Port to WebExtension

[yodaldevoid]

With the "old" plugin formats for Firefox getting support dropped not terribly long into the future, will this plugin survive? The other big tab groups plugin has had it's developer decide to stop supporting it as the amount of work to port it to WebExtensions is too great for what he gets out of it. Will development support for this also be stopped, or will it be ported to WebExtensions? No matter how this pans out, thank you for all the work on this plugin.

[denschub]

will this plugin survive

yes.

[yodaldevoid]

Sorry for the melodrama, it may have been a little too late (early?) when I submitted this.

Beyond that, I would love to help port this or do any other work to make that easier. I'm not a plugin developer by any means, so if there are sub-tasks to porting the plugin please feel free to list them as I would not know what they are otherwise.

[teranex]

I'm currently using Tab Groups, but this will not receive updates anymore, so I'd like to give this extension a try. If I install this extension, will it use all the tabs and tabgroups I currently have in Tab Groups? And will I be able to switch back from this extension to tab groups, should I feel the need?

[yodaldevoid]

The tab groups transfer between the two addons without needing to do anything. For questions like this in the future please create a new issue.

[ScottRFrost]

I noticed that there is no Project or Milestone set for this issue. Any idea if porting to web extension will happen before Firefox 57 hits beta on 2017-09-26, when this addon will cease to function??

[machineloop]

Thanks @denschub for your work on this add-on over the years, I've really enjoyed using it. Nightly (57.0a1 2017-08-11) just disabled legacy add-ons 6 weeks ahead of release of 57. I re-enabled legacy add-ons, but looks like the button doesn't show up anymore to access tabgroups. Anything I can do to help? I've done a bit of work with Firefox add-ons in the past, but nothing with the new WebExtension APIs, but would be happy to pitch in.

[denschub]

Read this bug and the comments on that. I will start working on this as soon as the API landed, just as I promised. Right now, there is nothing I can do and there is nothing I will do, since I'd rather have something clean than a a hack that I need to update every 2 days to have it working.

A lot of stuff will change in Nightly over the next few weeks, and I will be busy with work, so I'm not going to maintain a hack. I will, however, port the extension as soon as I have the APIs I need.

[scheinercc]

@machineloop have you found a way to access those tabs?

[denschub]

To restore hidden tabs:

1. Open the DevTools (F12), open the DevTools settings (the gear icon in the top right corner of the Devtools), enable Enable browser chrome and add-on debugging toolboxes.
2. Open the Browser console (Tools -> Web Developer -> Browser console).
3. Paste gBrowser.showOnlyTheseTabs(Array.from(gBrowser.tabs)) into the input area and hit enter.

[denschub]

please discuss in the appropriate areas.

Please don't duplicate information. If people are interested in the Firefox development side, they can follow 1384515. All new issues are linked in there. If people decide not to follow the issue on bugzilla, than that's because they are not interested in the development history and only want to know when my extension is ported.

[rubcap]

Thanks @denschub for your continued work on this add-on! I understand this won't make it to Firefox 57 due to a missing WE-API, but I really look forward to a WE compatible version! 👍

[nkkollaw]

I'm having somewhat of a hard time figuring out the status of this. Is this extension getting ported to WE?

I suck and wouldn't know where to start with helping, but I do enjoy, love, and need this extension and would hate to see it die.

[denschub]

Is this extension getting ported to WE?

Oh please... ;)

As mentioned before: I will update this issue as soon there is something to update.

[thePanz]

I found TabPanorama hanging when loading lot of tabs (imported from TabGroups)
Panorama does not support lazy loading of tabs
It is quite hard to manage groups with panorama, the list-view of this Simple-TabGroups is way better IMHO

[archerindigo]

Tried Simple-TabGroups and Panorama View for some time.

Simple-TabGroups use the old list-view which is more comfortable but it reload all the tabs when switching group. That's not what I desired.

Panorama View is better to view all the tabs opened but it doesn't support tab-hiding and not so smart in ordering and grouping the tabs. It seems to be RAM hungry either as I noted the RAM usage raise quickly during the days using it.

Both are not the perfect replacement IMHO.

[aullik]

Panorama View has switched over to tab hiding a while ago. It allows orienting the tab-groups freely.

However it is RAM hungry and it has no export/import functionality yet.

Panorama View is more of a replacement to the old Quicksaver/Tab-Groups that died with FF57

Thanks @udovdh for correcting me. The import export function can be found under
about:addons => Panorama View => Options

[udovdh]

Panorama view has export/import but with issues.
RAM usage I did not quantify.

[Vampire]

Didn't this plugin also have the Ctrl+E view and not only a list view?
I think I used this until the end (WebExtensions only).

[udovdh]

There is a panorama-type overview in Panorama view

[Vampire]

As is in TnP as far as I understood and as was in this add-on as far as I remember.

[archerindigo]

Panorama View has switched over to tab hiding a while ago. It allows orienting the tab-groups freely.

However it is RAM hungry and it has no export/import functionality yet.

Panorama View is more of a replacement to the old Quicksaver/Tab-Groups that died with FF57

Thanks @udovdh for correcting me. The import export function can be found under
about:addons => Panorama View => Options

Alright I just forgot to enable tab hiding

[thePanz]

@archer1609 SimpleTagGroup implemented the lazy-loading of tabs. Tabs are displayed but not "running" until you activate them.

[archerindigo]

@thePanz

I personally don't really like it. Usually I would like to keep the tabs loaded even if I switch to another group. And this kind of lazy-loading takes quite a long time to fully switch to another group.
Thus, Panorama View might suits me better.

[itzallan]

I've been using Tree Tabs for several months and have been happy with it so far. I like how it allows me to create groups and drag tabs into groups. It also lets me create folders within groups so that I can further organize my tabs. I also use Tab Suspender to automatically unload tabs after a certain amount of time of inactivity to help economize on memory.

[mibocs]

Is there a plugin that can import tabs from tabgroups automatically?

[me21]

Simple Tab Groups. It has implemented tab hiding now, so it doesn't have to reload them on switching the group. But this is configurable.
Just make a backup in this extension and import it in STG.

[mibocs]

Cool, thanks!

[mibocs]

@me21 What do i have to do to hide/unload my tabs? So i dont't want my tabs to be loaded everytime, just only when i click on it. There is a option called "Discard tabs after hide (this will save the RAM)". Do i have to just enable this option? Or do i have to install another extension like this: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-discard ?

[ThomasHeinrichSchmidt]

I'm also using "Simple Tab Groups" now, works smoothly just as you would expect it. I've not checked the option "Discard tabs after hide (this will save the RAM)", and my tabs are only loaded when I click on them (after changing to a different Tab Group).

[me21]

@mibocs Tabs should always be loaded only when you click on them. Or just shown if they're not discarded.

[mibocs]

@me21 yes, this is not necessary now, but what does this option do? How can you hide tabs? There should be also such a option for auto unload when you don't use tabs for a while these should be unloaded to save memory. This plugin https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-tab-discard does exactly what i say.

[me21]

@mibocs I think when you switch to the new tab group, tabs from the old group are hidden. Or unloaded, if the option to discard tabs is enabled.

I think you can use the plug-in you're referring to with Simple Tab Groups just fine. STG itself hides/unloads tabs only when you switch groups.

I am not the developer of Simple Tab Groups, though, and I would advise you to ask questions and post suggestions to Simple Tab Groups GitHub repository.

[mibocs]

@me21 Drive4ik/simple-tab-groups#201 it seems when discard option is enabled it unloads all tabs from inactive groups.

[mibocs]

I asked "Discard tabs after hide (this will save the RAM)" option here Drive4ik/simple-tab-groups#251, i hope we will get answer soon.

[me21]

@mibocs Yup, I think you're right. It unloads the tabs from inactive groups.

[mibocs]

The answer from @Drive4ik: "Hi! Yes, you and @me21 right. If this option is enabled and you change group from one to other - tabs for closed group will make as "discarded" and unload its from computer RAM"

But "Auto Tab Discard" is better because it discards only the inactive tabs and if someone changes between groups frequently they don't want all tabs to be discarded/unloaded but only the unused tabs. So in this case "Discard tabs after hide (this will save the RAM)" option can be disabled.

[Drive4ik]

@mibocs currently this option is disabled by default :)

[SuperTux88]

See #60 (comment) for how to restore/show hidden tabs.

[denschub]

@SuperTux88 already answered your question, and thus, it is resolved. Read the linked reply and it will tell you how to get your tabs back. What you think about the move to WebExtensions API is your thing, but this issue is not the place for you to post your opinion. I am being more than liberal by allowing everyone here to discuss alternative extensions and alternative tab management approaches, but I will not let you or everyone else use this as a platform to shout out your opinion in that manner.

[HeRo002]

OK... So SuperTux88 referred me to this post:

" To restore hidden tabs:
Open the DevTools (F12), open the DevTools settings (the gear icon in the top right corner of the Devtools), enable Enable browser chrome and add-on debugging toolboxes.
Open the Browser console (Tools -> Web Developer -> Browser console).
Paste gBrowser.showOnlyTheseTabs(Array.from(gBrowser.tabs)) into the input area and hit enter. "

Correction:
I tried that. It DID make the list of tabs much longer - yes! But I did not get all my tab groups back. So the issue is NOT resolved!