Firefox Sidebar and Vertical tabs: try them out

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reaction

  • Many are pleased Firefox is finally experimenting with native vertical tabs, calling it long‑overdue and a potential “easy win.”
  • Others find the current Nightly implementation too immature or underpowered compared to existing extensions and rival browsers.

Implementation status & UX issues

  • Feature is currently Nightly‑only and somewhat buggy: sidebar toggles reset, pinned tabs reportedly disappear after restart, sidebar sometimes fails to open.
  • By default, vertical tabs show only favicons, which several find unusable for large tab counts; there is a way to expand to show titles, but it’s non‑obvious.
  • Some report the top tab bar or title bar still consuming vertical space, especially on macOS; others note there is now a toggle to hide the horizontal tab bar.
  • Tabs are “chunky,” sidebar width is fixed, and there is no nesting/tree view yet.

Comparison with extensions and other browsers

  • Power users say Tree Style Tab, Sidebery, Simple Tab Groups, and similar addons are still far superior:
    • Support nested tree hierarchies, panes, auto‑grouping, integration with containers, memory management, and extensive customization.
  • Some hope the native feature will at least:
    • Provide a non‑hacky way to disable the horizontal tab bar.
    • Expose better APIs so advanced extensions can integrate more cleanly.
  • Several note that Edge, Vivaldi, Brave, Arc, and Safari already offer vertical tabs, groups, or workspaces; some see Firefox as “catch‑up,” not innovation.

Why vertical tabs?

  • Pro‑vertical arguments:
    • Modern screens have more horizontal than vertical space; vertical tabs free vertical pixels.
    • Easier to show long titles and many tabs with readable text.
    • Natural fit for hierarchies and grouping, similar to file explorers.
  • Counter‑arguments:
    • Horizontal tab crowding acts as a useful signal to close tabs.
    • Switching between vertical and horizontal paradigms across apps feels inconsistent for some.

Tab groups, workspaces, and split view

  • Very strong demand for:
    • Native tab groups/workspaces with hiding, hierarchical organization, and integration with containers.
    • Sync and restore of entire groups/workspaces across devices, not just individual tabs.
    • Native split‑pane/split‑screen browsing; some prefer to rely on OS window managers instead.

Meta: Firefox direction

  • Some welcome renewed UI experimentation after a perceived period of stagnation.
  • Others fear disruptive redesigns and prefer a stable, minimal UI.
  • A few question the timing relative to recent controversy about Firefox’s advertising/surveillance features; the actual development start is mentioned as recent but predating that debate.