Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Colibri: A Browser Without Tabs

colibri.opqr.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 32 posts

Re: Colibri: A Browser Without Tabs

#21

Post by jolmg »

freeone3000 wrote: post #17
zokier wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also can't remember seeing literally anyone complain when browsers start adopting tabs, even though people complain about anything. Not complain per se, but people were commenting how tabs were a crutch for poor top level window management, and how their WM of choice had had tabs for ages. I'd say they aren't wrong about them being a crutch, but I guess crutches are useful at times.

Have WMs gottten any better at tab management? I know Windows added Sets recently, but I don't think adoption has been great. KDE and GNOME still don't. OSX has it against its entire paradigm.

You'd specifically see it with tiling window managers like i3. I can put any container node of the window tree in tabbed, stacked, tiled horizontal or tiled vertical mode. So, I can have tabs of any mix of programs, I can change the mode to see all tabs at the same time, each tab can have subtabs or windows organized in any way I see fit, I can fullscreen any level, etc.

The handling of those tabs also fit with the rest of the window management, like putting marks on a container so new windows appear at whatever place in the window tree I wish (like having a shell to my left and all windows I'm invoking having them appear organized in an arbitrary manner in a window container to my right), etc.

I can keep going, but if you're not familiar with tiling window managers, I feel like probably none of what I'm saying is making any sense...

Re: Colibri: A Browser Without Tabs

#22

Post by freeone3000 »

jolmg wrote: post #21
freeone3000 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have WMs gottten any better at tab management? I know Windows added Sets recently, but I don't think adoption has been great. KDE and GNOME still don't. OSX has it against its entire paradigm.

You'd specifically see it with tiling window managers like i3. I can put any container node of the window tree in tabbed, stacked, tiled horizontal or tiled vertical mode. So, I can have tabs of any mix of programs, I can change the mode to see all tabs at the same time, each tab can have subtabs or windows organized in any way I see fit, I can fullscreen any level, etc. The handling of those tabs also fit with the r…

I'm familiar with i3, but I feel as if the other features of i3 (configuration via text file in home directory (don't worry, the EBNF is in the header and the examples are annotated!), minimalist presentation, keyboard-first interaction (I still have a printed hotkey chart...)) are likely to stymie adoption even further than Sets, which are simply obscure.

Re: Colibri: A Browser Without Tabs

#23

Post by saulrh »

pricecomstock wrote: post #20
ballenf wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use the Fluid app to create tabless views into web apps. Great for Slack, unless you use it for calls. https://www.fluidapp.com Well worth the $5, imo. But, no I see no point in this tabless browser.

For anyone who doesn't want to download something extra and is willing to DIY the launch shortcut, you can do this with Firefox (and Chrome too I believe). 1. Go to about:config and set browser.ssb.enabled to true. 2. Restart Firefox 3. Click ... in the address bar and then "use this site in app mode" 4. Launch directly from command line or shortcut: firefox -ssb " https://news.ycombinator.com "

Looks like ff's single-site browsers can't run extensions, which means they're not really useful for me. Every site I'd want to app-ify is also one I want to modify extensively.

Re: Colibri: A Browser Without Tabs

#24

Post by jolmg »

freeone3000 wrote: post #22
jolmg wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd specifically see it with tiling window managers like i3. I can put any container node of the window tree in tabbed, stacked, tiled horizontal or tiled vertical mode. So, I can have tabs of any mix of programs, I can change the mode to see all tabs at the same time, each tab can have subtabs or windows organized in any way I see fit, I can fullscreen any level, etc. The handling of those tabs also fit with the r…

I'm familiar with i3, but I feel as if the other features of i3 (configuration via text file in home directory (don't worry, the EBNF is in the header and the examples are annotated!), minimalist presentation, keyboard-first interaction (I still have a printed hotkey chart...)) are likely to stymie adoption even further than Sets, which are simply obscure.

Those other "features" are just conventions that come with being on a *nix OS. They're aren't unique to i3. But regarding adoption, of course power-tools (for power-users) don't get wide adoption. That's just how things are, since the majority doesn't have the time to put into learning how to use such tools.

This thread is about there being a use for a tab-less browser. That doesn't necessitate wide adoption.

(Not that I'm saying that a tab-less browser is of particular use, since one can just ignore tabs in a tabbed-browser.)

Re: Colibri: A Browser Without Tabs

#25

Post by iKlsR »

I'd use something like this as one use case would be to just have profiles and logins isolated to sites I maintain. However, lost me at needing an account and wanting my entire browsing history wtf?.

Also noticed today that Edge started offering vertical tabs that can collapse to favicon size.

Re: Colibri: A Browser Without Tabs

#27

Post by NiceNamesOrg »

dimitar wrote: post #18
NiceNamesOrg wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. My one beef about the mobile browser Firefox Focus is that it doesn't have tabs.

It does have - if you open something in a new tab there is a big dot in the bottom right

Not seeing it. Is it possible you're referring to Firefox and not Firefox Focus? Or maybe the Android version of Firefox Focus has that feature and the iOS version doesn't?

Re: Colibri: A Browser Without Tabs

#28

Post by nulbyte »

breakfastduck wrote: post #11

Can't imagine a single use case for when I'd prefer a tabless browser. I also can't remember seeing literally anyone complain when browsers start adopting tabs, even though people complain about anything.

I hate tabs. They make little sense using a tiling window manager like i3 that has built-in support for tabbed window layout.

Re: Colibri: A Browser Without Tabs

#29

Post by shirakawasuna »

y7 wrote: post #9

A browser that first wants your email address, and then sends your entire browsing history to its maker. No thanks. > Our servers automatically record certain information about how you use our Services (we refer to this information as “Log Data”), including both Account holders and non-Account holders. This Log Data may include information such as your computer‘s Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, browse…

Feels like a corporate op. Good marketing, pretty website, objectively worse software, and they spy on + sell your data. No real investment from their side other than marketing talent.

Re: Colibri: A Browser Without Tabs

#30

Post by mrtimuk »

NiceNamesOrg wrote: post #27
dimitar wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does have - if you open something in a new tab there is a big dot in the bottom right

Not seeing it. Is it possible you're referring to Firefox and not Firefox Focus? Or maybe the Android version of Firefox Focus has that feature and the iOS version doesn't?

It does - long tap a link and you can open in a new tab.
Post reply on HN