[ad_1]
While people love desktop tab groups, the reception is much cooler in Chrome for Android. Google is happily listening to comments and “experimenting with changes in the behavior of this feature.”
For a few months after the feature launched in February, users could turn off tab groups through a Chrome flag. This option was eventually removed, signaling Google’s commitment to the new method of organization which is touted as helping users better manage their open windows.
However, that hasn’t stopped people from reporting countless bugs that ask for a way to disable tab groups. Google responded to these complaints today by thanking people for their comments and highlighting updates in development:
We wanted to let you know that we heard you, and we are experimenting with changes in the behavior of this feature based on your feedback.
Two key changes are being tested in the current beta version of Chrome (version 94). The first sees the links that are automatically set (by the sites) to open in a new page “no longer automatically create a group when you browse”. As before, it will open as a new ungrouped tab.
Meanwhile, when you hold down a link, the long-press menu now shows an ‘Open in new tab’ option. “Open in new tab in group” is always listed first, and users can create a tab group by dragging and dropping one page onto another in the grid-based tab selector.
The big change made by Google is that “you will only see [a Tab Group] if you create it yourself. This is no longer the default, but rather requires an explicit action to activate it, just like on the desktop.
Both of these changes are rolled out in the latest version of Chrome for Android Beta, although the company has an activation note (see below). If Google decides on this new behavior, it could launch later this month in stable.
Note: If you are downloading the beta for the first time, please follow these instructions to enable this feature:
1. Download the beta version of Chrome.
2. Launch the beta version of Chrome.
3. Keep Chrome Beta open for about 5 minutes.
4. After 5 minutes, quit Chrome Beta, then relaunch Chrome Beta.
Although tab groups initially seem confusing, they are useful when opening a lot of links. The resulting favicon bottom bar helps you quickly navigate to what’s open. That said, the implementation is not as intuitive as the desktop and Chrome OS version given the mobile constraints. Google seems to understand this and is reverting to the previous, less disruptive behavior.
Learn more about Chrome:
Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more information:
[ad_2]
Source link