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This suggestion is following the new Orion update (Version 0.99.114-beta), and this suggestion.

In that past suggestion, it was notably asked if the side bar could hide the bookmarks and read-later section.

Going from this:

(Screenshot 1)

To this:

(Screenshot 2)

The rational to this suggestion was that the user never reach for bookmarks in this menu when I can go to the menu bar.

I think the tab bar should be more considered as a tool, rather than a way to hide things. By "deconstructing" the sidebar, and having several sides bars living independently from one another, I think the user should have the option to have an unified sidebar, à la Firefox.

Firefox's sidebar allows, in a single click, to have access to Bookmarks, history, synced tabs, and even other extensions (Bitwarden, or side tabs extensions, etc.). I believe user experience would be a lot more swift if we could have something analog to this.

One could argue that everything is accessible through the sidebar quite easily through the keyboard shortcuts (ctrl+cmd+1 and ctrl+cmd+2 for bookmarks and reading list), but there is no keyboard shortcut to switch from any of these sidebars back to the tab sidebar.

I hope this post is clear enough. English isn't my main language and I struggle to find the proper words to argue intelligibly.

Edit:

Here is a montage of Firefox sidebars for illustration :

(Screenshot 3)

All these features are accessible from the same place, by clicking on the small downward arrow near each sidebar title. Which is not possible with the latest Orion version (see screenshot 2).

  • Vlad replied to this.

    viewsourc3 Please show screenshots of Firefox sidebar and/or screenshots of what you are trying to achieve.

        Ok not quite sure what your ask is now. In none of these screenshots tabs, bookmarks and other things are present in the sidebar at the same time. What is exactly the ask?

          I'm suggesting the user has the option to navigate easily from one sidebar content to another, just like Orion allowed prior to the latest update, and ideally, like Firefox still allows to this day.

          This bring more freedom and usability to the user.

          • Vlad replied to this.

            viewsourc3 Ok I see. the way Firefox does it actually is by having a dropdown menu. In the previous version of Orion we had the navigation links present at all times. This is different.

            But doing this would still take a lot of sidebar space from the top on vertical tabs. Vertical tabs are not a typical sidebar. They remove horizontal tabs. If a user accidentally navigates to it, and remove horizontal tabs, they may not know how to return it. It is not obvious.

                Vlad

                the way Firefox does it actually is by having a dropdown menu. In the previous version of Orion we had the navigation links present at all times. This is different.

                Yes, I agree. These are two different ways. But I would be happy with any, following what's better to implement.

                But doing this would still take a lot of sidebar space from the top on vertical tabs.

                I disagree with this. Firefox shows that it's not the case...?

                Vertical tabs are not a typical sidebar. They remove horizontal tabs. If a user accidentally navigates to it, and remove horizontal tabs, they may not know how to return it. It is not obvious.

                Isn't it the case already? Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

                • Vlad replied to this.

                    I'd like to weigh in from a keyboard-centric point of view.

                    I much prefer to use keyboard shortcuts for things I do often. And what I do most frequently of all, is to toggle the visibility of the sidebar, and control what it shows.

                    What we have, from the View menu:

                    • Show/hide sidebar: ⇧⌘L – good
                    • Show/hide bookmarks sidebar: ⌃⌘1
                    • Show/hide reading list sidebar: ⌃⌘2

                    But there is a quirk: The latter two act reasonably if either the sidebar is not visible or it does not show the desired contents, but otherwise, it just hides the sidebar, but keeps its contents, so it is once more there if I hit ⇧⌘L. What I would expect and desire is for the related contents to go away, but the sidebar to remain visible, as if I had hit the left arrow head at the top of the sidebar.

                    Failing that, I'd like a separate shortcut to revert the sidebar to its “original” state, by which I mean showing the vertical tab bar, if otherwise enabled, or else the little menu letting you show either the bookmarks of the reading list.

                    At first, I though the “Show/Hide vertical tabs sidebar” shortcut (⌃⌘V) was what I wanted, but that toggles the tab bar between vertical and horizontal, which is something different. I can hit it twice to get what I want, but that seems like a rather hacky workaround for something that should be easier.

                      viewsourc3

                      I disagree with this. Firefox shows that it's not the case...?

                      More than one user objected that it does, which is why we removed the original menus in the first place.

                      Isn't it the case already? Maybe I'm misunderstanding.

                      No, because currently user can not accidentally navigate to the Vertical tabs by just using sidebar. Doing a Firefox style dropdown would allow them to do that.

                          Vlad Hmm, I can try.

                          One way to resolve it, but perhaps not the only way, but it would work for me:

                          • Change the action of the menu item Hide Bookmarks Sidebar so that it does not hide the sidebar, but instead stops showing the bookmarks in the sidebar. Thus the sidebar reverts to showing the vertical tab bar, if enabled, or the two choices Bookmarks or Reading List.
                          • Change the action of the manu item Hide Reading List Sidebar in the same way.
                          • Do not change the action of Show Bookmarks Sidebar or Show Readling List Sidebar.

                              I might add that currently, as far as I can tell, either of the two menu items Hide Bookmarks Sidebar and Hide Reading List Sidebar has exactly the same effect as Hide Sidebar, which is not useful.

                                hanche the first bullet point definitely goes in the idea I had in mind, it makes everything so much more logical (and useful). In my opinion.

                                Thanks for chipping in.

                                    I notice that with 0.99.114.1-beta, Hide Bookmarks Sidebar behaves like I recommended. But Hide Reading list sidebar retains the old behaviour. That seems a bit inconsistent. However, I am much more likely to hop into and out of the bookmarks sidebar than the reading list, so for me, this is a great improvement.

                                    9 months later

                                    i believe this can be marked as done, now that there is a completely different sidebar

                                      I agree. The new sidebar solves a few of the remarks I had. Other users can open new issues if they'd like. I think this one can be closed.

                                      No one is typing