5 ms·

Another new feature in Opera 11: tab stacking

60 points by yread 16y ago

moe 16y ago
How about a screenshot?
- ukdm 16y ago
  I'll do you one better. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drCAiTSAYdc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drCAiTSAYdc
  - Hovertruck 16y ago
    I actually saw the video link in the article and came back to the comments hoping for screenshots. Video typically makes me wait while the person introduces themselves, explains what they're doing, and it's usually much more of a time-sink than just looking at screens.
- Indyan 16y ago
  Screenshot of the new features in Opera 11 Beta: http://techie-buzz.com/opera/opera-11-beta.html http://techie-buzz.com/opera/opera-11-beta.html
petervandijck 16y ago
Here are screenshots and a comparison with some other tab stacking evolutions (amazon.com's): http://poorbuthappy.com/ease/archives/2010/11/23/4824/tab-stacking http://poorbuthappy.com/ease/archives/2010/11/23/4824/tab-st...
masklinn 16y ago
Warning: not as good as Firefox 4's Tab Candy
- doubleg 16y ago
  true, looks smooth. demo-video: http://lifehacker.com/5595027/firefox-tab-candy-organizes-your-tabs-in-groups-looks-excellent http://lifehacker.com/5595027/firefox-tab-candy-organizes-yo... aids the cognitive map you have of your tabs - much better than FF's default tab-scrolling.
- Indyan 16y ago
  Not as pretty/fancy, but possibly more intuitive.
- RyanMcGreal 16y ago
  Interesting. I've been using the Tree Style Tab addon, which seems to achieve the same goal of grouping and nesting with less administrative overhead: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5890/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5890/
  - randoom 16y ago
    don't try Tree Style Tabs; ones hooked and you can never go back :) No seriously, Tree Style Tab is the best experience I ever had as a notorious tab user.
    - gnosis 16y ago
      "once hooked"
Indyan 16y ago
Also new in Opera 11 is Web Sockets:http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/introducing-web-sockets/ http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/introducing-web-sockets/
alextgordon 16y ago
Maybe I use browsers differently to most people (I don't think so), but I really feel these features to manage tabs are misguided. I get through thousands of tabs a week. Tabs don't indicate a web page is significant or persistent. They indicate that I wanted to have two pages open at the same time. Thus it makes no sense to manage tabs: they are an effect of untidiness, not a cause. What these features are hinting at is some better way to handle common [sites]. I have a dozen or sites that I check every day, and being able to have those all open in one place would be great. But using the poor old tab system for this is not the answer. It already has a job.
- henrymazza 16y ago
  I strongly believe in: ● space = area (programming, twitter, mail) ● window = subject, search, etc ● tabs = the subject expanded (pages relative to a search, links of an article) Can you see? It has 3 levels of Hierarchy! If you use Google Chrome you have only one! This stacking thing is another trying to circumvent some OS's crappy UI. If something has to be done is go beyond the App centric paradigm and go to the 'task' center paradigm (like Palm OS's stacks).
  - planckscnst 16y ago
    Actually, all those things can be handled by a competent window manager. If you had the ability to have tags on your windows, and quickly change your view based on those tags, that would be Awesome.
    - jokermatt999 16y ago
      To explain the joke for those who like the idea of tags in a window manager, the parent post is referring to AwesomeWM (http://awesome.naquadah.org/ http://awesome.naquadah.org/). (I normally don't go out of my way to explain jokes and thus kill the humor, but I figured it could be useful to some in this case)
    - leif 16y ago
      Do you actually use it this way (with uzbl, for example)?
nickolai 16y ago
Isnt this pretty much the same as what firefox "tree style tab" addon has been doing for some time already? Except for the preview option, but im not a big fan of that anyway. And tree style tab was putting the tabs on the side, which imho is better because it saves the precious(on widescreens) vertical space. Anyway, good to see the cool concepts spread :)
- CoryMathews 16y ago
  Opera has been able to move the tabs to the left side for a while. So combine that with this new feature and you have the basic functionality of that "tree style tab" addon except only 1 level deep but much more polished/usable.
  - planckscnst 16y ago
    More usable? I'd say definitely not. Tab-style-tree works automatically in the way I like it to the best. If I want to further group things beyond what it automatically does, I grab the tab and move it to where I want it - I don't have to hover there until it snaps to stacked mode. Furthermore: with Informational Tab, you get thumbnails on all your tabs; with Multiple Tab Handler, you easily select many tabs to move to where you want them. These three plugins work like a perfect trio.
    - jokermatt999 16y ago
      Even better, if you don't like the default behavior, it's highly configurable based on how the tab is opened, and from where (although I don't believe site specific options are available).
  - baby 16y ago
    Have you really tried tree style tab?
  - nickolai 16y ago
    It does look polished, and having not tried the new Opera i would not argue about usability. As a general consideration, having nice window previews sure looks cool(except if they are too small, in which case they look really messy), but i dont think this is an usability improvement. Mostly because a consice title would tell you just as much - in a tenth of the space. Coolness gets confused with usability a bit too often imho.
pornel 16y ago
It works almost exactly like iOS folders.
daralthus 16y ago
I was just thinking to change from opera (that I love since forever) to ff4 because of the tab-candy feature. I tried, but I missed so much the features I got used to, like mouse-gestures, notes, downloads, quickstart thumbnails, no slowdowns... Finally opera, again, has everything I need, and this tab management actually feels so much more usable and faster then ff. Thanks Opera!
baby 16y ago
I don't get all the fuzz about that. I've been using Tree Style Tab [1] on Firefox since ages and I think it does the work better. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/5890/ https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/5890/
- gnosis 16y ago
  "fuss", not "fuzz"
  - LurkingGrue 16y ago
    I would have to put a person like that on a pedal stool.
  - yread 16y ago
    perhaps he meant "buzz"
RossM 16y ago
I've been wanting to move away from Chrome for a while (too many issues in too short a space of time). Opera looks to be the near-bleeding-edge browser I actually want. Minimal UI, draft standards support, efficient and still finds time to be innovative. If you stick with Chrome for the UI give this a try.
- natmaster 16y ago
  I'm not intending to troll, but you seem to be describing Firefox more than Opera. Minimal UI? Sure it only has one more button on the screen, but once you open the context menu, or opera menu things get just as complicated as they have always been for Opera. Not that it's necessarily bad - I think Opera is a great browser, it's just the properties you describe seem to fit Firefox 4 more. (To address 'draft standards support' - Opera doesn't even have the HTML5 parser or WebGL...the list goes on.)
  - RossM 16y ago
    Mm, when it comes to "minimal UI" I just want as much screen space for the page as possible. At the moment Firefox's tabs don't overlap with the title bar and I was surprised how much this annoys me - Chrome has spoiled me. After using it for a few days I can't say I particularly like the menu system (although it's smaller than Firefox's in terms or items. Ad blocking doesn't seem to work particularly well either. Opera Link's useful but replicated by every other browser than IE (and Safari? but I'd never use that). My previous post was written on elation or something like it, I'm missing Chrome already.
natmaster 16y ago
Finally someone implements the tab organization feature I've been peddling for years. My latest peddle attempt: https://mozillalabs.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5000&Focus=12592 https://mozillalabs.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5000...
Dylan16807 16y ago
I look forward to this once it actually works. Right now, when any stacks are collapsed tab order breaks badly. And you can't have more than one uncollapsed.

60 points by yread 16y ago

moe 16y ago

How about a screenshot?

ukdm 16y ago
I'll do you one better. Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drCAiTSAYdc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drCAiTSAYdc
- Hovertruck 16y ago
  I actually saw the video link in the article and came back to the comments hoping for screenshots. Video typically makes me wait while the person introduces themselves, explains what they're doing, and it's usually much more of a time-sink than just looking at screens.
Indyan 16y ago
Screenshot of the new features in Opera 11 Beta: http://techie-buzz.com/opera/opera-11-beta.html http://techie-buzz.com/opera/opera-11-beta.html

petervandijck 16y ago

Here are screenshots and a comparison with some other tab stacking evolutions (amazon.com's): http://poorbuthappy.com/ease/archives/2010/11/23/4824/tab-stacking http://poorbuthappy.com/ease/archives/2010/11/23/4824/tab-st...

masklinn 16y ago

Warning: not as good as Firefox 4's Tab Candy

doubleg 16y ago
true, looks smooth. demo-video: http://lifehacker.com/5595027/firefox-tab-candy-organizes-your-tabs-in-groups-looks-excellent http://lifehacker.com/5595027/firefox-tab-candy-organizes-yo... aids the cognitive map you have of your tabs - much better than FF's default tab-scrolling.
Indyan 16y ago
Not as pretty/fancy, but possibly more intuitive.
RyanMcGreal 16y ago
Interesting. I've been using the Tree Style Tab addon, which seems to achieve the same goal of grouping and nesting with less administrative overhead: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5890/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5890/
- randoom 16y ago
  don't try Tree Style Tabs; ones hooked and you can never go back :) No seriously, Tree Style Tab is the best experience I ever had as a notorious tab user.
  - gnosis 16y ago
    "once hooked"

Indyan 16y ago

Also new in Opera 11 is Web Sockets:http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/introducing-web-sockets/ http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/introducing-web-sockets/

alextgordon 16y ago

Maybe I use browsers differently to most people (I don't think so), but I really feel these features to manage tabs are misguided. I get through thousands of tabs a week. Tabs don't indicate a web page is significant or persistent. They indicate that I wanted to have two pages open at the same time. Thus it makes no sense to manage tabs: they are an effect of untidiness, not a cause. What these features are hinting at is some better way to handle common [sites]. I have a dozen or sites that I check every day, and being able to have those all open in one place would be great. But using the poor old tab system for this is not the answer. It already has a job.

henrymazza 16y ago
I strongly believe in: ● space = area (programming, twitter, mail) ● window = subject, search, etc ● tabs = the subject expanded (pages relative to a search, links of an article) Can you see? It has 3 levels of Hierarchy! If you use Google Chrome you have only one! This stacking thing is another trying to circumvent some OS's crappy UI. If something has to be done is go beyond the App centric paradigm and go to the 'task' center paradigm (like Palm OS's stacks).
- planckscnst 16y ago
  Actually, all those things can be handled by a competent window manager. If you had the ability to have tags on your windows, and quickly change your view based on those tags, that would be Awesome.
  - jokermatt999 16y ago
    To explain the joke for those who like the idea of tags in a window manager, the parent post is referring to AwesomeWM (http://awesome.naquadah.org/ http://awesome.naquadah.org/). (I normally don't go out of my way to explain jokes and thus kill the humor, but I figured it could be useful to some in this case)
  - leif 16y ago
    Do you actually use it this way (with uzbl, for example)?

nickolai 16y ago

Isnt this pretty much the same as what firefox "tree style tab" addon has been doing for some time already? Except for the preview option, but im not a big fan of that anyway. And tree style tab was putting the tabs on the side, which imho is better because it saves the precious(on widescreens) vertical space. Anyway, good to see the cool concepts spread :)

CoryMathews 16y ago
Opera has been able to move the tabs to the left side for a while. So combine that with this new feature and you have the basic functionality of that "tree style tab" addon except only 1 level deep but much more polished/usable.
- planckscnst 16y ago
  More usable? I'd say definitely not. Tab-style-tree works automatically in the way I like it to the best. If I want to further group things beyond what it automatically does, I grab the tab and move it to where I want it - I don't have to hover there until it snaps to stacked mode. Furthermore: with Informational Tab, you get thumbnails on all your tabs; with Multiple Tab Handler, you easily select many tabs to move to where you want them. These three plugins work like a perfect trio.
  - jokermatt999 16y ago
    Even better, if you don't like the default behavior, it's highly configurable based on how the tab is opened, and from where (although I don't believe site specific options are available).
- baby 16y ago
  Have you really tried tree style tab?
- nickolai 16y ago
  It does look polished, and having not tried the new Opera i would not argue about usability. As a general consideration, having nice window previews sure looks cool(except if they are too small, in which case they look really messy), but i dont think this is an usability improvement. Mostly because a consice title would tell you just as much - in a tenth of the space. Coolness gets confused with usability a bit too often imho.

pornel 16y ago

It works almost exactly like iOS folders.

daralthus 16y ago

I was just thinking to change from opera (that I love since forever) to ff4 because of the tab-candy feature. I tried, but I missed so much the features I got used to, like mouse-gestures, notes, downloads, quickstart thumbnails, no slowdowns... Finally opera, again, has everything I need, and this tab management actually feels so much more usable and faster then ff. Thanks Opera!

baby 16y ago

I don't get all the fuzz about that. I've been using Tree Style Tab [1] on Firefox since ages and I think it does the work better. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/5890/ https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/5890/

gnosis 16y ago
"fuss", not "fuzz"
- LurkingGrue 16y ago
  I would have to put a person like that on a pedal stool.
- yread 16y ago
  perhaps he meant "buzz"

RossM 16y ago

I've been wanting to move away from Chrome for a while (too many issues in too short a space of time). Opera looks to be the near-bleeding-edge browser I actually want. Minimal UI, draft standards support, efficient and still finds time to be innovative. If you stick with Chrome for the UI give this a try.

natmaster 16y ago
I'm not intending to troll, but you seem to be describing Firefox more than Opera. Minimal UI? Sure it only has one more button on the screen, but once you open the context menu, or opera menu things get just as complicated as they have always been for Opera. Not that it's necessarily bad - I think Opera is a great browser, it's just the properties you describe seem to fit Firefox 4 more. (To address 'draft standards support' - Opera doesn't even have the HTML5 parser or WebGL...the list goes on.)
- RossM 16y ago
  Mm, when it comes to "minimal UI" I just want as much screen space for the page as possible. At the moment Firefox's tabs don't overlap with the title bar and I was surprised how much this annoys me - Chrome has spoiled me. After using it for a few days I can't say I particularly like the menu system (although it's smaller than Firefox's in terms or items. Ad blocking doesn't seem to work particularly well either. Opera Link's useful but replicated by every other browser than IE (and Safari? but I'd never use that). My previous post was written on elation or something like it, I'm missing Chrome already.

natmaster 16y ago

Finally someone implements the tab organization feature I've been peddling for years. My latest peddle attempt: https://mozillalabs.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5000&Focus=12592 https://mozillalabs.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=5000...

Dylan16807 16y ago

I look forward to this once it actually works. Right now, when any stacks are collapsed tab order breaks badly. And you can't have more than one uncollapsed.