Will Tab Islands come to Opera GX?
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TheBooker66 last edited byI know this probably doesn't mean much, but +1. I've been using Opera GX for the past four years, approximately, but something that has always really annoyed me is the lack of tab management that all other major browsers have. I know workspaces exist, but they function completely differently and, in my opinion, much worse. Tab islands being in regular Opera but not in Opera GX is infuriating, and if any developers browse the forums, let it be known that GX's users are frustrated.
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kari-toby last edited byIts almost been 2 years since the initial post, and still no tab grouping or tab islands.
Opera GX has had an entire aesthetic reboot, new features, many things. However the one thing that the browser still lacks that nearly every other mainstream browser has is tab groups
(Opera has tab islands, Chrome has tab groups, Firefox has Panorama, Vivaldi has tab stacks, safari has tab groups, Microsoft Edge has tab groups, Brave has tab groups, Maxthon has tab groups, even Internet Explorer used to have tab groups.)
Most browsers have this feature for good reasons: minimized tab groups can be put in a 'sleep mode' so those tabs don't take up as much resources, the organizational aspect of them, the aesthetic aspect of them. There's so many benefits to having them, yet the browser that seems to pride itself on being the best for resource management, aesthetics & customization, and brands itself as the browser for gamers, seems to leave out a major organizational tool. It's just odd to me.
I understand that a product unfinished shouldn't be released, however when it's such a long requested feature that has already been out on another platform (even if the other platform is still in beta) for over 2 years, it feels less like they have been unable to get it to work and more like they're avoiding it's addition.
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BobBobertson last edited by
@Zactom I've honestly just moved on to using Zen browser at this point. If the company can't be bothered to listen to its users or even respond after years, what's the point?
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kari-toby last edited by
@BobBobertson I looked up zen browser, honestly I'm kinda interested in switching over, but can i import my bookmarks and things like that there? Also, from the website, it looks like its aimed more towards mac; do you know if you can get the tabs at the top like it usually is? because on the website it has the tabs located exclusively in the sidebar and I think it's a little too weird for me if there's no way to change that.
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Ngamerthegamer last edited by
@kari-toby There is also ray browser which is also focused on gaming and litrelly has stumble guys in the browser! and other like krunkers and its kinda more optimised. But there is a lot less customization so if you wanna play online games straight from browseryou can do it
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TheBooker66 last edited by TheBooker66
Guys, I have good news. in Sep. 2024, I reported a feature request on Opera GX's bug tracker ("Add tab islands."). Yesterday, they replied as follows:
Hello Dear User,
We have good news!
Tab islands are now available for beta testing in the latest Opera GX. Update your browser and enable it in Early Bird to try them out.
Regards,
The Opera GX Team
Let's hope the feature is well-made. We won in the end.
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BobBobertson last edited by
@TheBooker66 huge win, thank you for updating the chain here. I'm surprised it took this long but now I'm tempted to come back and give it a try.
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kari-toby last edited by
@TheBooker66 they have, in fact, been added!! I have early bird enabled so i was able to use them already. They're not the absolute best; i still prefer chrome tab groups but since these tab islands are in beta stage they're likely to improve!
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matrodSY last edited by
@kari-toby I can't seem to find it. How did you enable it? The only thing I can find is how to move tabs between workspaces.
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Neuffexx last edited by
Ngl guys, I got no clue how to even use them. I enabled it in early bird, but I cant figure out how to group the tabs.
I didnt have chrome or anything so even if they are similar it wouldnt help me.In what ways can I create groups?
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Neuffexx last edited by
@leocg Got it thanks. I also realized I needed to restart the browser after enabling the feautres.
Would be great if we could assign a name or maybe emoji (like one of the tab features allows) to a tab island so we had something else to go by other than colour if the groups stack up. -
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@BalladsCx You enable tabs islands in Early Bird and restart the browser.
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sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@leocg I didn't need to restart at all. Mind you, they aren't as obvious as in Opera One. I could only tell it was there when I was hovering the tab bar - a dot appeared after the island I was hovering. No differences in spacing or other cues when not hovering the tab bar.. If not for the dot, I wouldn't think it did anything. Must need some styling work yet,
When it's enabled, tabs opened from the same tab (as in, open links in new tabs) will be in the same island. Didn't try drag and drop to see if you could create an island that way.
