Forum Discussion
Discussion - Set Aside Tabs and Warn on Close
Elliot Kirk One thing that you need to do when you implement TSA is make the set-asides nonvolatile. In other words, if I close the browser without having set the tabs aside again, they should be available the next time I open the browser. I had that problem with Classic Edge, forgetting to set the tabs aside again on closing, and if I recall correctly, I lost that set-aside.
Thanks,
Dan
Dan_AI4GK What is the permanence of those tabs in your opinion.
As I personally see the Tabs Set Aside feature, it's for temporary data. My responsibility as the user is to set them aside if I want to keep them, or if it's something I frequently use, create Favorites. What you want is more in-line with the Collection feature in testing in Edge. Collections are collections of tabs, but retain permanence.
If I may offer, to Microsoft. I think there is an opportunity to change Favorites in an intuitive and productive way. Tabs Set Aside and Collections are an integrated feature of Favorites.
Tabs Set Aside are collections of in-progress work. Collections are collection's of both in-progress work and Favorites, or Favorites in a collection for a common task. Both being maintained in the cloud, as well as off-line, for access from device to device. One button for setting tabs aside or creating a collection, both accessed via the Favorites button.
Above the "Favorites bar", would be Collections. Collections would be broken into two groups, based on how the user sets the Collection. If the user, when they set aside tabs, selects an option to keep after each use, the collection will be retained. If however they do not, the collection upon opening is removed from the collections until it is re-added as a collection of tabs set aside. In either case, when the user attempts to set aside tabs to create a collection, they are given the option of providing a name for that collection. The option to provide a name is available later by right-clicking the collection in the menu.
This does a few things:
1. It provides a common interface for Tabs set aside as well as collections as well as Favorites. Where you find something, where you do it, it makes perfect sense. The exception to this is minor, but how you add a favorite and how you add a collection.
2. It gives users the choice of either simply setting tabs aside, or making a collection that will be reused. In either case, both allow the user to improve productivity by working in a way they do, without necessarily creating new underpinnings.
3. It can in effect, utilize the internal workings of Chrome without a significant amount of work to create new functionality. Right-click on a Favorite group and you can open that entire group of favorites. Having Collections available as an item you can single click on to open the group takes the step of knowing how to create a favorite group, and knowing what to click and where out of the equation.
4. It changes favorites into a productivity tool rather than a heap of sites that periodically needs pruning. If the user is given the option of, when clicking on the Favorites icon, of displaying the Collections and collapsing the Favorites bar, this may push that paradigm shift further.
"As I personally see the Tabs Set Aside feature, it's for temporary data. My responsibility as the user ...."
As I personally see the Set Aside Tabs (as I recall it being named in classic Edge), is a place where I can conveniently "set aside" tabs to use later on, whether it's later in the session, later in the day, or next year. It's there for me to use as I wish--on a permanent basis, if I so desire. There are a number of ways to do almost everything in Windows. For instance, I typically don't use CTRL-C and/or CTRL-V to cut and paste. I use SHFT-DEL and SHFT-INS. (I picked that up in the 1980's and 90s's with OS/2.) Who's right and who's wrong? Both are right.
As far as users having a responsibility, I didn't realize that I, as a user, had a responsibility. When I'm operating a motor vehicle, I have a responsibility to operate in a wise and prudent manner, in conformity with the law. In society, I have a responsibility to follow the law. As a user of a software package, I don't think I have a responsibility, other than to use the software in a prudent, ethical, and lawful manner.
The fact is that classic Edge had a feature that is missing in Edge Chromium. Microsoft opened a discussion on how to implement this feature, since they received a sufficient number of requests to re-implement it. I might be out of line here, but I just can't wrap my head around the "I don't use this feature, so you shouldn't have it." thought. I have tried Collections and it does not seem to serve my purpose (not to mention that it hasn't even been implemented in Edge or Edge Beta yet; it's still available only in Canary and Dev).
If Microsoft decides to incorporate Set Aside Tabs, I'll be very happy. If they don't, I'll have to find a different way to do what I need to do.
Regards,
Dan
Dan_AI4GK Step back just a bit, take a breath, and re-read what I wrote.
What I wrote incorporates everything you talked about in your previous message. Some of which, the new Edge already supports, it just has to be enabled.
So, what I wrote about was incorporating Set Aside Tabs/Tabs Set Aside feature, Collections (a feature Microsoft has been testing to replace Set Aside Tabs/Tabs Set Aside, and Favorites into one, intuitive feature.
What you asked for, of a set of tabs, was only true under the old Edge if you set them aside. If however, you restored those tabs, then closed the browser, they were not retained. As you mentioned. Technically speaking, what you want is available in the Favorites, however, it isn't intuitive. You can create a Favorite group (a folder), in which you can add favorites for sites or tabs. Great, it's already there, but doing it sucks! If I can click a button, select an option to name it and maintain it as a static collection, and it's now available under the Favorites button, I have all the functionality you asked for, plus it's all in a common location.
For my purposes, I wouldn't set those tabs aside in a permanent collection. While I want the system to retain my tabs until later use, the next time I use them, that particular set of tabs may grow or shrink. So, I would elect to not have a static collection, but would choose to instead have to re-add the collection.
My opinion of Favorites are that they aren't a very intuitive feature. Yes, in the past they served their purpose, and to a lesser extent today they do serve a purpose, but I rely less on Favorites because they aren't geared toward what I want or need to do. I use sets of sites to do work, and I set aside that work to come back to later. I want to organize what I do online around the collection of sites I use to do certain things, and the tabs of work in progress I have set aside, not hunting for favorites, or restarting work I already had made progress on.
So, why not marry all three together into one, intuitive interface? I'm not shooting down what you're proposing, I'm honestly looking at a much bigger picture.TheBuddmeister My apologies for taking so long to respond.
"Step back just a bit, take a breath, and re-read what I wrote."
I've done just that. And you make some good points. I sort of reacted because I frequently see the "I don't use Set Aside Tabs (SAT), so you don't need it, either." I thought that was where you were heading.
I still don't think that MS had the idea of replacing SAT with Collections. That seemed to me to be something different, used for doing research and sharing with other users. I have taken another look at Collections, and as it currently stands, looks like it could be heading for incorporating the benefits of SAT. (It'll be nice when it's incorporated in Edge GA. So far, it's available in Canary, Dev, and Beta. So far, I don't see it in GA, though. There supposedly is a way to activate it by creating a new desktop icon with the command "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe" --enable-features=msEdgeCollections" but so far I haven't gotten that to work in the GA.
"If however, you restored those tabs, then closed the browser, they were not retained."
That is absolutely true, and one of the problems I had with SAT. It was quite aggravating. In fact, my suggestion was to make that set-aside nonvolatile.
"Technically speaking, what you want is available in the Favorites, however, it isn't intuitive. You can create a Favorite group (a folder), in which you can add favorites for sites or tabs."
True, again. I have been using Favorites in place of SAT, and it does work. But, it isn't intuitive, although one can figure it out, if he or she isn't afraid to experiment--which I'm not.
"So, why not marry all three together into one, intuitive interface?"
If they can do it, in the end, I wouldn't be averse to it. Let's see what they come up with. It's a new browser; let's see how the interface and user experience work out. I have to say, I'm a lot more comfortable with Collections than I was previously.
Thank you for your input and thoughts. This is how we resolve differences; by discussing them dispassionately.
Regards,
Dan