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Show HN: Wikipedia Browser a La Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes

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11–20 of 51 posts

Re: Show HN: Wikipedia Browser a La Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes

#11

I wonder if this-view-but-for-browser-tabs would be useful. E.g. instead of opening 4 google search links as tabs, you could just open one "to the side" and quickly go to the next link if it turns out to be SEO spam (and avoid a click to close-tab or back-buton).

I've thought of this too, along with the possibility of having multiple tabs visible in the same window generally (almost like a screen/tmux/byobu/… for a browser with tabs being panes in tmux's terminology⁰, tabs->windows and a browser window being a session). That is probably a very niche desire though, so I don't hold hope of seeing it implemented/supported and don't have time to try write it myself. -------- [0]…

This is not built in, but fyi I've used PaperWM for this (scrolling tiling window manager on Linux) and open new tabs as windows. New windows open to right in a large scrolling desktop basically.

Re: Show HN: Wikipedia Browser a La Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes

#12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've thought of this too, along with the possibility of having multiple tabs visible in the same window generally (almost like a screen/tmux/byobu/… for a browser with tabs being panes in tmux's terminology⁰, tabs->windows and a browser window being a session). That is probably a very niche desire though, so I don't hold hope of seeing it implemented/supported and don't have time to try write it myself. -------- [0]…

Arc browser is doing something like this. Not as sophisticated but at least you get split views (panes). https://arc.net/

I've found that I'm using this feature much more than I thought I would in arc. Before, I'd figure that it's the same as opening two windows side by side. It's not, having it as a built in feature opens up a lot of things. Opening an article on HN and the comments on HN side by side, for example. I NEVER did that before, now it's second nature.

Re: Show HN: Wikipedia Browser a La Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes

#13
post #6

This type of browser mode would be good for reading 2 or 3 articles at the same time, instead of switching from tab to tab.

You can open several browser windows and tile them next to each others too. Funny how people seem to forget they can use windows and their desktop capabilities instead of tabs.

Re: Show HN: Wikipedia Browser a La Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes

#14
post #6

This type of browser mode would be good for reading 2 or 3 articles at the same time, instead of switching from tab to tab.

You can open several browser windows and tile them next to each others too. Funny how people seem to forget they can use windows and their desktop capabilities instead of tabs.

I know but this is easier and that's the thing about software UX.

Re: Show HN: Wikipedia Browser a La Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes

#15
post #6

This type of browser mode would be good for reading 2 or 3 articles at the same time, instead of switching from tab to tab.

You can open several browser windows and tile them next to each others too. Funny how people seem to forget they can use windows and their desktop capabilities instead of tabs.

You could also buy several monitors, turn them sideways, and set them up side by side. Or you could have skilled artists draw things out and present them to you in paper. Or you could get multiple Neuralink implants patched to your visual cortex and pipe the window renders directly to your brain!

It's not about how things possibly could be done, it's about minimizing friction. Desktops have become something of a pain in the ass; all the major operators are incentivized to push you to the browser, so they can pipe ads down your throat.

There are apps and custom shells and sometimes even baked in OS features that allow sophisticated GUI interactions, but the learning curves are steep, the features change or require upkeep, and sometimes it's just easier to have a feature built in to the thing you want the feature for.

Re: Show HN: Wikipedia Browser a La Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can open several browser windows and tile them next to each others too. Funny how people seem to forget they can use windows and their desktop capabilities instead of tabs.

You could also buy several monitors, turn them sideways, and set them up side by side. Or you could have skilled artists draw things out and present them to you in paper. Or you could get multiple Neuralink implants patched to your visual cortex and pipe the window renders directly to your brain! It's not about how things possibly could be done, it's about minimizing friction. Desktops have become something of a pain…

> Desktops have become something of a pain in the ass.

I will respectfully disagree. Even on the link OP provided, I cannot read it via my mobile device, while I cwn easily do so via desktop browser.

As for the last paragraph, development isn't any simpler on mobile. Not just consideration of different platforms but also different versions and what they can support (both from features and hardware capability).

Your take is interesting, though. Thanks for posting it!

Re: Show HN: Wikipedia Browser a La Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes

#18
post #6

This type of browser mode would be good for reading 2 or 3 articles at the same time, instead of switching from tab to tab.

You can open several browser windows and tile them next to each others too. Funny how people seem to forget they can use windows and their desktop capabilities instead of tabs.

Vivaldi is especially good for this. You can select many tabs (with Shift) and choose to tile them. Tiling layout can also be changed.

Re: Show HN: Wikipedia Browser a La Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes

#19
post #2

I'd expect it to auto-focus on whatever pane is the newest one, but I have to manually scroll to the right to reach it?

I'll add that! Thanks for the feedback. I built this in a few hours last night as a proof of concept, so it DEFINITELY needs some polish! I've put zero thought into mobile so far.

Edit: the most recent pane should auto focus now!

Re: Show HN: Wikipedia Browser a La Andy Matuschak's Evergreen Notes

#20
This is a nice UX experiment. What I'd like to see though, is the ability to choose whether the link opens in the current tile, or open on the right.

IMO, this behavior should be the default on Web browsers when middle-clicking a link.

Especially since people tend to have wide screens and websites don't always constrain text narrowly enough to make it readable.

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