Mozilla has been making many waves recently, the latest of which were the layoffs aimed at streamlining efforts into their core offering, the Firefox web browser, after a new CEO, Laura Chambers, took over.
At the time, the plan was to re-direct resources towards Firefox and to work on AI integration. But, with a recent development, a long-requested feature has taken the center stage with a renewed effort that may finally see it being offered with Firefox.
And, seems like, we have to thank the new CEO for this development.
Let's check out what's going on.
What's Happening: All of this started back in July 2023, when Ethan Word posted asking if a “Tab Groups” feature would ever come to Firefox, similar to what Chrome has. Back then, many agreed that they would also prefer having such a useful feature, and that using extensions to get similar functionality was not really a viable solution.
A few months passed by, and that is when a community member, BelFox took it upon themselves to get the ball rolling again.
They tagged the new CEO of Mozilla, and made a very convincing plea that included how community members have spread the good word about Firefox for more than a decade, and that they wanted to see it succeed.
BelFox went on to strengthen their case by mentioning the most requested feature on the Mozilla Connect portal that has been there since 2022! The request was to implement a native tab grouping feature or a more customizable toolbar into Firefox.
See for yourself, it has almost 3,000 votes now. 👇
BelFox also mentioned that:
Please let Firefox grow by providing useful features like these, not (only) by inserting AI into the browser. Community will love this and will help boost Firefox’s adoption numbers.
And I agree, focusing just on AI won't do Firefox any good if there are no other useful features such as tab grouping. Interestingly, the CEO of Mozilla, Laura Chambers replied! 😮
She said that the development team has made adding a tab grouping feature to Firefox a priority, and that people are now assigned to work on it. She also noted all the other insights shared by community members on the forum.
Does it Matter?
It does. You see, competing browsers like Chrome, Vivaldi, Edge etc. already offer tab grouping, and a popular browser like Firefox not having such a handy feature doesn't bode well.
The majority of users prefer using a web browser where they find familiarity, and, of course, plenty of useful features that improve their web browsing experience and boost productivity.
Even though there are plenty of extensions in the market such as Simple Tab Groups and Sidebery, a native experience almost always tops third-party solutions like those.
Interestingly, this is not Mozilla's first attempt at providing Tab Groups. In an earlier version of Firefox, there was a feature on Firefox called “Panorama” which was ahead of its time if you ask me.
It provided a unique tab grouping experience that was very intuitive to work around; the demo above shows it in its full glory.
Sadly, Mozilla ditched it entirely. As noted by another Mozilla community member, that work was converted into a Firefox add-on called Tab Groups by QuickSaver, that also found its demise a few years after.
However, things are finally looking up.
When to Expect: At the time of writing, there was no concrete release date for when tab grouping would debut on Firefox.
But, this renewed push should take some time to materialize as implementing such a feature requires significant effort; more so if done from scratch.
It is still better to have a confirmation rather than having none, so users will have to wait a little more before they can take advantage of Tab Groups in Firefox.
💬 What do you think? Will tab grouping be a good addition to Firefox?
Via: DebugPoint NEWS
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