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In vertical tab mode, it is not practical to show the full name of tabs all the time, so most people shrink that bar to a size that shows the favicons and maybe a bit of the names of those tabs.

However, in the occasional case when you do need to see the names of tabs, it is hard to find them because we can't see the whole tab's name.

So, can it be made so that hovering on the vertical tab bar makes the bar a little bit wider so that we can read the names of most tabs? Kinda similar to the sidebar you have on orionfeedback.org.

My usual tab width:

Roughly how far I would like it to expand:

(Maybe) if you hover on a tab: (quick mock-up made using preview, sorry for low quality)

  • Vlad replied to this.

    TheOtherKai Automatically expanding UI element on mouse hover like that is generally not a good UX pattern. As far as I know no macOS native app has this?

    I know that Edge does this, but it also does not follow Apple's HIG guidelines at all.

        Vlad can't seem to find one. Closest I can find is Safari's side bar but that doesn't expand, it appears.

        • Vlad replied to this.

            TheOtherKai Right, so auto-expanding on hover is not a practice Apple recommends in UI as it can be disorienting for users.

            Btw you can toggle between two positions by double clicking the sidebar separator line.

                a year later

                Brief Summary
                I'd like Orion to temporarily expand the tabs sidebar when it's collapsed and the user hovers their mouse over it. It would improve the experience by providing more screen real-estate when the tabs aren't needed without sacrificing information when they are needed.

                Details:
                I see a user using this feature when they want to maximize their available screen for their web browsing content, but don't want to lose their tab names and tree structures. The option to expand it when hovering means the user can choose when they want to see that additional information and when they don't without having to manually drag the sidebar each time.

                Image/Video:
                Brave's implementation of this feature:

                • Vlad replied to this.

                  httpjames Is there any native macOS app that does this? Btw you can toggle between the two states by double clicking the border.

                      Nope, I don't think so. Double clicking the border is still extra steps and is less intuitive and convenient than just hovering.

                      • Vlad replied to this.

                        httpjames Double clicking is arguably faster than hovering because hovering has a 0.5 s delay (or so) judgining by your video. The fact that native Apple apps avoid hovering interaction means it is probably viewed as a bad UX interaction so we are somewhat reluctant to go this way. Btw I have seen posts like this before, it would be great if you could find them to merge them as there is obviously growing interest to do something about it.

                            Even if it's technically faster, it's still less convenient. I wasn't able to find any posts before about this specifically.

                              Merged 5 posts from Expand the open tabs sidebar when hovering while collapsed.

                                <Use a descriptive title! This is what most users will see before upvoting your suggestion. Then, describe your suggestion in detail, including how should it be implemented in Orion and what your expectation is. If relevant, upload screenshots/videos examples for the feature from other browsers.>

                                  orionlover You'll have to do a bit better than this - expand how? Show some mockups or screenshots.

                                      orionlover

                                      Orion already does this for me. Tab title, at least - not a content preview ( and i prefer it this way ).

                                      Version 0.99.120.1-beta (WebKit 614.1.20)
                                      MacBook Pro (macOS Monterey 12.5.1 build 21G83)

                                          I would like to see something like the following.

                                          1. by default, the tabs would only show their icons

                                          2. on mouseover, the tab screen would expand over the top of the current webpages (so that they don't need to be redrawn)

                                          Once I move my cursor away from the expanded screen, it automatically shrinks back after clicking on a web page or a couple of seconds.

                                          • Vlad replied to this.

                                            sschwetz I believe Edge does something like this, but this is not according to HIG. You can expand them by double clicking the border though.

                                                9 months later
                                                Merged 5 posts from Vertical tab - Can we hover our pointer on it and it will auto-expand its tab name for previewing?.