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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><pre>The Tab Groups features in Firefox have greatly contributed to its success in the browser wars. However, a more intuitive interface could take Firefox to the next level.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>Advanced users really must use Tab Groups, but default Tab Groups Panorama implementation is near useless with large volumes of tabs and groups. Users don't want to switch back and forth between a screen of squares visualizing bookmarks. Panorama is slow and doesn't scale well for large numbers of tab groups. (It becomes disorganized and visually disorienting quickly.) As an analogy: Why would you use a Windows or Mac desktop interface (the literal desktop) to work with 500 files and 40 folders, when you could use an explorer/finder window with more advanced features for filtering, sorting, etc.?<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>There is a solution already produced (and highly popular) that absolutely thrills users once they find it. If you haven't seen it and you are a Firefox developer, you need to. It is an abandoned add-on called TabGroups Manager: <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/tabgroups-manager/">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/tabgroups-manager</a>. I know you are likely very busy, but seriously, if you have never seen this add-on in action, please take the time to grab this add-on and test it in an old version of Firefox that it worked in (something before Firefox version 15 should work). It is well worth your time.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>The most important features:<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>(1) Tab Organization: The add-on allows the user to organize Tab Groups directly in the main browser window view, without having to flip to a secondary Panorama screen. The user could create hierarchy and manage tabs in a quick, convenient way that provided visual context at all times.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>(2) Tab Hibernation: The add-on allows the user to hibernate tabs to improve performance.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>This add-on has been written about by many “best-of-Firefox” reviewers and is often cited as the favorite tab-related extension. (That’s how I originally discovered it.)<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>According to various posts, Axel Shootingstar, the original author of the add-on, was affected by the 2011 events in Fukushima and has been unable to continue working on the add-on, so the add-on is no longer maintained. All of Axel's support links at (<a href="http://axel.my-sv.net">http://axel.my-sv.net</a>) no longer exist. Axel also does not respond to posts at the add-in page (<a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tabgroups-manager">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tabgroups-manager</a>).<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>Because of the abandonment of the add-on, users are now very anxious to replace the functionality. Some threads exemplifying people wanting this add-on’s functionality to continue to be made available:<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tabgroups-manager/reviews/">https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tabgroups-manager/reviews</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><a href="https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/954206">https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/954206</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><a href="https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/956781?esab=a&s=tabgroups+manager&r=0&as=s">https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/956781?esab=a&s=tabgroups+manager&r=0&as=s</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><a href="https://forums.mozilla.org/addons/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=12202&p=28580&hilit=tabgroups+manager#p28580">https://forums.mozilla.org/addons/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=12202&p=28580&hilit=tabgroups+manager#p28580</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><a href="http://tabutils.uservoice.com/forums/43097-general/suggestions/1219045-compatibility-with-tabgroups-manager">http://tabutils.uservoice.com/forums/43097-general/suggestions/1219045-compatibility-with-tabgroups-manager</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>It does appear that some developers have tried to, at a minimum, fix compatibility issues with the latest versions of Firefox with updates and workarounds. For example:<o:p></o:p></pre><pre><a href="https://forums.mozilla.org/addons/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14243">https://forums.mozilla.org/addons/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14243</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><a href="https://forums.mozilla.org/addons/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=12202&p=28537#p28537">https://forums.mozilla.org/addons/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=12202&p=28537#p28537</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>However, while these attempts allow the original add-on to be used in current Firefox versions, these attempts do not address the underlying changes in Firefox since 2011 that have fundamentally broken the TabGroups Manager add-on. Among them:<o:p></o:p></pre><pre style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>When TabGroups Manager was first developed, it created its own tab groups engine. As Firefox’s internal tab groups feature has been developed in the interim, Firefox and this add-on now use different methodology for maintaining tab groups. This means that tab groups organized via Tab Groups Manager will not be available via default Firefox tab groups features (such as Panorama) when Tab Groups Manager is disabled or uninstalled. There are also instances where tabs and tab groups made either via default Firefox features or Tab Groups Manager “glitch out” and don’t appear in the other set. To fix this, Tab Groups Manager functionality, brought into Firefox, would simply work with the normal Tab Groups and would not rely upon its own tab group engine. In this way, whether a user chose to use Panorama or Tab Groups, the same tabs and tab groups would be maintained.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>There are multiple UI bugs that become evident with regular use of TabGroups Manager in recent versions of Firefox, likely due to improvements in core UI. In particular, most browsing sessions eventually reach a state where adding new tabs / tab groups, and rearranging them, becomes nearly impossible when the drag-and-drop clickable Tab Groups Manager interface ceases to respond to inputs. Black boxes start to appear where tabs should be, and some tabs are lost until the browser is restarted and the session restored.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1'><![if !supportLists]><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>-<span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'> </span></span><![endif]>The add-on is not as streamlined and elegant as the latest versions of Firefox. The interface could be updated slightly to make it fit better with the current design paradigm.<o:p></o:p></pre><pre style='margin-left:.25in'><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre style='margin-left:.25in'><o:p> </o:p></pre><pre>Given all of the ongoing architectural changes possible for Firefox, I would think that any developer trying to keep such an add-on maintained would face daunting challenges. It touches too many core pieces of Firefox functionality (tab groups, sessions, core UI, etc.) that would need to be wholesale rewritten in the add-on every time Firefox itself changes. Because the functionality of this add-on is so essentially great, because it seems to imply core functionality rather than an “add-on” sort of functionality, and because the official add-on has been abandoned, I would like to suggest that this functionality be brought into the default version of Firefox. This would continue to propel Firefox to the forefront of browser technology. Just look at the feedback - people who have found and use this add-on find it essential. <o:p></o:p></pre><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>Jon Neill</b> <br><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Technical Project Manager<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Thrive Agency<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>