Browser-laptop: Integration of tabs with title dragbar and other *important* UI considerations

[RobertoMalatesta]

Hi guys, a few things hoping to help:

Application Titlebar not integrable with UI
At least on KDE Linux, the title-bar of the program shows up unnecessarily stealing space from page.
Chromium build integrate tabs into it resulting more consistent and freeing pixel for the content.

Tab->Address Hierarchy is the universal standard

Since the address bar value is dependent on the selected tab, the address should be INSIDE the tab itself (it is a tab-related value).
That's the way most web browsers organize tabs and address info and that's the kind of hierarchy today's user are accustomed to. Even Firefox got it right (!)

Breaking it goes against a well-established flow of attention concerning muscular memory (both fingers and eyes involved).

You had it right for free in chromium CVS and I don't know why you decided to spend time into reverse-implementing it.

The result seems really sub-optimal and hackish to me (I know it's a beta)
reminding of a * CDF/Motif X11 Mosaic interface from 1994*.
Well, maybe I'exagerating a tad bit... but when something starts fixed I never see a reason to break it.

With a lesser effort than full reorganization of the tab UI you could have simply customized the L&F of tabs and the position of the main menu (topmost corner left) just like Vivaldi does, resulting in a fresh take of the somehow outdated beveled skewy tabs chrome has.

Besides, you should think to enterprise users (Wally from Dilbert being one of the most skilled ones), those who have have been held on captivity for eons into IE and now were relocated to Chrome, Firefox and started feeling comfortable with the tab -> address paradigm.
The less you change the more chance companies will adopt Brave.

Apart this and a few other tidbits your work is SUPER.

Thank you for your time and for a great product.

-- RM

PS: I feel really guilty for not following the guidelines for contributing.
Next time for sure.

[luixxiul]

If you have an idea please send a PR to contribute, thanks.

[ghost]

Tabs on top. I really dislike that. Only as optionally function please. Chromium way is not the only way to do it.

[RobertoMalatesta]

@luixxiul what do you need in a PR ?

[luixxiul]

Anything.. at first you would need to check out the source code, create an concept of UI, and propose it to the dev team before sending a PR, so that the team could discuss it and give a feedback to it

[RobertoMalatesta]

Time's tight on my side but I'll definitely check it.
Don't hold your breath. --R

[bsclifton]

@RobertoMalatesta Partial progress will be made towards this goal once https://github.com/brave/browser-laptop/pull/3854 is accepted

(basically fixes the Windows custom titlebar, getting rid of the wasted space)

There is a Linux equivalent for this- be sure to leave a comment or +1 the original post so we can prioritize it accordingly :smile:
https://github.com/brave/browser-laptop/issues/3126

[RobertoMalatesta]

Great @bsclifton. I will follow the thing down and feedback. :beers:
--R

[bsclifton]

5 +1's so far this morning from Twitter:
https://twitter.com/mmdts/status/777903090112589824
https://twitter.com/jwmcpeak/status/777909376162013185
https://twitter.com/egavrin/status/777895261351841792
https://twitter.com/Seboss/status/777909914140368896
https://twitter.com/waddlesplash/status/777894374684459008

[RobertoMalatesta]

I'm more on having the tabs topmost
(just like https://twitter.com/mmdts/status/777903090112589824 says)
but your fix goes in the right way anyway.

--R

[davewallace]

Perhaps to maximise viewport real estate while allowing for cross-browser UX familiarity (if that is even the goal), consider adopting a mobile-first approach for the desktop app that is evident in some other mobile OS browsers, by transitioning the entire URL bar into a condensed or hidden format when the page has been scrolled by some configurable value (configuration might also disable this behaviour).

[luixxiul]

Closing as duplicate of https://github.com/brave/browser-laptop/issues/973