Activate Firefox Split Tab View

Firefox is still one of the best browsers out there. It came from a wish to bring an open source product capable of rivalizing Netscape and Internet Explorer. While nowadays the competition is way more though — fortunately for web users which have access to latest web technologies — there is still room for improvement on new ways to interact with the web and usability in general.

One of these improvements is the ability to split tabs vertically into a single browser window (frequently named Split Tabs). This functionality exists already in other good browsers like Chrome(ium), Vivaldi or Opera, but not yet in Firefox.

For me personally, this is a very handy feature. I usually need to webpages side by side to either perform comparisions, copy payment details or just cross check information quicker. My workaround is to drag the tab out of the main window to create a new one, and then tile both windows sideways; I really miss Split View from Firefox.

Access the functionality preview

Good news are Split Tab View functionality is already under the hood and will be released in a future version. Even better news are: you can already activate this functionality and use it with current Firefox version (since 146 or so)! Follow these steps:

1. Open the Firefox configuration registry (type about:config on the address bar)
2. Lookup for browser.tabs.splitView.enabled setting. On right side, it should indicate that it is currently disabled
3. Double click the setting or just click the button at right to enable it
4. Right click on a tab and select Add Split View. A new view should open and let you navigate to a new tab on right, so you can load two tabs side by side
5. You can also Ctrl + Click on a second tab, right click it and select Split view so both of them are added on a single view

I’ve been using it shortly, and so far no big issues. Hope you enjoyed this tip as much as I did 😊 Share it with a Firefox friend in need!

Via OMG Ubuntu