Migrate to WebExtensions for Firefox 57 and later

[theres-waldo]

Mozilla recently announced that starting in Firefox 57, Firefox will no longer support addons that are not WebExtensions.

Is it possible to convert Tree Style Tab to be a WebExtension, so it can continue working in Firefox 57 and beyond?

[piroor]

I hope to migrate TST to WebExtensions, but there are many missing features yet. This is a list of strongly depending bugs:

• 1280347 – Add ability to provide custom HTML elements working as alias of existing Firefox UI items, especially tabs
• 1271567 – Add ability to read/write extra metadata (annotations) for each bookmark
• 1238314 – Implement browser.tabs opener functionality
• 1208596 – Implement sidebar extension point => fixed at Firefox 54
• 1322060 - Add WE API to provide functions of SessionStore.setWindowValue and SessionStore.setTabValue

[piroor]

I hope to migrate TST to WebExtensions, but there are many missing features yet. This is a list of strongly depending bugs:

• 1280347 – Add ability to provide custom HTML elements working as alias of existing Firefox UI items, especially tabs
• 1271567 – Add ability to read/write extra metadata (annotations) for each bookmark
• 1238314 – Implement browser.tabs opener functionality
• 1208596 – Implement sidebar extension point => fixed at Firefox 54
• 1322060 - Add WE API to provide functions of SessionStore.setWindowValue and SessionStore.setTabValue

[cpriest]

I've had a request for SnapLinks v3 (a web extension version) to re-add compatibility with TST. Do you expect the new cross-plugin API to be radically different than the exiting XUL based addon?

[cpriest]

I've had a request for SnapLinks v3 (a web extension version) to re-add compatibility with TST. Do you expect the new cross-plugin API to be radically different than the exiting XUL based addon?

[CrashNBurn71]

That's sad, only one of those bugs has even been actioned, and even the one that has - looks like its low priority, with no updates aside from discussion on the bug.

As for, 1280347 - wouldn't that be better accomplished if Mozilla:

1. Allow Tabs on the Top|Bottom, and an alternate top-down listing so they can be displayed Left|Right.
2. Allow to negate default styling on tabs.
3. Allow any tab-related-addons to "listen" for changes: Tabs closing, opening, moving - so they can react.
4. Allow for New-Tab to be modified by listening addons, so it can be inserted into the correct position.

As proposed 1280347 seems like it would be a significant undertaking on Mozilla's behalf compared to the 4 points above. Is there anything missing in the 4 points that you addressed in 1280347 that would still not be possible?

[CrashNBurn71]

That's sad, only one of those bugs has even been actioned, and even the one that has - looks like its low priority, with no updates aside from discussion on the bug.

As for, 1280347 - wouldn't that be better accomplished if Mozilla:

1. Allow Tabs on the Top|Bottom, and an alternate top-down listing so they can be displayed Left|Right.
2. Allow to negate default styling on tabs.
3. Allow any tab-related-addons to "listen" for changes: Tabs closing, opening, moving - so they can react.
4. Allow for New-Tab to be modified by listening addons, so it can be inserted into the correct position.

As proposed 1280347 seems like it would be a significant undertaking on Mozilla's behalf compared to the 4 points above. Is there anything missing in the 4 points that you addressed in 1280347 that would still not be possible?

[CrashNBurn71]

Does the feature in Nightly to put tabs in a category have anything to do with being able to store extra-data in the tab object/session ?

[CrashNBurn71]

Does the feature in Nightly to put tabs in a category have anything to do with being able to store extra-data in the tab object/session ?

[nt1m]

@piroor You don't need bug 1280347 if bug 1332447 is fixed right ?

[nt1m]

@piroor You don't need bug 1280347 if bug 1332447 is fixed right ?

[CrashNBurn71]

Mozilla has also added "Test Pilot", along with "Tab Center"

https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/tab-center

This would seem to be heading towards where Tree Style Tab can move forward to Firefox 57 as a Web Extension if a way is provided to store "Tab Specific data" within the session files. No?

[CrashNBurn71]

Mozilla has also added "Test Pilot", along with "Tab Center"

https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/tab-center

This would seem to be heading towards where Tree Style Tab can move forward to Firefox 57 as a Web Extension if a way is provided to store "Tab Specific data" within the session files. No?

[asamuzaK]

See also Tabs Tree Options · Issue #989 · bwinton/TabCenter

[asamuzaK]

See also Tabs Tree Options · Issue #989 · bwinton/TabCenter

[mimoo]

How can we help?

[mimoo]

How can we help?

[GuyXY]

@mimoo It is written, only Link can defeat Ganon!

[GuyXY]

@mimoo It is written, only Link can defeat Ganon!

[nt1m]

For anyone who's looking for a WE replacement: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-tabs/

[nt1m]

For anyone who's looking for a WE replacement: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-tabs/

[TheSweetLily]

Tried that one a while back, but it's not the same, and last I checked there are some things missing from it being proper replacement.

Tabs were still on top, so you'd have tabs on top and on the side last I tried, and with TST I have my pinned bookmarks on the bottom.
The first one was a WE limitation last I checked, though. The last one I am not sure of.

From developer comment on a review:
"Hiding tab bar is unavailable from Web extensions for now. Please join conversation at bugzilla to convince Web Extensions team to give us this possibility, here:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1332447"

[TheSweetLily]

Tried that one a while back, but it's not the same, and last I checked there are some things missing from it being proper replacement.

Tabs were still on top, so you'd have tabs on top and on the side last I tried, and with TST I have my pinned bookmarks on the bottom.
The first one was a WE limitation last I checked, though. The last one I am not sure of.

From developer comment on a review:
"Hiding tab bar is unavailable from Web extensions for now. Please join conversation at bugzilla to convince Web Extensions team to give us this possibility, here:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1332447"

[Keith94]

Tabs were still on top, so you'd have tabs on top and on the side last I tried

You can add the following to userChrome.css to hide the top bar (tested in Fx 55).

#TabsToolbar {
    visibility: collapse;
}

[Keith94]

Tabs were still on top, so you'd have tabs on top and on the side last I tried

You can add the following to userChrome.css to hide the top bar (tested in Fx 55).

#TabsToolbar {
    visibility: collapse;
}

[nt1m]

@TheSweetLily The API has been approved, it just needs someone to work on the proposal.

[nt1m]

@TheSweetLily The API has been approved, it just needs someone to work on the proposal.

[photonometric]

Sorry if this is a naive question, and we still have some time to go, but what else might be done to push this ahead? Relying on the main Mozilla devs to generously spend time fixing bugs that don't jetpack or make FF look more like chrome seems like wishful thinking to me.

I mean, how complex are the problems, and how many/which are likely to be fixed as part of the larger FF upgrade project? Can any of the knowledgeable folks here answer that in like, a sentence or two for those of us non-programmers anxiously tapping our toes?

If one of the bugs is looking unattended as the dreaded WE time approaches, what can we do? Are they (comparatively) simple enough that we could hire someone on fiverr to do some work? Or another programming equivalent of that kind of service?

Sorry to push things along here without really contributing, but TST has been the number one essential part of my FF/web browsing experience since its inception. Tree Tabs has been ported (or perhaps concurrently programmed) from Vivaldi, and has a lot of promise, but it would be a shame to abandon such a long-standing project as this.

[photonometric]

Sorry if this is a naive question, and we still have some time to go, but what else might be done to push this ahead? Relying on the main Mozilla devs to generously spend time fixing bugs that don't jetpack or make FF look more like chrome seems like wishful thinking to me.

I mean, how complex are the problems, and how many/which are likely to be fixed as part of the larger FF upgrade project? Can any of the knowledgeable folks here answer that in like, a sentence or two for those of us non-programmers anxiously tapping our toes?

If one of the bugs is looking unattended as the dreaded WE time approaches, what can we do? Are they (comparatively) simple enough that we could hire someone on fiverr to do some work? Or another programming equivalent of that kind of service?

Sorry to push things along here without really contributing, but TST has been the number one essential part of my FF/web browsing experience since its inception. Tree Tabs has been ported (or perhaps concurrently programmed) from Vivaldi, and has a lot of promise, but it would be a shame to abandon such a long-standing project as this.

[yfdyh000]

@photonometric FYI: https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions#Additional_APIs & https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/RoadMapFirefox57.

If some APIs can not come in Firefox 57, we can continue to develop in future versions, as well as got it and improve once it landed in Nightly. If some WebExtension APIs or requirements cannot be approved, we can try to find a better idea, or expect Mozilla to change their minds, or wait for a third party to make a patch / build for broader APIs.

[yfdyh000]

@photonometric FYI: https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions#Additional_APIs & https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/RoadMapFirefox57.

If some APIs can not come in Firefox 57, we can continue to develop in future versions, as well as got it and improve once it landed in Nightly. If some WebExtension APIs or requirements cannot be approved, we can try to find a better idea, or expect Mozilla to change their minds, or wait for a third party to make a patch / build for broader APIs.

[nt1m]

@photonometric All the remaining APIs have been approved, they just need to be implemented by someone. If you're an extension dev, you can help out by making a WebExtensions experiment.

The main blocker is the API to hide the native tabbar, which is likely going to be implemented soon as Tab Center needs it (there's already a pretty advanced replacement out there btw: https://github.com/eoger/tabcenter-redux).

[nt1m]

@photonometric All the remaining APIs have been approved, they just need to be implemented by someone. If you're an extension dev, you can help out by making a WebExtensions experiment.

The main blocker is the API to hide the native tabbar, which is likely going to be implemented soon as Tab Center needs it (there's already a pretty advanced replacement out there btw: https://github.com/eoger/tabcenter-redux).

[photonometric]

@yfdyh000 (love your avatar!!!) Thanks for that, good to know there are more options than I thought for "worst case scenario," so to speak...I've been making comments to that effect in the Tree Tabs thread in the Vivaldi forum, since several people there were stating that TST was abandoned and I felt the need to stick up for him/it/us ;)

Perhaps there should be some more obvious "we're not dead yet" statements (or indeed any mention of the impending WE problem) on the 3 or 4 documentation areas for this plugin, so me linking repeatedly to this issue isn't the only indicator users of other browsers have that the project is still alive ^^;;; I mean, Tree Tab began development because the general browser community, developers included, thought WE was going to kill this plugin....that indicates some lack of communication as to intention.

@ntim: no, as I made clear, I'm no kind of dev. But I've spent hours over the lifetime of this project trying to help figure out bugs and keep it "in service." Needless to say I feel helpless not being able to do anything, which is why I asked about would could be done to "pay" someone to fix a bug (or implement the needed APIs, as you say). Hopefully it won't be necessary, or if not completed in time for WE deadline, will be fixed somehow soon after.

[photonometric]

@yfdyh000 (love your avatar!!!) Thanks for that, good to know there are more options than I thought for "worst case scenario," so to speak...I've been making comments to that effect in the Tree Tabs thread in the Vivaldi forum, since several people there were stating that TST was abandoned and I felt the need to stick up for him/it/us ;)

Perhaps there should be some more obvious "we're not dead yet" statements (or indeed any mention of the impending WE problem) on the 3 or 4 documentation areas for this plugin, so me linking repeatedly to this issue isn't the only indicator users of other browsers have that the project is still alive ^^;;; I mean, Tree Tab began development because the general browser community, developers included, thought WE was going to kill this plugin....that indicates some lack of communication as to intention.

@ntim: no, as I made clear, I'm no kind of dev. But I've spent hours over the lifetime of this project trying to help figure out bugs and keep it "in service." Needless to say I feel helpless not being able to do anything, which is why I asked about would could be done to "pay" someone to fix a bug (or implement the needed APIs, as you say). Hopefully it won't be necessary, or if not completed in time for WE deadline, will be fixed somehow soon after.

[nt1m]

@photonometric I know you're not a dev, but I'm mentioning it in case someone comes across the comment and wishes to contribute. One way you can help is asking developers you may know if they can help.

[nt1m]

@photonometric I know you're not a dev, but I'm mentioning it in case someone comes across the comment and wishes to contribute. One way you can help is asking developers you may know if they can help.

[ralesk]

Latest 57 nightly broke the TST sidebar, but native tab bar hiding seems to work, so I currently have no tabs whatsoever :) I really hope things work out best for TST in the end, it's my favourite addon ever in a browser (and it's such a shame no other browsers have anything similar)

[ralesk]

Latest 57 nightly broke the TST sidebar, but native tab bar hiding seems to work, so I currently have no tabs whatsoever :) I really hope things work out best for TST in the end, it's my favourite addon ever in a browser (and it's such a shame no other browsers have anything similar)

[mimoo]

Is there a way to donate money to this project? It is an essential part of Firefox for me.

[mimoo]

Is there a way to donate money to this project? It is an essential part of Firefox for me.

[Javaru]

@mimoo - Yes. You can either go to the version update notification page -- http://tabmixplus.org/version_update2.htm -- which has prominent donate buttons, or to the Tab Mix Plus homepage -- http://tabmixplus.org -- which has a donate button in the top center. I myself made a donation yesterday for the very same reason as you... it's too essential for me to lose it.

EDIT
sorry - As I noted below, I got my plugins intermixed as I'm watching both Tab Mix Plus and Tree Styel Tab's migration to Web Extensions. So this comment does not apply. Sorry about that :(

[Javaru]

@mimoo - Yes. You can either go to the version update notification page -- http://tabmixplus.org/version_update2.htm -- which has prominent donate buttons, or to the Tab Mix Plus homepage -- http://tabmixplus.org -- which has a donate button in the top center. I myself made a donation yesterday for the very same reason as you... it's too essential for me to lose it.

EDIT
sorry - As I noted below, I got my plugins intermixed as I'm watching both Tab Mix Plus and Tree Styel Tab's migration to Web Extensions. So this comment does not apply. Sorry about that :(

[hhyyrylainen]

@Javaru but tab mix plus doesn't seem to support tree style tabs, which is the whole point of using this addon (at least not from anything I could find in their help docs)

[hhyyrylainen]

@Javaru but tab mix plus doesn't seem to support tree style tabs, which is the whole point of using this addon (at least not from anything I could find in their help docs)

[jryans]

Tab Mix Plus has nothing to do with this add-on as far as I know, so donating there won't help anything here.

@mimoo I agree, TST is also essential for me as well! Looking at #761 and the project README, the TST author is grateful for the idea, but doesn't want donations at this time.

[jryans]

Tab Mix Plus has nothing to do with this add-on as far as I know, so donating there won't help anything here.

@mimoo I agree, TST is also essential for me as well! Looking at #761 and the project README, the TST author is grateful for the idea, but doesn't want donations at this time.

[Javaru]

D'oh - Sooooo sorry - I'm watching both Tab Mix Plus and Tree Style Tab's migration to Web Extensions and misread which one this was when I saw mimoo's comment in my e-mail inbox (as Tab Mix was fresh in my mind from having just made a donation to its conversion effort). In my defense, I had not yet had my morning caffeine. Sorry for the confusion.

[Javaru]

D'oh - Sooooo sorry - I'm watching both Tab Mix Plus and Tree Style Tab's migration to Web Extensions and misread which one this was when I saw mimoo's comment in my e-mail inbox (as Tab Mix was fresh in my mind from having just made a donation to its conversion effort). In my defense, I had not yet had my morning caffeine. Sorry for the confusion.

[piroor]

Issues I hope to fix before the initial release of the WebExtensions version:

certainly

• #1324 Don't try to save session information for tabs/windows, after they are closed
• #1325 Tooltip for twisty, closebox, and new tab button
• #1327 Auto-scrolling of the tab bar while dragging on tabs
• #1328 Show animation effect for tabs opened at outside of the viewport
• #1329 Deactivate animations when configs.animation=false
• #1332 Detect duplicated or restored tabs, and apply tree information fo them
• #1336 Add more configuration UI
• #1340 Migrate configurations from legacy addon
• #1341 Toolbar button to show TST sidebar directly (is it possible?)
• #1345 Restore tree structure correctly on startup, even if some tabs are lost

maybe

• #1326 Photon-friendry icon
• #1330 Apply better animation for newly opened tabs which are moved by TST
• #1331 Calculate size of favicon and tab height correctly
• #1335 Do something to support private browsing
• #1337 Show confirmation dialog before open tabs/close tabs/restore tabs/dropped link/etc.
• #1338 Provide API to insert something like thumbnails
• #1339 Provide API to implement Multiple Tab Handler-like feature on Sidebar
• #1342 Provide ability to switch appearance for leftside/rightside sidebar
• #1343 Collapsed tree should have a tooltip including titles of invisible children as a tree
• #1344 Provide version 0.99 for migration

impossible?

• #1323 Suppress to render tree items for in-progress operations like "duplicate tree across windows"
• #1333 Provide context menu on tabs and tree items
• #1334 Support container tabs

intentionally dropped features

• auto hide tab bar (clearly impossible on WebExtensions)
• move tab bar position via drag and drop of the tab bar itself (clearly impossible on WebExtensions)
• hide Firefox's tab bar itself (see 1332447 - WebExtension API to hide the tabstrip)

[piroor]

Issues I hope to fix before the initial release of the WebExtensions version:

certainly

• #1324 Don't try to save session information for tabs/windows, after they are closed
• #1325 Tooltip for twisty, closebox, and new tab button
• #1327 Auto-scrolling of the tab bar while dragging on tabs
• #1328 Show animation effect for tabs opened at outside of the viewport
• #1329 Deactivate animations when configs.animation=false
• #1332 Detect duplicated or restored tabs, and apply tree information fo them
• #1336 Add more configuration UI
• #1340 Migrate configurations from legacy addon
• #1341 Toolbar button to show TST sidebar directly (is it possible?)
• #1345 Restore tree structure correctly on startup, even if some tabs are lost

maybe

• #1326 Photon-friendry icon
• #1330 Apply better animation for newly opened tabs which are moved by TST
• #1331 Calculate size of favicon and tab height correctly
• #1335 Do something to support private browsing
• #1337 Show confirmation dialog before open tabs/close tabs/restore tabs/dropped link/etc.
• #1338 Provide API to insert something like thumbnails
• #1339 Provide API to implement Multiple Tab Handler-like feature on Sidebar
• #1342 Provide ability to switch appearance for leftside/rightside sidebar
• #1343 Collapsed tree should have a tooltip including titles of invisible children as a tree
• #1344 Provide version 0.99 for migration

impossible?

• #1323 Suppress to render tree items for in-progress operations like "duplicate tree across windows"
• #1333 Provide context menu on tabs and tree items
• #1334 Support container tabs

intentionally dropped features

• auto hide tab bar (clearly impossible on WebExtensions)
• move tab bar position via drag and drop of the tab bar itself (clearly impossible on WebExtensions)
• hide Firefox's tab bar itself (see 1332447 - WebExtension API to hide the tabstrip)

[piroor]

TST WebExtensions will work only on Firefox 57 or later, because there are many required APIs initially implemented at Fx57 (browser.sessions.setTabValue(), browser.sessions.getTabValue(), browser.sessions.setWindowValue(), browser.sessions.getWindowValue(), browser.tabs.Tab.openerTabId). In other words, legacy version will live until Fx56. I have no plan to fix bugs on the combination TST legacy with Fx57.

[piroor]

TST WebExtensions will work only on Firefox 57 or later, because there are many required APIs initially implemented at Fx57 (browser.sessions.setTabValue(), browser.sessions.getTabValue(), browser.sessions.setWindowValue(), browser.sessions.getWindowValue(), browser.tabs.Tab.openerTabId). In other words, legacy version will live until Fx56. I have no plan to fix bugs on the combination TST legacy with Fx57.

[ibrahima]

Btw, Firefox v57 just went into beta (Firefox Developer Edition just updated to it) so there might be an influx of users trying to switch to the WE version. Thanks for putting up a prebuilt nightly! The current version installs for me. I'm sad that there's no way to hide the tab bar yet... trying to figure out if I can live with this.

I really wish they had given more time for extension developers to update, seems kinda crappy to push us over the WebExtensions cliff without building the APIs needed to replicate the old functionality...

[ibrahima]

Btw, Firefox v57 just went into beta (Firefox Developer Edition just updated to it) so there might be an influx of users trying to switch to the WE version. Thanks for putting up a prebuilt nightly! The current version installs for me. I'm sad that there's no way to hide the tab bar yet... trying to figure out if I can live with this.

I really wish they had given more time for extension developers to update, seems kinda crappy to push us over the WebExtensions cliff without building the APIs needed to replicate the old functionality...

[theres-waldo]

I'm sad that there's no way to hide the tab bar yet... trying to figure out if I can live with this.

While I haven't tried it, I hear you can hide the tab bar using userChrome.css:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1332447#c42

[theres-waldo]

I'm sad that there's no way to hide the tab bar yet... trying to figure out if I can live with this.

While I haven't tried it, I hear you can hide the tab bar using userChrome.css:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1332447#c42

[BrianGilbert]

you can definitely hide them via UserChrome.css, but you lose indicator that the tab is loading if you do this.. I was looking for an extension that would show progress on the address bar, and even tried porting Pace4Chrome, but no luck so far.

[BrianGilbert]

you can definitely hide them via UserChrome.css, but you lose indicator that the tab is loading if you do this.. I was looking for an extension that would show progress on the address bar, and even tried porting Pace4Chrome, but no luck so far.

[ibrahima]

Nice! I actually still see the loading indicator in the TST sidebar. Btw, as per one of the comments on Bugzilla the CSS comes from tabcenter-redux, and this comment seems to have the latest iteration: eoger/tabcenter-redux#15 (comment)

For easy reference:

#TabsToolbar {
  min-height: 31.5px (Windows) / 27px (macOs) / no rule on linux
}

#TabsToolbar > * {
   visibility: collapse;
}

[ibrahima]

Nice! I actually still see the loading indicator in the TST sidebar. Btw, as per one of the comments on Bugzilla the CSS comes from tabcenter-redux, and this comment seems to have the latest iteration: eoger/tabcenter-redux#15 (comment)

For easy reference:

#TabsToolbar {
  min-height: 31.5px (Windows) / 27px (macOs) / no rule on linux
}

#TabsToolbar > * {
   visibility: collapse;
}

[asamuzaK]

If your on Windows,

#TabsToolbar {
  visibility: collapse;
}

and open Customize menu, check Titlebar will do.

[asamuzaK]

If your on Windows,

#TabsToolbar {
  visibility: collapse;
}

and open Customize menu, check Titlebar will do.

[joshuacant]

I'm so happy to see how well this is coming along. One thing I'm missing is being able to change tabs by scrolling over the tree. In current FF, I think this functionality is provided for me by Tab Mix Plus. Going forward, I think it would have to be implemented in this addon, though. Is that right?

[joshuacant]

I'm so happy to see how well this is coming along. One thing I'm missing is being able to change tabs by scrolling over the tree. In current FF, I think this functionality is provided for me by Tab Mix Plus. Going forward, I think it would have to be implemented in this addon, though. Is that right?

[ibrahima]

Probably... unfortunately, I don't know if TMP is working on a WebExtensions port, seemed inconclusive when I checked a few days ago. Must suck to build such a huge extension and then have to watch it die, as I'm guessing most of those features don't have API equivalents in WebExtensions. Luckily for me I didn't use most of TMP's functionality so I'm fine with TST alone, but this is a sad time for Firefox power users.

[ibrahima]

Probably... unfortunately, I don't know if TMP is working on a WebExtensions port, seemed inconclusive when I checked a few days ago. Must suck to build such a huge extension and then have to watch it die, as I'm guessing most of those features don't have API equivalents in WebExtensions. Luckily for me I didn't use most of TMP's functionality so I'm fine with TST alone, but this is a sad time for Firefox power users.

[janisozaur]

With Fx 57 now in beta, I was trying to install the listed addon from nightly, but it appears to be unsigned. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-on-signing-in-firefox only lists "Developer", "Nightly" and "45 ESR" as the ones who can opt-out of addon signing (not counting unbranded versions). Is there a signed version or another way how can I use it?

[janisozaur]

With Fx 57 now in beta, I was trying to install the listed addon from nightly, but it appears to be unsigned. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-on-signing-in-firefox only lists "Developer", "Nightly" and "45 ESR" as the ones who can opt-out of addon signing (not counting unbranded versions). Is there a signed version or another way how can I use it?

[diox]

@janisozaur the latest version (2.0) on AMO should be signed: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/

[diox]

@janisozaur the latest version (2.0) on AMO should be signed: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/

[janisozaur]

Great, that works, thanks!

[janisozaur]

Great, that works, thanks!

[mimoo]

It works this is awesome!

[mimoo]

It works this is awesome!

[RobT2012]

Yeah it works, but FF will refuse to spawn multiple process because TST needs to be re-implemented as a web extension. That's a biggie, since one of the main points of the new FF is to spawn multiple processes just like Chrome does. I think you still get muti-core support, but note that FF defaults to only 4 cores, so if you have AMD Ryzen or TR you need to about:config it to use all the cores/threads.

[RobT2012]

Yeah it works, but FF will refuse to spawn multiple process because TST needs to be re-implemented as a web extension. That's a biggie, since one of the main points of the new FF is to spawn multiple processes just like Chrome does. I think you still get muti-core support, but note that FF defaults to only 4 cores, so if you have AMD Ryzen or TR you need to about:config it to use all the cores/threads.

[RobT2012]

Well when I remove all the add-on's, I still don't see multiple FF processes, so whatever is going wrong has nothing to do with TST.

[RobT2012]

Well when I remove all the add-on's, I still don't see multiple FF processes, so whatever is going wrong has nothing to do with TST.

[ralesk]

@RobT2012 TST 2.0 which is compatible with FF57+ is a WebExtension.

[ralesk]

@RobT2012 TST 2.0 which is compatible with FF57+ is a WebExtension.

[mimoo]

broke again :(

[mimoo]

broke again :(

[RobT2012]

@ralesk

Yes, I figured that out after posting. I removed all add-ons, so whatever is preventing multiple processes from spawning has nothing to do with TST. I'm using nightly build 58 so it could be anything at this point, or perhaps the terminology used to describe a FF "process" is not a normal Linux process as I expected. So far, everything is working, I just don't see more than one FF process running and I don't have any idea even if more than one core is being used.

FF is reporting this:

about:support
Multiprocess Windows 2/2 (Enabled by default)
Web Content Processes 8/8

So who knows. I cannot decipher what those metrics are for as of yet, looking for some documentation describing what those values mean. Anyway, the issues I'm having have nothing do to do with TST so I'll take it up elsewhere. TST is working just fine for me!

[RobT2012]

@ralesk

Yes, I figured that out after posting. I removed all add-ons, so whatever is preventing multiple processes from spawning has nothing to do with TST. I'm using nightly build 58 so it could be anything at this point, or perhaps the terminology used to describe a FF "process" is not a normal Linux process as I expected. So far, everything is working, I just don't see more than one FF process running and I don't have any idea even if more than one core is being used.

FF is reporting this:

about:support
Multiprocess Windows 2/2 (Enabled by default)
Web Content Processes 8/8

So who knows. I cannot decipher what those metrics are for as of yet, looking for some documentation describing what those values mean. Anyway, the issues I'm having have nothing do to do with TST so I'll take it up elsewhere. TST is working just fine for me!

[nnethercote]

@RobT2012: the about:support suggests that multi-process is working for you. But note that FF content processes are not called "firefox", they are (non-obviously) called "plugin-container".

[nnethercote]

@RobT2012: the about:support suggests that multi-process is working for you. But note that FF content processes are not called "firefox", they are (non-obviously) called "plugin-container".

[simu]

@RobT2012 @nnethercote For me the content processes are actually called "Web Content" on Linux with Firefox 57b3.

TST 2.0 works fine for me, good work @piroor.

I'm currently using the following userChrome.css:

#TabsToolbar {
  visibility:collapse;
}
#sidebar-header {
  display:none;
}

so TST on the left looks almost like it used to. Additionally, I've found that setting

.tab {
  padding: 1px;
}

In TST's "Extra style rules for sidebar contents" gives the tabs a look that I prefer over the default amount of whitespace in each tab. Note that due to how the sidebar layout is computed you may have to restart Firefox after adding the rule, one symptom is that collapsed tab trees may look super sketchy with the padding set to 1px before restarting the browser.

[simu]

@RobT2012 @nnethercote For me the content processes are actually called "Web Content" on Linux with Firefox 57b3.

TST 2.0 works fine for me, good work @piroor.

I'm currently using the following userChrome.css:

#TabsToolbar {
  visibility:collapse;
}
#sidebar-header {
  display:none;
}

so TST on the left looks almost like it used to. Additionally, I've found that setting

.tab {
  padding: 1px;
}

In TST's "Extra style rules for sidebar contents" gives the tabs a look that I prefer over the default amount of whitespace in each tab. Note that due to how the sidebar layout is computed you may have to restart Firefox after adding the rule, one symptom is that collapsed tab trees may look super sketchy with the padding set to 1px before restarting the browser.

[RobT2012]

@simu

I was not seeing "web content" processes either. Today I updated to the latest nightly and now I see 4 "web content" processes, so everything finally looks right.

I hanged on to old FF for as long as I could only because of TST but eventually I gave up and switched to Chrome as my default browser. I still kept using FF for certain things because of TST but not very often. I'm now happy enough to make FF my default browser again. I hope Mozilla can recover, they lost a lot of users.

I really like the idea of tab groups and so on, but it's just not enough, and I cannot understand why all the major browser devs refuse to consider implementing native tree tabs, it's a basic need for anyone who does a lot of browsing.

[RobT2012]

@simu

I was not seeing "web content" processes either. Today I updated to the latest nightly and now I see 4 "web content" processes, so everything finally looks right.

I hanged on to old FF for as long as I could only because of TST but eventually I gave up and switched to Chrome as my default browser. I still kept using FF for certain things because of TST but not very often. I'm now happy enough to make FF my default browser again. I hope Mozilla can recover, they lost a lot of users.

I really like the idea of tab groups and so on, but it's just not enough, and I cannot understand why all the major browser devs refuse to consider implementing native tree tabs, it's a basic need for anyone who does a lot of browsing.

[joshuacant]

Hey @piroor is mouse wheel scrolling to change tabs on your roadmap at all? This is such an important feature for me I'd probably attempt to learn programming webextensions if it's not something you'd add in. I know it's a trivial/unnecessary feature for most people, but it's one of those workflow must-haves for me. Thanks again for all your work in rebuilding, I can't overstate how impressed and happy I am.

[joshuacant]

Hey @piroor is mouse wheel scrolling to change tabs on your roadmap at all? This is such an important feature for me I'd probably attempt to learn programming webextensions if it's not something you'd add in. I know it's a trivial/unnecessary feature for most people, but it's one of those workflow must-haves for me. Thanks again for all your work in rebuilding, I can't overstate how impressed and happy I am.

[SXZ1]

@xamphear Mouse wheel scrolling is currently used to scroll the contents of the sidebar when the sidebar can't fit all opened tabs. I guess possible solution is to change tabs when mouse is hovered over the tabs and scroll the contents of the sidebar when the mouse is hovered over the scroll bar (the one in the sidebar).

[SXZ1]

@xamphear Mouse wheel scrolling is currently used to scroll the contents of the sidebar when the sidebar can't fit all opened tabs. I guess possible solution is to change tabs when mouse is hovered over the tabs and scroll the contents of the sidebar when the mouse is hovered over the scroll bar (the one in the sidebar).

[joshuacant]

@SXZ1 The way it works in legacy Firefox w/ TST and TMP is that once you have enough tabs to need scrolling, a thin scroll bar appears which you can use to scroll up and down.

[joshuacant]

@SXZ1 The way it works in legacy Firefox w/ TST and TMP is that once you have enough tabs to need scrolling, a thin scroll bar appears which you can use to scroll up and down.

[piroor]

@xamphear It is discussed at #1399.

[piroor]

@xamphear It is discussed at #1399.

[maximilianoe]

Everytime I open a new private window the sidebar is hidden. Not sure if this is a Webextension issue, is there a way to show the TreeStyle sidebar in private windows by default so I don't need to press Ctrl + H and then manually choose TreeStyle?

[maximilianoe]

Everytime I open a new private window the sidebar is hidden. Not sure if this is a Webextension issue, is there a way to show the TreeStyle sidebar in private windows by default so I don't need to press Ctrl + H and then manually choose TreeStyle?

[mimoo]

Firefox is really slow currently, I only have Tree Style Tabs enabled, it looks like it doesn't like it.

[mimoo]

Firefox is really slow currently, I only have Tree Style Tabs enabled, it looks like it doesn't like it.

[SkySkimmer]

Well I've migrated.
Most annoying is the crazy scrolling at new tab because of https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1387372
#1384 is also a problem.
In general opening and closing tabs is slower when the window has a lot of tabs.
When closing a tab at the end of a tree, the focus moves to the next tab then jumps back to the previous tab.

I don't really care about this but I was surprised by it: when moving to next tab with Ctrl+Tab, it used to skip over collapsed trees but now it goes inside them. I guess if I didn't userchrome the native tab bar away it would look sensible there.

Good luck with future bugs.

[SkySkimmer]

Well I've migrated.
Most annoying is the crazy scrolling at new tab because of https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1387372
#1384 is also a problem.
In general opening and closing tabs is slower when the window has a lot of tabs.
When closing a tab at the end of a tree, the focus moves to the next tab then jumps back to the previous tab.

I don't really care about this but I was surprised by it: when moving to next tab with Ctrl+Tab, it used to skip over collapsed trees but now it goes inside them. I guess if I didn't userchrome the native tab bar away it would look sensible there.

Good luck with future bugs.

[JakubJagoda]

Hi, the extension works well, but I have one problem - after closing Firefox, opening it again and choosing History -> Restore Previous Session the tree structure seems to be forgotten and tabs are flattened and mixed. Is it only me? Firefox 57.0b9, Win 10, TST in version 2.0.5 from 13.10.2017.

[JakubJagoda]

Hi, the extension works well, but I have one problem - after closing Firefox, opening it again and choosing History -> Restore Previous Session the tree structure seems to be forgotten and tabs are flattened and mixed. Is it only me? Firefox 57.0b9, Win 10, TST in version 2.0.5 from 13.10.2017.

[SXZ1]

@JakubJagoda this bug is discussed here: #1476

[SXZ1]

@JakubJagoda this bug is discussed here: #1476

[JakubJagoda]

@SXZ1 3 hours before my post, that explains why I couldn't find it in the afternoon :) thanks

[JakubJagoda]

@SXZ1 3 hours before my post, that explains why I couldn't find it in the afternoon :) thanks

[dionorgua]

Any change to change font size of 'Tree Style Tab' title (where it's possible to switch bar to 'Bookmarks' / 'History' )?

[dionorgua]

Any change to change font size of 'Tree Style Tab' title (where it's possible to switch bar to 'Bookmarks' / 'History' )?

[Keith94]

@dionorgua Use userChrome.css and this code:

#sidebar-switcher-target {
  font-size: 75%;
}

[Keith94]

@dionorgua Use userChrome.css and this code:

#sidebar-switcher-target {
  font-size: 75%;
}

[SXZ1]

@piroor I've found STR for a couple of performance regressions but STR implies opening 190 blank tabs, that is possible to do in a couple of ways:

1. Hold Ctrl-T for 5 seconds. However, you won't be able to relaunch the browser because TST can't restore 190 blank correctly (order of tabs gets messed up)
2. I will upload saved session (sessionstore.jsonlz4) with 190 tabs to guthub, you'll have to copy it to the new profile and restore session. I'll use github.com tabs instead of blank new tabs so you'll be able to restore this session without problems. The most convenient way, IMO
3. Open 190 github.com tabs yourself. Will take a loooong time.

Which way is more convenient for you? I guess I'll also record the video.

[SXZ1]

@piroor I've found STR for a couple of performance regressions but STR implies opening 190 blank tabs, that is possible to do in a couple of ways:

1. Hold Ctrl-T for 5 seconds. However, you won't be able to relaunch the browser because TST can't restore 190 blank correctly (order of tabs gets messed up)
2. I will upload saved session (sessionstore.jsonlz4) with 190 tabs to guthub, you'll have to copy it to the new profile and restore session. I'll use github.com tabs instead of blank new tabs so you'll be able to restore this session without problems. The most convenient way, IMO
3. Open 190 github.com tabs yourself. Will take a loooong time.

Which way is more convenient for you? I guess I'll also record the video.

[Confucij]

As autohide feature was mentioned here before I thought this would be a good place to pin my code snippet for autohide. It is derivate from one found on GitHub

/*
 * Description: Auto-hide sidebar.
 * Contributor(s): img2tab
 */

#sidebar-box {
	position: fixed;
	top: 44px;
	bottom: 0;
	right: -254px;
	width: 255px;
    transition: 0.2s right;
}

#sidebar {
	min-width: 14em;
	width: 18em;
	max-width: 36em;
	height: 100%;
}
#sidebar-box:hover {
    right: 0 !important;

}
/* #sidebar-header is hidden by default, change "none" to "inherit" to restore it. */

#sidebar-header {
    display: none !important;
}
/* #sidebar-splitter styles the divider between the sidebar and the rest of the browser. */
#TabsToolbar {
    visibility: collapse;
}

[Confucij]

As autohide feature was mentioned here before I thought this would be a good place to pin my code snippet for autohide. It is derivate from one found on GitHub

/*
 * Description: Auto-hide sidebar.
 * Contributor(s): img2tab
 */

#sidebar-box {
	position: fixed;
	top: 44px;
	bottom: 0;
	right: -254px;
	width: 255px;
    transition: 0.2s right;
}

#sidebar {
	min-width: 14em;
	width: 18em;
	max-width: 36em;
	height: 100%;
}
#sidebar-box:hover {
    right: 0 !important;

}
/* #sidebar-header is hidden by default, change "none" to "inherit" to restore it. */

#sidebar-header {
    display: none !important;
}
/* #sidebar-splitter styles the divider between the sidebar and the rest of the browser. */
#TabsToolbar {
    visibility: collapse;
}

[mimoo]

for others like me suffering from heavy lags on macOS. Removing the tab bar on top (via the css trick) seemed to have fixed the issue somehow

[mimoo]

for others like me suffering from heavy lags on macOS. Removing the tab bar on top (via the css trick) seemed to have fixed the issue somehow

[polkovnikov-ph]

Can we at least have a version of TST for Firefox ESR in the official extension store? Firefox 57 is buggy beyond the limits, TST is barely working, and I cannot even install it with an old version of Firefox.

[polkovnikov-ph]

Can we at least have a version of TST for Firefox ESR in the official extension store? Firefox 57 is buggy beyond the limits, TST is barely working, and I cannot even install it with an old version of Firefox.

[piroor]

@polkovnikov-ph it seems still downloadable from: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/versions/ (you'll need to download the file and drag-and-drop to Firefox's window manually.)

[piroor]

@polkovnikov-ph it seems still downloadable from: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/versions/ (you'll need to download the file and drag-and-drop to Firefox's window manually.)

[diox]

Firefox 57 is super fast and reliable for a huge number of people, including with Tree Style Tab, so I would encourage you to persevere (maybe reset your profile?) and file bugs if you find any.

Nevertheless, if you want to keep using older versions of Firefox, you can install any old version of any extension on AMO using the versions list page. For Tree Style Tab see https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/versions/ (0.19.2017090601 should work with Firefox 52.0 to 56.*).

[diox]

Firefox 57 is super fast and reliable for a huge number of people, including with Tree Style Tab, so I would encourage you to persevere (maybe reset your profile?) and file bugs if you find any.

Nevertheless, if you want to keep using older versions of Firefox, you can install any old version of any extension on AMO using the versions list page. For Tree Style Tab see https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/versions/ (0.19.2017090601 should work with Firefox 52.0 to 56.*).

[polkovnikov-ph]

@piroor Thanks! That link is quite hard to find on add-on page, and it's a shame Mozilla doesn't let us download the latest compatible version with "add to firefox" button. As I'm using ESR, I was happy to download older version from https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab/releases/.

@diox Yes, I was very happy with Mozilla's efforts on improving Firefox performance lately, but they've made a release before all the major issues were solved. Having tight deadlines is not a good thing when you're making a major codebase rewrite.

For anyone who wants to persevere and still use Firefox 57: there is a workaround to hide annoying horizontal tabs.

[polkovnikov-ph]

@piroor Thanks! That link is quite hard to find on add-on page, and it's a shame Mozilla doesn't let us download the latest compatible version with "add to firefox" button. As I'm using ESR, I was happy to download older version from https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab/releases/.

@diox Yes, I was very happy with Mozilla's efforts on improving Firefox performance lately, but they've made a release before all the major issues were solved. Having tight deadlines is not a good thing when you're making a major codebase rewrite.

For anyone who wants to persevere and still use Firefox 57: there is a workaround to hide annoying horizontal tabs.

[grahamperrin]

… Mozilla doesn't let us download the latest compatible version with "add to firefox" button …

To anyone with Firefox 58.x on a Tier-1 platform: is that still an issue?

[grahamperrin]

… Mozilla doesn't let us download the latest compatible version with "add to firefox" button …

To anyone with Firefox 58.x on a Tier-1 platform: is that still an issue?