"Sort Tabs By ..." Firefox extension

31. August 2007

7-19-08 A newer Firefox 3 compatible version of this extension has been released. Take a look at my new version, as well as the Tab Kit extension, and see if you can find what you need. ;)

2-16-08 Before I began developing this extension (my first) I did an extensive search to be sure one didn't already exist with similar functionality. Not until I was ready to upload it to Mozilla did I learn of the add-on sandbox. After registering I searched the sandbox for a similar extension, and one did indeed exist: Tab Kit. I tried it but it didn't seem to work so I felt better and made this original post. Not long after, however, I tried it again without Tab Mix Plus and it worked beautifully. I have this to say: Tab Kit is fantastic. It is amazing, and it has every feature I had planned for my own extension and beyond. I would be lost without it; I love it. Do yourself a favor, and download Tab Kit instead. If you'd like something simpler but less featured, use mine described below.

screenshot: "Sort Tabs By ..." and ChromaTabs

See this nifty screencast for a demonstration.

Features

  • Sorts your tabs by domain/host name, or last browsed date. (More to come.)
  • Optionally space out groups of tabs. (You can color the spacers too, but it's not very pretty. ;)
  • Intelligently handles tab restoration, only sorting when all tabs have been restored.
  • Intelligently handles the opening of multiple tabs at once, only sorting when the URL of all opened tabs is known.
  • Sorts tabs immediately upon navigating to a different URL, prior to full page load.
  • You can freely drag and drop tabs to other groups.

Requirements

  • Firefox 2.0 (I may lower this to 1.5, I haven't decided yet.)

Known Limitations

  • Currently the entire host before the first / is matched when comparing host names, so sites with different subdomains (like addons.mozilla.org and developer.mozilla.org) will not be grouped together. This can be undesirable with certain URLs (such as img161.imageshack.us and img299.imageshack.us). The ability to customize this behavior will be in the next version.

Combine this extension with Justin Dolske's ChromaTabs for the elegant tab coloring seen in the screenshot and screencast.

Also, combine this extension with the 'Close Similar Tabs' feature of Tab Mix Plus (and some others) to close all of the tabs from one site at once via the tab context menu.

Install "Sort Tabs By ..." v1.0

Projects

Comments (11)

Comments

2008 June 10. 3:21 PM #

Chris,  

Awesome extension!  I prefer it to Tab Kit, in fact (especially since Tab Kit is not particularly Mac-friendly).  I would like to use it on my Linux desktop with Firefox 3, however; do you have plans to update Sort Tabs By... for Firefox 3?  Thank you.

Steve Huff

2008 June 16. 10:30 PM #

Thanks Steve!

That's some motivating support. ;) I threw it on Google Code for a smooth transition to Firefox 3 with code change tracking, etc. Unfortunately I was exploiting a bit of a FF2 bug to achieve the 'looks like the separators are in the same hierarchy as the tabs' effect, which has been fixed in FF3! So updating it is requiring some creative thought and re-engineering.

Good news! While typing this I was struck with an elegant solution, and it worked perfectly! You can expect an updated version very soon (tonight hopefully). The most recent progress will be visible here: code.google.com/p/sort-tabs-by-firefox/source/list

Christopher Galpin

2008 June 24. 2:12 PM #

Hi

When can it support firefox 3? Pls do so asap, cos this addon is so gd! :)

jerry

2008 June 24. 2:32 PM #

Hi jerry! Thank you!

I actually already have it successfully supporting Firefox 3, but I am adding in a few features too that I believe will be appreciated (breaking it down to "sort by" and optional "group by"). It shouldn't be too much longer. (A week max?) Development was going smoothly and then I hit my birthday on the 24th. ;)

You can actually download the latest in-development build here: code.google.com/.../trunk (sort_tabs_by.xpi) but keep in mind this is a development version which is continually updated and can contain all sorts of undesirable intermediate code that doesn't necessarily reflect what will be in the final version. ;) (It also may not always work!) Just stay tuned for the official release as this won't automatically updated itself or anything. (Actually I should probably re-brand it to indicate it's a development release too. At the moment it merely says 1.1.)

Soon! Soon! :)

Christopher Galpin

2008 June 25. 10:18 PM #

I can't wait for this to be available for FF3!! :-)

Maya

2008 July 16. 10:03 PM #

is it completed? :D

jerry

2008 July 17. 2:07 AM #

Uh oh I'm being checked on. ;)

I ran into a couple bugs to squash, and then I wanted to implement a few things I figured users would expect from this type of an extension. But do not fear! Featuritis will be kept at bay!

I'm also really hoping to get much more into the habit of constant small releases, instead of slower larger ones. As it stands now I'm not even committing code to my repository as often as I should be (code.google.com/.../list).

I worked hard yesterday on it, and I'm going to work hard today too. I'd say very little work is left.
Here's a screenshot of the UI at the moment: codeoptimism.net/.../2008-07-18_1348.png

Getting this released is definitely a priority of mine, so I wouldn't expect too much longer of a wait.

Cheers

Christopher Galpin

2008 July 17. 10:27 PM #

Yep, you are being checked on every day with my "Scan webpages for updates" extension. ;-) I'm very excited for the FF3 release of Sort Tabs By.

I have Tab Mix Plus, so other sorting extensions such as Tab Kit and Tab Groups are incompatible.  Although I'm sure that the features you are adding will be great, at this point I'm just desperate for the functionality of at least just SORTING TABS somehow.  Can you please, please release a FF3 version ASAP, even if it means the newer features are not implemented yet? You can always do a another release when the new features are complete.

I appreciate your hard work and look forward to being able to use this extension with FF3. :-)

Maya

2008 July 18. 6:32 AM #

Haha. Your uppercase text reminds me of my own frustration over this missing feature. As per your request, and my previous post, 1.1 has been released. ;) addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5627/ (Also: sort-tabs-by-firefox.googlecode.com/.../...by.xpi) Now go find and report bugs, and leave me a glowing review so I can get the damn thing out of the sandbox. :p

Bug reports: code.google.com/p/sort-tabs-by-firefox/issues/list

Christopher Galpin

2009 June 18. 6:09 AM #

There was an extention that would take away the names of the tabs, thus allowing many more tabs on one line. It also sorted them by name. Names would show when the mouse would hit the tab. Unfortunately I forgot to copy them and in my new laptop I can't find it. Does anyone remember? PLEASE .... ????

Miep visser

2009 June 22. 2:34 PM #

Wow.. cool! Thanks for sharing..

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