keep open won't count against your limit. 0: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/max-tabs-web-ext https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/max-tabs-web-...
equalunique 8y ago
For those who find Tree Style Tabs not powerful enough for their massive amounts of open tabs, I recommend lots of RAM & Tabs Outliner for Chrom(e/ium): https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabs-outliner/eggkanocgddhmamlbiijnphhppkpkmkl?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabs-outliner/eggk...
SZJX 8y ago
Nobody seems to mention the plugin Tree Tabs here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-tabs/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-tabs/, which IMHO is a much better alternative.

455 points by gamma-male 8y ago

Let us remember that these UX patterns are not browser specific features, but Tile/Window management features. https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/04/why-tabs-must-die https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/04/why-tabs-must-die

WaxProlix 8y ago

I used this for a bit but the duplication of information from this and the existing tab bar made it really annoying. Maybe you can hide the 'normal' bar pretty easily and I just didn't find the setting?

nneonneo 8y ago
If you install the new version of the addon, it (should) pop up a little help message telling you how to hide the existing tab bar. Basically (as I detail in my other comment) you need to edit a file in the user profile directory. Sadly, the Mozilla team hasn't gotten around to adding a real setting for this yet (although there are plans to).
gamma-male 8y ago
Firefox messed up big time with their flagship plugin with their last updates... not sure why.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
sparkie 8y ago
You can add a few lines to userchrome.css to hide the horizontal tab bar for now.

nneonneo 8y ago

I use TST extensively to manage hundreds of tabs, and it is a real joy. FWIW, these are the customizations that made TST much more usable for me: 1) Very importantly, hide the horizontal tab bar. You get some vertical screen space back, and you aren't distracted by two ways of showing the same tabs. You'll have to edit your userChrome.css (see e.g. http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=UserChrome.css&printable=yes http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.php?title=UserChrome.css&pri... for details on how to find it), and add something like this: /* Hide tab bar in FF Quantum */ @-moz-document url("chrome://browser/content/browser.xul") { #TabsToolbar { visibility: collapse !important; margin-bottom: 21px !important; } #sidebar-box[sidebarcommand="treestyletab_piro_sakura_ne_jp-sidebar-action"] #sidebar-header { visibility: collapse !important; } } There are a few variations; this is the one that works well for me on Mac. The second block also hides the sidebar title for TST, which saves space in the tab bar. 2) I customize the tabs themselves to make them more compact, thus letting me see more tabs. This CSS can be placed in the TST addon preferences under the "Advanced" section. /* Compact tab layout */ :root { --tab-height: 20px !important; } .tab { height: 20px !important; } /* Shrink space between pinned tabs and tab bar, only when pins are present */ #tabbar[style*="margin"] { margin-top: 20px !important; } /* Show title of unread tabs with red font */ .tab.unread .label { color: red !important; } /* Add private browsing indicator per tab */ .tab.private-browsing .label:before { content: " "; } I highly recommend this addon, and it's a major differentiator for me between Firefox and Chrome.

jplayer01 8y ago
I really wouldn't do this. The add-on bugs out for me fairly regularly and doesn't let me interact with the tabs (like closing them). Still, I can't imagine using a browser without vertical tabs ever again.
- darkpuma 8y ago
  This happens to me too. TST seems to currently be riddled with all kinds of unusual bugs that only crop up occasionally. Workarounds: Sometimes keyboard shortcuts still work when mouse interaction doesn't. Other times closing then opening the side panel again causes TST to stabilize it's state.

cocolos 8y ago

Anyone know of a way to bookmark the tree structure in TST?

chrismorgan 8y ago
Right clicking on a tab, I have an item `Tree Style Tab → Bookmark this tree…`. I use Firefox Nightly; this may be a Nightly feature, I don’t know.
- cocolos 8y ago
  It saves the tabs but it doesn't keep the hierarchy. I will try Nightly. Thanks!
  - chrismorgan 8y ago
    Ah, it’s specifically the hierarchy you’re asking about. No, it doesn’t seem to save that.
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    I just installed and it says it needs extra permissions for that to work, so that might be the problem, that you didn't check the box on the "just installed" page to enable the permissions?
nneonneo 8y ago
TST itself does not have that feature, but there are FF addons that extend TST (https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab#addons-extend-tst https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab#addons-extend-tst). "Bookmark Tree" looks like what you want: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bookmark-tree-for-tst/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bookmark-tree.... Give that a shot.

gamma-male 8y ago

I don’t understand how people browse the web without this extension. That’s the number one reason chrome is not usable for power users. I’m also wondering why this is not natively supported by both firefox and chrome.

hbosch 8y ago
Tomato/tomato. I don’t understand how people browse the web with more than 4 or 5 tabs open at the same time.
- gamma-male 8y ago
  You never have more than 5 tabs open at the same time? You’re probably the minority and you probably have learned to do that because the tabs on top put these constraints on you. You would likely browse the web very differently if you had TST. Give it a try.
  - gbear605 8y ago
    I also work in this way. I use tabs as my “working memory” for whatever my current project is. Having fewer tabs helps keep me on track working on a single topic. When I’m done with that task, it helps me transition by having closed all the tabs. When I want to save pages in the long term, I use bookmarks.
    - mclehman 8y ago
      I use TST to supplement my working memory. I'm usually working within a particular subtree of all my (way too many) tabs. I probably still have more tabs in such a subtree than most people, but the same idea applies: the subtree keeps my focus on a single topic, and when I finish I can either collapse the subtree (my default) or close it entirely. What I find invaluable is the super quick ramp-up after context switching, especially if whatever pulled me away turned out to be more work/time than expected.
    - petepete 8y ago

TACIXAT 8y ago

I use a similar tab layout in Vivaldi and it's amazing. Page titles are wide, stacking them vertically along the side makes a lot more sense.

aembleton 8y ago
Last time I tried Vivaldi, it only had one dimension for the vertical tabs - middle click on a link and it just gets added to the list of tabs. With TST, I get a second dimension - child tabs are indented in underneath their parent, so that it is clear where they come from. This is the reason that it is called a Tree.
- TACIXAT 8y ago
  Yea, there is one more level of nesting, you can group tabs but it is a manual effort. I mostly use that when I want to collapse a bunch of pages relevant to a single project that I'm not working on. What problem does the knowing where the tab came from solve?

leemailll 8y ago

I always feel this should be included in Firefox default settings. Vertical space is an asset on modern monitors especially on laptop, this extension is the reason Firefox is the default browser on my machines

SubiculumCode 8y ago
Isn't horizontal space what is excess on laptops? All widescreen these days edit: nevermind. i misread.
- dualscyther 8y ago
  You're agreeing with parent
gamma-male 8y ago
I have no idea why Mozilla is ignoring this extension. This is definitely something that should be a core feature.
- pletnes 8y ago
  They did a «pilot» experiment recently but apparently decided it’s not important enough. That code is available as another extension (don’t recall the name, perhaps tabcenter).
  - Vinnl 8y ago
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/tab-center-redux/?src=search https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/tab-center-re...
    - sp332 8y ago
      As far as I can tell, this add-on doesn't let you hide the top tab bar.

larozin 8y ago

Used it before and it was slow and buggy. I found a better way to manage open tabs: stash them into bookmark stacks using simpler extension. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-stash https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-stash

yesco 8y ago
Oh very neat, I already mostly do this via "Select All Tabs" -> "Bookmark Selected Tabs" on the tab bar. I like how this addon appears to streamline that bit and shows them on the new tab page.
mercer 8y ago
I use OneTab for Chrome, which is similar. If I didn't have that I'd probably switch to FF, but OneTab is good enough for my browsing habits.
- emmanueloga_ 8y ago
  Plus one for OneTab on Chrome. I also like the "Share as WebPage" feature (example [1]), which I end up using to share links with myself, in different devices, most of the time :-) 1: https://www.one-tab.com/page/PPPJag1tSsm1NFAWgaOUjw https://www.one-tab.com/page/PPPJag1tSsm1NFAWgaOUjw

unholythree 8y ago

I like this, but I visualized it differently. I assumed the tree style tab bar could be placed horizontally and each tab could be a drop down tree from there. I'm not sure if that would even be possible but I'd prefer that arrangement. I rarely maximize my browser so horizontal space isn't just dead space for me.

yardshop 8y ago
This is sort of what you get when you put folders in the Bookmarks Toolbar, but the links within them are just lists and not trees. This is how I manage my bookmarks.

rkagerer 8y ago

Is there a new hotkey for sibling (vs. child) tab? Does this play nice with tab save/restore addons similar to Session Buddy? (i.e. is hierarchy persisted?)

henriquemaia 8y ago
Have you checked the addon options? It has a submenu for defining keyboard shortcuts.

Rainymood 8y ago

Nice, when are we gonna get tree style ads ;)?

owaislone 8y ago

This is great when pinning dozens of tabs. Pinning dozens of tabs only leaves a few pixels of space for tabs I work with on the right side often making it impossible to clearly understand the open tabs adjacent to the active one. Is there a way to disable the main tab bar? This comment shows the solution: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18836967 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18836967

foreigner 8y ago

Has anybody tried the "Sidewise" Chrome extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sidewise-tree-style-tabs/biiammgklaefagjclmnlialkmaemifgo?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sidewise-tree-styl... Looks like it has tree style tabs, among other features.

yardshop 8y ago
I used it for a while but didn't like that it was a separate window, and it also seemed to duplicate my tabs. Might be worth a try again because I do miss the tree style tabs in Chrome.

ttsda 8y ago

I've been using TST for many years and it's really the killer feature that keeps bringing me back to firefox. For those running on older machines who still like having a big tab hierarchy with stuff to check later, there's the "Auto Tab Discard" [1] extension which will discard older tabs from memory while keeping the tab itself, with optional exceptions for pinned tabs, tabs with filled forms, ... Unfortunately there are still some websites that force me to have Chrome installed, biggest culprit being Facebook which is completely unusable on my 2014 MBP through Firefox. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-discard/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-disc...

agumonkey 8y ago
I recently realized that chromium is a memory hog, with 50 tabs most of my ram (8G) is gone; while firefor nightly is around 1G, 1.5G maybe with a similar load. I guess this is gonna shrink memory usage even more.
- ttsda 8y ago
  It does seem to use more memory, but at least on my Mac it uses a lot less CPU. For firefox it just takes one bad tab (gmaps, gmail, facebook, youtube/embedded youtube) to grind the whole system to a halt, all these things work fine on chrome, and use almost no CPU on safari.
  - agumonkey 8y ago
    I'm having issues with cpu usage, it's not binary, but very often some subprocess runs at 20-40% cpu usage even when nothing visible occurs. what a joy
  - therealdrag0 8y ago
    I feel like everyone has their own anecdotes about this. Surely some third party has done controlled performance profiling on the major browsers? That would be very interesting.
progval 8y ago

hiccuphippo 8y ago

The one thing I don't like from extensions like this is that the inner window ends up in a non-standard width/height and I can't help but think how many sites could track me across domains just by checking for that.

yardshop 8y ago

This is the first thing I install when setting up a new Firefox. Next is Tab Groups or Simple Tab Groups. I will create a tab group for each major category: Common (email, HN, news, daily sites), Python, Powershell, specific groups per project, then have 30 to 40 tabs per group. At work I have further groups for Support, Purchasing, research for specific projects, etc. I use Chrome for web development jobs sometimes and really miss the vertical tabs and hierarchy. Everything squinched together across the top just feels cumbersome and less manageable.

clubm8 8y ago

How well does this play with Multi-Account Containers?

ttsda 8y ago
Very well! Even shows a little coloured strip on each tab, and respects regular tab hierarchy.
- zimmund 8y ago
  I found the indicators too narrow, so I made this CSS change (in TST config): /* Better highlighting of tab container */ .tab { padding-right: 12px !important; } .contextual-identity-marker { width: 6px !important; border-radius: 2px; margin: 2px; opacity: 0.75; } Hope it's helpful for someone else :)

blitmap 8y ago

I use this addon, but I wish it showed as an actual tree (not an indented list of buttons). Also, there's some space to the left that can be reclaimed if you're not using tab groups.

yardshop 8y ago
There are a couple appearance options (Vertigo and Sidebar) which don't have the button outlines, may be closer to what you are after. They also don't have the dotted branch lines that some tree controls have. There is also a "No Decoration" option where you can add your own style rules in the Advanced section.

andrepd 8y ago

Alternative, which I personally prefer: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-tabs/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-tabs/

vfq 8y ago

Anybody knows if something like this is possible in Chrome?

vickychijwani 8y ago
There's a similar, though not quite as good, Chrome extension called Sidewise. Unfortunately Chrome itself is not as extensible as Firefox so there are issues in Sidewise, the most glaring being that the list of tabs appears in a separate window and Sidewise snaps its position and layout to match your Chrome window using some heuristics. All that said, just use Firefox. It's a much better experience and after Quantum it's on par with Chrome in terms of UI performance.
- vfq 8y ago
  Sidewise... I already tried it, and it is nothing more than a bad hack... I guess we'll never get that. Firefox has worse performance than Chrome and I don't trust Mozilla, so unfortunately using Firefox is not an option for me.
  - vickychijwani 8y ago
    > I don't trust Mozilla Well you gotta pick your poison. It's either them or Google. To be honest, "poison" is too harsh. Mozilla has done a few stupid things, but they're far more trustworthy than other Internet players.
  - doliveira 8y ago
    What lead you to trust Google more than Mozilla or even put them in the same level of trustworthiness?
    - vfq 8y ago
      The decisions taken by the Mozilla Corporation for the past years make them look like they've completely lost control of themselves. I don't feel like I can trust them at all. I don't want to know what they are going to pull off next week, so I've decided they won't execute any more code on my machine.

CharlesW 8y ago

For folks using Chrome, check out Tabs Outliner if you like This Sort Of Thing™. I can't imagine using Chrome without it. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabs-outliner/eggkanocgddhmamlbiijnphhppkpkmkl?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabs-outliner/eggk...

dredmorbius 8y ago
Pale, buggy, and nagware implementation. Use the true original instead.
WalterGR 8y ago
Tabs Outliner doesn’t remember the hierarchy of your tabs between browser sessions. Every time you quit and then start Chrome, you end up with a flat list of tabs. That’s a huge non-starter for me. Not fit for purpose. I installed Sidewise Tree Style Tabs a few hours ago and it seems solid so far. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sidewise-tree-style-tabs/biiammgklaefagjclmnlialkmaemifgo?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/sidewise-tree-styl...
equalunique 8y ago
I too depend on Tabs Outliner.

andrewaylett 8y ago

Recent Firefox has a drop-down with a list of all open tabs at the right side of the tab bar; it doesn't do the "tree" at all, but other than that has successfully removed enough of my demand for more that I'm happy. Along with the scrolling tab bar that lets me see at least a few close-by tab titles, it's usable to dozens of tabs at least. I really don't understand my Chrome-using colleagues who sit perpetually at single-icon-wide tabs and can never find the one they're looking for.

maciekmm 8y ago

Shameless plug. If you are using firefox's container tabs. I have created an addon inspired by tree style tabs that shows tabs under their container. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/container-tabs-sidebar/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/container-tab...

nsonha 8y ago

It was a real joy when I was a student doing extensive reading on topic(s), treating tabs as a reading list, since I didn't have enough stuff to do back then. Nowadays I find opening more than 10 tabs too counter-productive and distracting. What I'll do when it happens is using something like onetab to snapshot them all (with the hope of looking into it later, which never happens) and start fresh with the ONE thing I was supposed to focus at the time.

needle0 8y ago

This (well, actually, I use the simpler Tab Center Redux as I have no need for hierarchical complexity) is the biggest reason I kept using Firefox during its pre-Quantum dark years, still do now, and never once switched to Chrome. Firefox allows fairly seamless* vertical tab implementations; Chrome does not (IIRC they WONTFIXed the request a long time ago). Vertical tab bars are non-negotiable for me, simple as that. * Well, as others point out, it's now become slightly less seamless since hiding the horizontal tab bar requires a userChrome.css hack, but after you do that just once it's smooth sailing.

4n0m4ly 8y ago

Just yesterday i was thinking that it would be great to have tree style tabs, and here it is

gdanov 8y ago

hi, the CSS mentioned here has been serving me well for a while, but since ~month I don't see the RYG buttons anymore. After some experimenting I realized these buttons are rendered only with the native titlebar or with the tabbar. Having toolbar with address, search, etc. and the RYG buttons seems impossible now. anyone else experiencing this problem?

kevinmgranger 8y ago

I used to be a heavy TST user, but lately I've gone in the exact opposite direction. I now use Max Tabs[0] to limit how many I can have open at a time. It works wonders for my focus, and I find that whenever I sigh and have to close tabs to open a new one I need, I can easily find ones I didn't really need. If you're curious, no, it doesn't count pinned tabs-- so any web apps you like to keep open won't count against your limit. 0: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/max-tabs-web-ext https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/max-tabs-web-...

equalunique 8y ago

For those who find Tree Style Tabs not powerful enough for their massive amounts of open tabs, I recommend lots of RAM & Tabs Outliner for Chrom(e/ium): https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabs-outliner/eggkanocgddhmamlbiijnphhppkpkmkl?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tabs-outliner/eggk...

SZJX 8y ago

Nobody seems to mention the plugin Tree Tabs here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-tabs/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-tabs/, which IMHO is a much better alternative.