Vivaldi adds two-level tab stack to the web browser
Vivaldi Technologies released the new stable version Vivaldi 3.5 this week and today the latest browser snapshot that highlights new features that will be included in the next stable release of the browser.
Today's browser snapshot 2130.3 improves the web browser's tab stacking functionality. Tab Stacks are an essential part of the web browser and a remake of the tab stacking functionality of the classic Opera web browser.
All it takes is to drag and drop tabs on top of each other to create stacks. These stacks take up a single spot on the tab bar and are ideal for bundling sites together.
Up until now, Vivaldi displays a small bar on top of the stacked tab that users could click on to switch to another tab of the stack. Version 3.5 introduced a visual representation of the stack that displays automatically when the mouse cursor hovers over the tab stack.
The newest snapshot introduces yet another tab-related feature: the option to display a second tab bar that displays when a tab stack is selected.
The feature is not enabled by default, and users need to make two configuration changes in the snapshot to enable it. One of them will likely be removed when the feature lands in the stable version.
- Load vivaldi://experiments/ in the browser's address bar.
- Locate Two line tab stacks on the page that opens and check the box to enable the feature.
- Load vivaldi://settings/tabs/ in the address bar next; this displays Vivaldi's tab management settings.
- Scroll down to Tab Stacking.
- Switch to "Second row of tabs" to enable the new feature. You may optionally check "use dotted tabs to visualize the stack" if you want.
Create a new tab stack or switch to an existing one afterwards to see the effect of the change. When you select a tab stack, a second row of tabs is displayed automatically; this tab displays all tabs of the stack so that you may select these tabs directly as if they were displayed individually.
Closing Words
The option to display a second tab row for tab stacks is really helpful; users of the browser who use tab stacks regularly may find it useful, even if it means that there is a light visual disruption whenever users switch between tab stacks and regular tabs.
Now You: do you use tab stacks or grouping features?
always wanted this feature as a staple on all browsers, now i want it more
I am reminded of Firefox’s Tab Mix Plus.
Which – somewhat ironically – Firefox can no longer run. I mean the real, classic Tab Mix Plus here, not the sad joke that’s currently being offered on AMO.
Vivaldi is tabmixplusier than Firefox now, if that makes sense.
Theoretically it is possible to do multi row tab stack in Firefox. We can create an iframe on about:blank page with WebExtension API and then we can inject sites to the iframe instead if using actual tabs. We can draw any tab stack above the iframe. And after that we can totally hide native tab panel with userChrome.css.
At least such thing was possible last time when I studied WebExtension API.
Try Tree Style Tab for Firefox. Very good tab organiser for the browser.
This feature reminds me of addon Firefox “TabGroupsManager” from Axel Shootingstar.
There’s a project called “TabGroupsManager revived Firefox Extension”. I don’t if it’s still in development but it’s for the older version of Firefox.
https://bitbucket.org/tabgroupsmanager/tabgroupsmanager/src/develop/
thank you for the tip, really useful feature and as a bonus we can now rearrange tabs in a tab stack, nice!
shame this browser is such a Bloated browser or it’d be worth using.
I agree.
Although it is made for a niche, this browser lacks the basic thing i.e. aesthetics.
What aesthetics are you talking about? Probably Opera GX like :)
The degree of aesthetics and functionality that Firefox had and ceased with ESR 59.02, as explained and and illustrated here: https://forum.vivaldi.net/post/436503, although Vivaldi has more options than Edge which is the immediate subject of that post.
It’s only bloated in the sense because they have incorporated a lot of features, including some really niche ones(like that integration with Philips Hue thing) but it is still fast and the devs have tried their best to ensure that it remains an enjoyable experience to browse.
Another step towards a tree structure. How does it look with the vertical tab layout?
Very nice! Tab stacking is a real game changer and this will make it even better. Somehow, Vivaldi seems to be the only user-oriented browser right now.
I so want to love Vivaldi. I like the ethos, the team, the comradely spirit. But it so frustratingly buggy and slow on my very-modern hardware: little niggles here and there, some websites which don’t function properly only in Vivaldi, CPU usage consistently higher than any other Chromium…
Agreed. I love the idea behind Vivaldi, but it’s so slow compared to all the other browsers out there as well as buggy.
Vivaldi will never be all that fast. The very foundation of the browser means that it will always need another layer on top of Chromium to offer its feature set and that will always mean it lags behind Chrome, Edge, Brave, etc. in terms of speed.
The fact that Vivaldi has a very small development team doesn’t help matters either, or that management clearly prioritizes a steady stream of new features every Chromium upgrade cycle over squashing bugs or improving performance.
I personally think its fine that Vivaldi doesn’t perform that great. It offers something relatively unique in the browser space and I think they realize they will always be a niche product due that uniqueness.
Tab stacking is very useful, but I have a big problem with it : it’s practically impossible for me to drag and drop tabs. When I try to do so, the target tab is magnetically pushed away, so that I can never land the dragged tab on it. I need to do it by menu.
Now only is missing something provide by extension like “Tree Tabs” or “Tree Style Tab”. I mean vertical tab grouping.
This is already available. Click on the Window icon in the left panel.
Vivaldi’s tab grouping is very limited. Tree Style Tab will automatically group your tabs. Vivaldi can only group them if you manually sort each tab. Vivaldi is also limited to just one level of groups. Tree Style Tab offers a full tree structure.
Tree Style Tab is brilliant. After installing it, I used userChrome.css to remove the top tab bar. If such a feature ultimately comes to Vivaldi, surely they will give the customisability option to remove top tabs in favor of vertical ones?
This is game changing
If you like this, check out the Firefox addons Sidebery, or Tree Style Tab. They’re on a whole other level.
Yeah, has anyone heard updates on him? There was a rumor he was affected in the 2011 TÅhoku earthquake and tsunami disaster. After that he seemed to vanish. His Firefox tab groups add-on was used by many.
With Waterfox Classic, I have been using Tab Groups Helper (also the real TMP) for some time successfully. TGH was influenced by Axel Shootingstar.
As for Vivaldi, it is one of the browsers I use. I am hoping they implement tab groups and multi-row tabs. I will look at this tab stack update.
Thanks, Martin!
Sorry, this post was meant to be a reply to orlando’s post above re: Axel Shootingstar.
@GoodMeasure
Not saying you are wrong, but if the current trend is anything to go by, Firefox won’t exist anymore in five years time.
Wait why do you predict the death of Firefox? Considering it’s open source nature, it’ll remain in existence in some form, providing users an alternative to Chromium.
@James Kirk
Do you have any idea how much money a browser engine costs to develop? This can’t be done by some volunteers these days.
And considering Firefox’s declining market share, whether or not Mozilla will remain a viable business partner for search engines to the degree that is required to maintain Firefox remains to be seen.
Percentage of Global Desktop Browser Market Share 2021
Google Chrome 77.03%
Safari 8.87%
Mozilla Firefox 7.69%
Microsoft Edge 5.83%
Internet Explorer 2.15%
Opera 2.43%
QQ 1.98%
Sogou Explorer 1.76%
Yandex 0.91%
Brave 0.05%
(Source: https://kinsta.com/browser-market-share/)
As I recall, Chrome largely reduced Firefox’s share of the market, and the switch to mobile devices further reduced it. I think the adoption of Chrome was and is largely due to Google’s pervasive promotion of it, and most people seem to be content with a basic minimalistic browser (esp. with mobile devices) versus a “utility truck” that Firefox legacy provided (I use Firefox ESR 59.9 along with many other browsers. Thank God for those who provide them all).
Which remains unsurpassed in my opinion (but certainly not in security).
I loved the way the good old Opera (Presto) implemented tab *grouping*, where you could just slide the group open when needed an just as easily hide it.
Never was a fan of the tab *stacking* Vivaldi did.
But i must say that I have tears in my eyes.
Just found out that Chrome(ium) – well at least Brave does – have tab grouping with the possibility to collapse them build in now!
I know there was the feature to group tabs, but never that they can also be collapsed!
See: https://chromeunboxed.com/ive-fallen-in-love-with-chrome-tab-groups
Hello,
Opened vivaldi://experiments, checked all 4 checkboxes. Restarted Vivaldi, opened Settings/Tabs and I don’t see Second Row of Tabs anywhere.
I am on 3.5.2115.81 (Stable channel) (64-bit).
Any suggestions?
Same for me. First entry is Mail/calendar, then double click in empty space for right click(WTF! , just right click instead!), CSS option. 4th one I forgot.
Better multirow tabs; can be done in firefox, but it should be a standard option
Absolutely agree with you! Multirow tabs should be standard in all tabbed browsers. Multirow and tab groups…
I have never used Tab grouping. But what I really like is the work places in Opera.
So what happened to the two-level tab stack? When I load vivaldi://experiments/ in the browser’s address bar and try to locate Two line tab stacks on the page that opens then it is not there in ver.
3.5.2115.87 (Stable channel) (64-bit)
I can’t find it either, or any news of where it went
Thus this, and the loss of so many extensions that enhanced functionality in legacy Firefox via extensions (which Mozilla even removed from the Internet) means that rather than advanced functionality then the browser world has gone backwards in regards to enhanced functionality (not that most even know or care about the latter).