Feed

  • Some new features and improvements were also introduced - namely custom click actions on tabs and tab group headers (double click and middle click), a redesigned and easier to navigate settings menu, and expanded customization options for the appearance of tab groups.

  • Tab Shelf 2025.2.2 is now available on the Chrome Web Store (still pending review on Edge Extensions at the time of posting).

    This release focuses on fixing a performance regression and squashing bugs around tab group customization.

    chromewebstore.google.com/deta

  • I haven't posted here in ages! My little browser extension, Tab Shelf, is still alive.

    I've submitted Tab Shelf 2025.2.2 to the Chrome Web Store and Edge Extensions for review. Development took longer than anticipated as the fix for the tab group color mapping issue required a bit of a rewrite under the hood.

    If you've got no idea what I'm talking about: chromewebstore.google.com/deta

  • Just a quick update on Tab Shelf development!

    I basically restarted work on version 2024.4.0 with a less radical redesign than originally planned. Lots of work has gone into performance fixes (random crashes and intense CPU/memory usage issues have been resolved). Most newer features have been pushed back to version 2024.5.0.

    Read my Ko-fi post for more details:
    ko-fi.com/Post/Whats-beein-goi

  • If you haven't given Tab Shelf a try, I'd highly recommend it. If you're a tab hoarder, it gives you an elegant list video in Chrome's side panel to navigate and manage your tabs. If you're particular about how you group your tabs, it's got a nifty feature to automatically group your tabs for you based on your own rules!

    If you've been using Tab Shelf for a while, I'd encourage you to give it a review (with comments, so that it could appear on the Chrome Web Store)!

  • After receiving some user feedback, I'm ensured that this new release places greater emphasis on educating users on how Tab Shelf takes privacy and data transparency seriously.

    It's also got plenty of bug fixes that have ironed out some snags in the user experience and should improve performance greatly too.

    Check out Tab Shelf on the Chrome Web Store:
    chromewebstore.google.com/deta

  • I threw together a little commercial-style video for my hobby-project extension's, Tab Shelf, Chrome Web Store page to celebrate the release of a new update! 🎉 (FYI: it's been considered by some to be the best vertical tab manager and automatic tab grouping extension out there)

    youtube.com/watch?v=_RGAesDeTtc

  • Got a second attempt at publishing Tab Shelf 2024.3.3 on the Chrome Web Store. Should be out anytime in the next 24-48 hours!

    (Had to re-submit it for review due to a showstopper bug that I only found after making the initial submission)

  • I've got to remind myself that it's just a hobby project. I've just gotten so invested in this since it's the first project I've built that friends, family, and colleagues actually *get* and are using.

    After v2024.3.3 is out, I'll be taking a brief break from working on Tab-Shelf-proper and I'll be modularising it into a bunch of libraries/packages I could reuse some of its local-first data storage functionality and UI/UX in some other projects I've had planned for a while.

  • One thing I've neglected to mention was how incredibly grateful I am for a majority of the user base. Most users have decided to keep Tab Shelf installed and enabled.

  • So I've had a new version of Tab Shelf in review in the Chrome Web Store. It's supposed to fix a performance regression introduced in the last update.

    And I just *had* to find a showstopper bug just after submitting it for review. Now I can't cancel that review, I've got to defer publishing, wait for the review to finish, then submit it for review again (with the fixes).

    All the while, it looks like more and more users have been disabling it by the day. Not getting a single bug report. 🤦🏻‍♂️

  • Here's a sneak peek of the new onboarding experience coming in Tab Shelf v2024.3.3!

    I'm dedicating a page of it to privacy this time. New users will get a transparent nutrition facts sheet of the permissions that Tab Shelf relies on in Chrome.

    youtube.com/watch?v=--D5XdV1gBk

  • Is the whole tinfoil hat motif too passive aggressive for a new Chrome Web Store slide + messaging about privacy?

    My Chrome extension faced some blowback for being a bit excessive with permissions (even though they were used reluctantly & sparringly). Even after removing them, the damage is done and it looks like people haven't gotten the message yet.

    Screenshot of a draft screenshot/picture for an extension in the Chrome Web Store. It features messaging about how the extension does not infringe on privacy, but in a passive-aggressive tone. There's also a bespectacled, tinfoil-donning, yellow-shirt wearing cat at the bottom looking up.

  • Tab Shelf 2024.3.2 should be rolling out now! This release restores account syncing, regex and wildcard support for grouping rules, and tinted grouped tabs.

    This release removes the reliance on the identity and clipboard permissions.

    mastodon.online/@csiew/1127105

  • UPDATE:

    I've rolled back v2024.3.0 back to v2024.2.2 (which will appear as v2024.3.1 in your browser). Understandably, some users are not happy with some of the new permissions.

    v2024.3.2 is in review NOW. It will restore the new features from v2024.3.0 and remove the reliance on the clipboard and identity permissions.

  • By the way, Tab Shelf's privacy policy has been updated to explain what it needs certain Chrome permissions for. Do note that Tab Shelf does not send your data to third-party APIs!

    tabshelf.com/privacy-policy

  • A new version of my vertical tab manager extension for Chrome, Tab Shelf, is out now!

    v2024.3.0 introduces regular expressions for grouping rules, settings and rules sync via your Google account, and tinted tabs based on tab group colors. You can see all the changes that were included in this release in the release notes here: tabshelf.com/changelog/2024.3.

    If you haven't heard of it before, give it a go!
    chromewebstore.google.com/deta

    A Chrome window open with the Tab Shelf website open on the left, and Tab Shelf itself open on the right in the browser side panel.
    A Chrome window open with the Are.na website open on the left, and Tab Shelf itself open on the right in the browser side panel. Some of the tabs in Tab Shelf are tinted according to the tab group color.

  • I think I just discovered this ridiculous macOS bug? Go into Expose, hold and subtley drag a window up, let go, and keep repeating. The windows will keep shrinking.

    A macOS desktop entering Expose. The user then repeatedly lifts and drags windows, then letting them go and repeating it over and over. The windows shrink every time they're let go.

  • Did a little write up reflecting on one year of building and publishing my Chrome extension, Tab Shelf!

    clarencesiew.com/posts/one-yea

  • 14 years ago the Mac and Windows platforms had the opposite policy for free-for-all widget placement on the desktop vs hidden away. 😵‍💫

    A screenshot of macOS Sonoma with widgets covering 50% of an approximately 22-inch desktop in a diagonal layout. Scribbles not included in the Flighty widget.