Microsoft Edge has been putting up some amazing numbers lately, where its competitors are now looking to it for inspiration. Now, a community project manager at Mozilla has confirmed that the company is experimenting with implementing Edge’s wonderful vertical tab functionality into its own browser.
Mozilla Firefox Moves to Microsoft Edge’s Vertical Tabs
As spotted by Softpedia, Mozilla users have been begging for Microsoft Edge’s vertical tabs feature to make its debut on Firefox. And now, Community Product Manager John Siddowe has said that, while nothing is set yet, the company is definitely considering it.
Hello everyone, here’s some exciting news… This idea has emerged as a top idea in the community and has been reviewed by Mozilla’s product team. And we’ll continue to explore this possibility as we take a closer look at tab management. This means we’re going to invest in research before making a final decision, but we invite you to keep the conversation going and stay tuned for announcements.
If you’re unsure of what’s going on, vertical tabs are designed for “tabaholics:” people who keep a lot of tabs open in their browser.
Your browser can handle as many tabs as your hardware will allow, but the more tabs you add, the more they shrink to make room. Eventually, they’ll just show their “favicons:” little icons that tell you what website you’re on. This removes important identifying information for each tab, such as titles and page names.
Vertical Tabs fixes this by showing tabs going down the screen instead of at the top. That way, tabs don’t need to be squished to make room for more, which means you can quickly find the tab you’re looking for.
Of course, given that monitors are wider than they are tall, this means you’ll need to scroll more to find the tab you want. On the other hand, it doesn’t matter whether you have one tab or 100 tabs open; They will all show their full page title.
Microsoft Edge is making a splash
There are many reasons to celebrate with Microsoft’s Edge browser. The browser has gone from strength to strength over the years, ever since a Phoenix-like resurgence using the Chromium base.
It’s now to the point where Microsoft Edge is threatening Safari’s spot at number two, behind only Internet behemoth, Google Chrome. And so, companies that once scoffed at Microsoft’s browser offerings are now taking note as Edge’s users grow.
Thus, it will be interesting to see if other browsers will also start “borrowing” from Edge. And if they do, we’ll have to see if it’s enough to encourage users to abandon Edge and use third-party solutions instead.
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em
Mozilla is now eyeing Microsoft Edge’s vertical tabs, a clear sign that Microsoft’s product is prompting others to re-evaluate its position in the market. We’ll have to wait and see if Edge can keep up with its momentum or if it will end up leaking users to its competitors as they borrow ideas from browsers.
