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All 100 ideasBrowser

#73 of 100 · Browser

Tabs for people with hundreds

Vertical or tree tabs, groups, saved sessions and suspended background tabs in whichever browser they use, including Safari and Chrome.

13asks, each re-read
13separate threads
11of 19 years
1since 2024
2008first asked

Asks per year

1’081’10’1211’1411’1611’18’2031’221’24’26

What the askers want

  • Would pay8%
  • Want it local or private8%
  • Object to subscriptions8%
  • Want it open source or self-hosted8%
  • Want AI to do it0%

Share of the 13 asks that say so, as judged by Jev.

What exists on Show HN

Built, still asked for3 Show HN launches do this job, and 11 more do part of it. People still ask, so the launches are missed, unknown, or not what they want. Ask what they’re missing before you build.

Instead of: Firefox, Chrome, The Great Suspender

The idea, as matched

A browser or extension for people with many tabs: vertical or tree tabs, an Arc-style sidebar, groups, saved and restorable sessions and suspended background tabs, available across browsers.

Jev first matched 15 requests to this idea; a second reader kept 13 of 15.

Every ask, newest first

Each line is an AI paraphrase of what the writer wanted. The link goes to their own words on Hacker News.

Reader’s note. Each ask names a browser missing one feature.

  1. Aug 2024Wants an Arc-like open-source browser with folders and peek, as an Arc alternative. Read it: a comment in “Zen, a Arc-like open-source browser based on the Firefox engine”
  2. Aug 2022Wishes for a better way than bookmarks to manage large piles of open tabs. Read it: a comment in “I have 218 browser tabs open”
  3. Jul 2021Wants a Firefox add-on that imitates Chrome tab groups. Read it: a comment in “Firefox 90”
  4. Jan 2021Wants a browser extension that opens new background tabs in a suspended state until clicked. Read it: a comment in “I no longer trust The Great Suspender”
  5. Jan 2021Wants Safari extensions like Vimium and a quit guard, and would pay for Tree Style Tabs. Read it: a comment in “Safari 14 added WebExtensions support, so where are the extensions?”
  6. Jan 2018Wants a Firefox session manager that keeps a library of multiple past sessions. Read it: a comment in “Extensions in Firefox 59”
  7. Jul 2017Wants an extension that shows tab history as a tree. Read it: a comment in “The New Firefox and Ridiculous Numbers of Tabs”
  8. Dec 2016Wants tab grouping by domain, with expandable groups under the main site tab and visible page titles. Read it: a comment in “Why are browsers so slow?”
  9. Apr 2015Wants a Firefox equivalent of a Chrome tab-management extension. Read it: a comment in “Tabvention – Manage Your Browser Tab Addiction”
  10. Jul 2014Wants a nice-looking vertical tabs option for Chrome. Read it: a comment in “Side Tabs: Prototyping An Unexpected Productivity Hack”
  11. Feb 2013Wants a simple way to suspend all open tabs and stop their background scripts. Read it: a comment in “Google Chrome may soon get audio indicators to show you noisy tabs”
  12. Mar 2009Wants a service that saves a whole browsing session of tabs for later, not individual bookmarks. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: Is there online service like Delicious that saves series of URLs for later viewing?”
  13. Nov 2008Wants a tool to track the many branching threads of learning and tasks they open while working. Read it: a post: “Ask YC: How do you keep track of the different things you are doing?”

Building this?

Read ten of the asks above first, because they say what the existing launches miss. If you ship it, post it as a Show HN so the next run of this list finds it.

See all 100How the counts work

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