Tab Sidebar Reloaded

One of my favorite Firefox addons is Tab Sidebar.   I rely on it so much but it was never updated to work with Firefox 4 or later by the original author.  Because of that I hadn’t upgraded from Firefox 3.x in over two years even though Firefox is on version 9.0.1 right now!

I finally decided enough was enough and took matters into my own hands to get it updated to the latest version of Firefox.

And so I present Tab Sidebar Reloaded.  This extension provides a sidebar in the browser that can act as a replacement to the main tab bar with extras.

Based on the defunct Tab Sidebar by Mossop, Tab Sidebar Reloaded now works in Firefox 4+.

The Features:

  • Preview of each tab that continuously updates
  • Provides navigation options for each tab including history, stop and reload.
  • Allows you to move tabs around with drag and drop.  Can only arrange downward in the list for now.
  • Displays the security status of tabs.
  • Automatically refreshes the tab preview whenever the page changes.
  • Lets you hide the main tab bar when the sidebar is open.
  • Bidirectional support making the sidebar work correctly in right-to-left languages.
  • Works well with other tab-related extensions allowing you to use their context menu additions and actions from the sidebar.
  • Previews can be frozen if you aren’t interested in seeing the latest view of a page.
  • Previews can be displayed on the left, right, top or bottom of the page.

Future Features being considered:

  1. Hide/reveal on mouseover
  2. Integrated searchbox for each tab preview
  3. More exact size and zoom adjustments

Code updated and developed by Woosley.

You can download the addon here.

{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }

Kl February 13, 2012 at 10:25 am

Why has the add-on be deleted from the Mozilla Homepage?

Klicking on the link above I see “We’re sorry, but we can’t find what you’re looking for.”

El Plumber (admin) February 28, 2012 at 9:19 pm

I submitted it to the Mozilla applications directory for a Full Review two times since I never saw any feedback on it (it ended up in my Spam folder), and apparently the volunteer moderators have power trip issues and it was removed since I submitted it for Full Review without correcting what I feel are non-issues. It didn’t pass full review by the moderator for the following reasons:

1. Your add-on contains duplicate or hidden files or folders. These files difficult the review process and may contain sensitive information about the system you created the XPI on.
2. After installing extension in the Firefox with e.g. 5 tab opened I see only 1 tab without tab sidebar and tab bar.
3. After click » button are displayed list of hidden tabs. When I click tab on this list – do nothing.

The new plugin works perfectly for me and I’m happy. The fact that the power crazed volunteer moderator didn’t bother to read the install instructions and enable the plugin in the View menu (#2 and #3) and that I don’t have time to sort through and remove the empty duplicate folders from the plugin and figure out how to submit it again means everyone loses here. Well, everyone but me that is!

If you want it, add a comment here and I can send you the plugin file.

Eric April 5, 2012 at 6:32 am

My favorite Firefox addons was Tab Sidebar, if your “Tab Sidebar Reloaded” new plugin works for FF11, i want it, can you send me the plugin file ?

merci !

MasterMan April 14, 2012 at 6:44 pm

Hey there! This is seriously frustrating, I have been trying to get hold of this extension for a while and no luck so far. How can we get the xpi? Could you please send it? Thanks!

em28 May 26, 2012 at 5:11 am

Hi.
Tab Sidebar was my favorite addons.
Tab Sidebar Reloaded was the best news since Tab Sidebar abended.
I used it with FF12, but as my computer formatted I can no longer download it.

Can you pls send me the XPI file by E-mail ?

Em28

scorpie June 9, 2012 at 3:19 am

I used the old one for along time, but since upgrading firefox it is not working anymore.

It would be nice if you could sent me the xpi by e-mail

Thanks
scorpie

El Plumber (admin) June 12, 2012 at 12:04 pm

Ok, after a ton of requests I finally just posted the updated add-on here. Use the link above to download.

Works great for me in Firefox 12. Certainly not without some minor bugs, sometimes when Firefox reopens and goes to reopen all my tabs from last time I have to disable and then reenable the Tab Sidebar.

Don’t bother asking for support or bug fixes. Your mileage may vary, certain restrictions apply.

Raptor007 May 1, 2013 at 5:57 am

Thank you so much for making this! I’d been using Showcase instead, but it’s just not as good as Tab Sidebar.

By the way, the “hidden file” they refer to is the _MACOSX directory created by the Mac OS X built-in archive utility. If you use a different program to make your zip file, it shouldn’t appear.

El Plumber (admin) May 1, 2013 at 11:17 am

Note that if anyone feels like cleaning this up and resubmitting it to the official Firefox plugin directory, feel free. Just give credit where credit is due…

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