Mastodawn

Pascal Pixel Nov 23, 2024

🐎, but a browser

Horse Browser is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in this space. The browser is based on a new approach that completely does away with traditional tabs and replaces them with navigation trees called ‘Trails.’

It's new and appealing. But how does it hold up in everyday use? Here’s my review on @macstories: https://www.macstories.net/reviews/horse-browser-tries-its-hooves-at-a-new-take-on-tabs/

Horse Browser Tries Its Hooves at a New Take on Tabs

In 2024, web browsers mostly all look the same. Their user interfaces always feature an address bar at the top of the window and horizontal tabs that allow you to navigate through multiple websites. So whenever a new browser tries to shake things up and innovate on this basic premise, it’s inevitable that it will...

Niléane Nov 12, 2024

Before any more of you are tempted to reply, “So it’s just like Tree Style Tabs for Firefox?”

1. No, not really: https://nileane.fr/@nileane/113465645376308142

2. You’d know that if you actually read the article. It’s not even that long, guys.

3. I swear to god some of you white men should get a life instead of spending your time online replying to women in a condescending tone with winking emojis.

Niléane (@[email protected])

@[email protected] While similar, that extension isn't really based on the same approach. Horse is unique in that, by default, it will always create new branches when clicking on links. Its sidebar feels more like a malleable browsing history than tabs.

Niléane & friends

Matt Fantinel Nov 12, 2024

@nileane every time a browser is mentioned anywhere in this Federated Virtual Universe, you’ll always get a dozen guys talking about Firefox and how smart they are for using it. It’s unbearable

Niléane Nov 12, 2024

@fantinel lol true

Pascal Pixel Nov 23, 2024

@nileane we get the comments all the time (but not the winking emojis, that’s new!), something your wonderful article hopefully help reduce ( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙ )

Peter Hilgenfeld Nov 11, 2024

@nileane @macstories it's not an entirely new approach. Very similar to this Firefox plugin which, or predecessors of which, have been around for quite a while.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/

Tree Style Tab – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download Tree Style Tab for Firefox. Show tabs like a tree.

Peter Hilgenfeld Nov 11, 2024

@nileane @macstories it does look really nice though. Having the url/search field be contained in the tab view is an interesting approach.

Niléane Nov 11, 2024

@pethil While similar, that extension isn't really based on the same approach. Horse is unique in that, by default, it will always create new branches when clicking on links. Its sidebar feels more like a malleable browsing history than tabs.

Matthew 🖖Nov 11, 2024

@nileane @pethil Unfortunately the uniqueness ends when it's just another Chromium based browser. :/

harvey Nov 11, 2024

@mcbaumwolle @nileane @pethil May be even worse, I'm pretty sure It's electron.

It's a me, Mauro Nov 11, 2024

@nileane @pethil you can customise Sidebery on Firefox to behave exactly like this, and much more. I’m not sure why Sidebery doesn’t come up as often as tree style tabs while to me it is literally the killer addon on Firefox that I can’t live without: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/sidebery/

Sidebery – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download Sidebery for Firefox. Vertical tabs tree and bookmarks in sidebar with advanced containers configuration, grouping and many other features.

Jeroen Nijs Nov 11, 2024

@nileane this reminds me of what IBM did with the Webmap in WebExplorer on OS/2 (in 1995, I’m old). It also suffered from problems in use similar to the ones you mentioned https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_WebExplorer

IBM WebExplorer - Wikipedia

Sindarina, Edge Case Detective Nov 11, 2024

@nileane So, after horse ebooks, we now have horse browsers? 😜

jack Nov 11, 2024

@sindarina @nileane everything happens so much

aburka 🫣Nov 11, 2024

@nileane @macstories is this just bundled Tree Style Tabs? I can't live without that extension

Niléane Nov 11, 2024

@aburka kind of, but not really: https://nileane.fr/@nileane/113465645376308142

Niléane (@[email protected])

@[email protected] While similar, that extension isn't really based on the same approach. Horse is unique in that, by default, it will always create new branches when clicking on links. Its sidebar feels more like a malleable browsing history than tabs.

Niléane & friends

@nileane @macstories Orion does the same with the tree-like history, but still has tabs and all those nice features you’re missing with Horse.

Niléane Nov 11, 2024

@maique Oh interesting. I haven’t used Orion in a while.

Interesting Monkey Nov 11, 2024

@nileane @macstories I wrote an academic paper on a similar idea like 15 years ago. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4577938 At the time we had a Mac app built on WebKit (actually Shiira which was built using WebKit) that was a prototype but worked pretty well.

Pascal Pixel Nov 23, 2024

@interestingmonkey @nileane @macstories just bought a copy of the paper! you were spot on with the problems, you should give horse a try — the interface is deceptively minimalist, and you might have some insights i can use

Interesting Monkey Nov 23, 2024

@pascalpixel Happy to hear (next time just ask the author for their paper -- they're free to personally share). I'll check it out.

Pascal Pixel Nov 27, 2024

@interestingmonkey til!

sef Nov 11, 2024

@nileane It looks lean as hell. Favicon only requirement for site spoofing though.

sleepy Nov 11, 2024

@nileane @macstories @cstross I want it, but as an extension to already awesome firefox

Christin White Nov 11, 2024

@sleepy @nileane @macstories @cstross This is exactly the way I use Firefox with the Sidebery extension. It has some quirks that I had to get used to but I’ve got it working great now.

The Zen Browser FF fork also has a very active issue requesting these types of features too and I wrote about why it matters to me there: https://github.com/zen-browser/desktop/discussions/891#discussioncomment-10561170

Sidebery features or better integration · zen-browser desktop · Discussion #891

Currently I am making use of the Sidebery extension in regular Firefox, along with the ArcWTF user chrome customisations, as a way to have vertical tabs and group projects (Panels) and different co...

GitHub

@ChristinWhite I switched off of Arc to Zen ~6 months ago (with some FF in between), and it doesn't completely satisfy what I liked about Arc. I might give Sidebery with FF a try again, I remember using it a few years ago

Christin White Nov 12, 2024

@diontryban There is a Sidebery mod available for Zen but it seems to be broken by the latest version or two. I would guess it will be updated at some point.

I'm really just waiting for Zen to bring out the same features, I’d love an implementation that feels more native than an extension but it’s served me pretty well so far. At least after I configured it the way I wanted and added an Arc-like CSS theme and made my own modifications to it.

Christin White Nov 11, 2024

@sleepy @nileane @macstories @cstross Arc is another option but I have little good to say about that company or their future. It's also Chromium based.

SigmaOS is another option, it doesn't have groups and only has one level of indentation (at least last I used it) but it does have workspaces and it's Webkit-based.

Christin White Nov 11, 2024

@sleepy @nileane @macstories @cstross I don't think Firefox/Sidebery support every new link being a new tab automatically but if you just press CMD while clicking on links it will open the link in a new, indented tab.

jack Nov 11, 2024

@nileane @macstories I'm intreegued

Nick Heer Nov 11, 2024

@nileane @macstories Excellent screenshots.

Niléane Nov 11, 2024

@nickheer @macstories thank you 🐴

Matt Nov 11, 2024

@nileane Really nice to see you covering Horse browser for @macstories

I've also been trailing it out for the past month or so. It's nice - I like it. Not sure I could fully switch over to it until it gets a bit of support for browser extensions — I feel like I need my translation and password manager add-ons there.

Looking forward to see it develop though. Giddy-up! 🐎

#Horse #HorseBrowser #WebBrowsers #Technology

BardMoss the Bodhi Linux Guy Nov 11, 2024

@nileane @macstories
Mac only? And what web engine does it use?

Odin Nov 12, 2024

@zaivala @nileane @macstories Mac, Windows, and Linux. Your second question is covered by the article

ScriptFanix💍

@nileane
That's a very interesting and appealing concept!
@macstories

IP Over Chiropteran Carrier Nov 12, 2024

@nileane @macstories Looks just like the Tree Style Tabs and Sidebery extensions for Firefox. Nested vertically-oriented tabs are fantastic for keeping organised. I've ended out preferring opening links in new tabs since they're so easy to keep organised under this model. No risk of them getting too skinny to be able to tell what they are, you can just scroll and collapse whatever trees you want.

Jørn Nov 12, 2024

@nileane @macstories @mhoye That looks a lot like TreeStyleTabs, a Firefox extension that I use.

Niléane Nov 12, 2024

@jornane https://nileane.fr/@nileane/113465645376308142

Niléane (@[email protected])

@[email protected] While similar, that extension isn't really based on the same approach. Horse is unique in that, by default, it will always create new branches when clicking on links. Its sidebar feels more like a malleable browsing history than tabs.

Niléane & friends

MiSt Nov 12, 2024

@nileane @macstories so.. it's tree style tabs?

Niléane Nov 12, 2024

@mist kind of, but not really: https://nileane.fr/@nileane/113465645376308142

Niléane (@[email protected])

@[email protected] While similar, that extension isn't really based on the same approach. Horse is unique in that, by default, it will always create new branches when clicking on links. Its sidebar feels more like a malleable browsing history than tabs.

Niléane & friends

Odin Nov 12, 2024

@nileane @macstories This is a really interesting concept for a browser! Unfortunately I don’t think I actually have a use for a research tool like this, but it’s always cool to see what browser options are out there

Tilde Lowengrimm Nov 15, 2024

@nileane @macstories Oh wow, this is so cool. I've been looking for another browser to try out since TBC announced that Arc is no longer their focus. Especially with wide displays, I think sidebars are such an obviously better place for tabs. But it seems so under-explored! I'm excited to read your article and try it out to explore their new approach.