Fast tab switching by scrolling

[pascalwiemers]

I prototyped a native-feeling Alt+X / Option+X tab switcher for Zen.

Interaction:

• Alt+X opens a centered URL-bar-like tab list.
• Two-finger scroll previews tabs live.
• Alt+X again or Enter commits.
• Escape cancels and restores the original tab.

The important part: it feels really natural, like something that should be native.

I tried extension-based versions first, but they cannot quite deliver this UX:

• extension popups have window/browser chrome
• injected overlays do not work on internal pages like about:addons
• live-previewing tabs breaks page-injected overlays
• full-window scroll capture needs browser-chrome access

So this probably needs to live in Zen's native browser UI layer, near the URL bar overlay system.

I have a working personal prototype, but I’m posting mainly to ask: does this interaction fit Zen? If yes, I’d be happy to turn the prototype into a proper draft PR shaped around Zen’s architecture.

I can also share a short demo video.

[pascalwiemers]

This is how it could look:

the benefit of this would be that you can keep the sidebar closed and still get a clear overview of your opened tabs quickly/centered without getting out of the flow while browsing.

I think the ux really fits the zen ethos.

[gitishi]

its disabled by default but [toolkit.tabbox.switchByScrolling] lets you scroll through tabs and you don't even need to press any button, isn't that faster?

You mention specifically "you can keep the sidebar closed" and "Two-finger scroll" so this might be a track pad feature?