Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)? Topic is solved

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AgentOrange

Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by AgentOrange » 2020-03-22, 20:51

This is, explicitly, a duplicate of Thread 20297, which was locked despite (I believe) being unresolved.

That thread's OP put it in a nutshell: Hide Caption Title Bar Plus in theory, nearly solves the problem, but is unsuitable for use with Pale Moon (and the situation has only gotten more dire since then as both Pale Moon and that extension have evolved):
  • It's tremendously erratic—precludes closing the window on recent window managers (it's for Thunderbird, after all…)
  • Crashes and other even-less-usable states are easy to enter while trying to fix the former via its config GUI—Safe Mode will be a constant requirement in the hunt for a viable configuration: which I have not yet found, myself
  • Claims to be released under the GPLv3, but has over a year of updates (0.5.6.n–4.2.0) ft. unreleased source-codeGH#329—∀I&P, it's now closed-source
Attachments
screenshot showing Firefox, with the tabs merged into the GNOME Titlebar, in front of Pale Moon, with the tabs separate  from the title bar; this on Fedora 31
screenshot showing Firefox, with the tabs merged into the GNOME Titlebar, in front of Pale Moon, with the tabs separate from the title bar; this on Fedora 31
Last edited by AgentOrange on 2020-03-23, 00:03, edited 2 times in total.

vannilla
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Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by vannilla » 2020-03-22, 21:59

You can't.
The title bar is generated by the window manager, not by the browser.
The only way to do what you want is to completely forego the window manager decorations, but that means drawing an controlling the title bar buttons, etc. on your own.
In fact, Firefox does exactly that: it tells the windows manager that it doesn't want decorations, reads up the GTK theme and other configurations, and then draw the titlebar itself plus the tabs.
Pale Moon currently does not support this behaviour. It is technically possible to implement, but it requires a good knoweledge of window systems on Linux, GTK and how Pale Moon paints its UI on the screen.

AgentOrange

Solution: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by AgentOrange » 2020-03-22, 23:29

vannilla wrote:
2020-03-22, 21:59

Pale Moon currently does not support this behaviour.…[to implement] it requires a good knoweledge of window systems on Linux, GTK and how Pale Moon paints its UI on the screen.
:thumbdown: Alas.

⸻⸻⸻

Well, for posterity (since this thread is inevitably going to float to the top of Google for this issue now), I'll document some key notes from my struggle using
• HCTP v4.2.0
to merge the tabs from
• Pale Moon v28.8.4
into the title bar of
• Fedora 31 (GNOME v3.34.4)

(It may not be a perfect solution, but apparently it's the current-best, “80%” solution :tired: so—here goes)

Caveats :coffee: listed in (descending) order of importance:
  1. Out-of-the-box, this add-on merges the tabs into the title bar; you shouldn't have to change anything after installation to get the prime directive per se accomplished.
  2. This feature may temporarily break Pale Moon's UI and fail to function:
    「Advanced Settings」>「Drag-Window capability options:」>「Drag Fx window using Tab-bar background
    ◦ if you enable ☑ it (and experience breakage), simply disable ☐ it again and restart Pale Moon. [hint: Ctrl_Q]
    this is pretty much the one breakage preventing this from being “the” solution, so if anyone figures it out, please reply to this thread!
  3. You may experience unexpected behavior unless you disable the following:
    「Look & Feel 2」>「Floating Main Menu
  4. For Firefox's uncluttered tabs that align well with the top of the window, be sure to assign
    「Look & Feel」>「Show Custom TitleBar」→「Never
  5. There's no way around the fact that this task inherently usurps the Window Manager's decorative role, but you may want to pay special attention to all options under:
    「Look & Feel」>「Custom Minimize, Max & Close Buttons…
  6. Pale Moon fails to offer immediate installation from the Thunderbird server; you must Save it, then navigate to
    「Add-ons」>「🛠️」>「 Install Add-on From File
    and browse to the downloaded .xpi file
  7. The now-defunct “Blue Moon Linux” Add-on is entirely matched (and exceeded) in functionality by the options under
    「Look & Feel 2」>「Options for Firefox 'Home' Application button
    ◦ Don't forget to click “More Options” to restore the browser image, if desired
(I'm also archiving a copy of the Add-on to this post, juuust in case—given its author's apparent propensity for shenanigans)
Attachments
hide_caption_titlebar_plus_4-4.2.0-tb.xpi
WARNING: MIGHT BE CLOSED-SOURCE/“FREEWARE”, despite identifying as GPLv3-licensed; build date: 2018-09-29; yanked from https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/hide-caption-titlebar-plus-sma/ on 2020-03-22
(1.03 MiB) Downloaded 66 times
Last edited by AgentOrange on 2020-03-23, 00:09, edited 6 times in total.

AgentOrange

Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by AgentOrange » 2020-03-22, 23:31

Off-topic:
I log into this forum about once every 17 months on average…on the offchance a given activity interval rolls higher than 24—due to my negligence—and my account gets nuked, will these posts go down the memory hole?

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Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by EMH_Mark_I » 2020-03-23, 05:41

I'm surprised that version of Hide Caption Titlebar is even working with Pale Moon at all.

Anyhow, the thread you linked was resolved with an older version of the add-on; which still works quite well today. Since Mozilla have removed all of the XUL/XPCOM classic add-ons, you will have to locate it through JustOff's Classic Add-ons Archive: (See releases.)

You can locate if from there and install. From my own use of HCTP, I've found 2.8.6.1 to be the most stable.
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Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by Moonchild » 2020-03-23, 08:05

Off-topic:
AgentOrange wrote:
2020-03-22, 23:31
Off-topic:
I log into this forum about once every 17 months on average…on the offchance a given activity interval rolls higher than 24—due to my negligence—and my account gets nuked, will these posts go down the memory hole?
Your account data will, but your posts will be retained. We do not destroy user content just because the user is inactive.
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Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by _yuyu_ » 2020-03-24, 02:15

Capture.PNG
like that?
Cannot find now how i did this. But maybe with cracking chrome
Pale Moon 32-bit on Win 7 x64

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Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by illiad » 2020-03-26, 13:52

'compact moon' or 'PM chrome' on https://addons.palemoon.org/themes/ ?? :mrgreen:
VM 300Mbs in london england :lol: :coffee: on Intel Core I7 3GHz on Gigabyte X58a.
PM 32.4.1(64bit) on win7(64bit) sp1 - does ytoobe better than FF!! 8-) :lol: :P
Got 24Gig, Nvidia GTX 1060 :D dont need 4k - not rich, not gamer, newer GPUs only for $$$ peeps
:eh: useragentstring(com) :problem: FF 115.3.1 :angel: :P

New Tobin Paradigm

Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by New Tobin Paradigm » 2020-03-26, 14:10

Firefox doesn't have tabs in the titlebar.. Nor does Basilisk. Or any other traditional Windows application. They all simply disable the native window frame and then fake it.

Same thing we do with the Menu Bar hidden and showing the AppMenu in Pale Moon. If tabs are on top, the menu bar is hidden, AND you maximize the window then the tabs will be "in the titlebar". Otherwise, You'd have to disable our fake Window title and use an extension to push the tab bar up there in non-maximized windows.

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Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by illiad » 2020-03-28, 08:31

What you mean is, the title bar is not displayed??

think like a newbie, not a programmer ;) ... newbie says 'top of window is title bar' untick menubar, newbie is happy!! :P 8-)

simples!! :P 'view, toolbars, untick menubar'
to get it back, click PM (top left), prefs, menu :)
VM 300Mbs in london england :lol: :coffee: on Intel Core I7 3GHz on Gigabyte X58a.
PM 32.4.1(64bit) on win7(64bit) sp1 - does ytoobe better than FF!! 8-) :lol: :P
Got 24Gig, Nvidia GTX 1060 :D dont need 4k - not rich, not gamer, newer GPUs only for $$$ peeps
:eh: useragentstring(com) :problem: FF 115.3.1 :angel: :P

AgentOrange

Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by AgentOrange » 2020-03-28, 09:35

illiad wrote:
2020-03-28, 08:31
What you mean is, the title bar is not displayed??

think like a newbie, not a programmer ;) ... newbie says 'top of window is title bar' untick menubar, newbie is happy!! :P 8-)

simples!! :P 'view, toolbars, untick menubar'
to get it back, click PM (top left), prefs, menu :)
You can see in the picture attached to my OP that I am already operating with the menubar hidden.

If I then, further, just kill the titlebar per se, then, crucially (this is really the crux of the whole thread):
  1. I can't drag the window around by the area horizontal of the tabs
  2. I might not have a Close Window button anymore (much less Min/Max buttons)
if it weren't for those 2 issues, then, yeah—I'd just kill the titlebar and menubar and call it a day.


Off-topic:
OK, maybe I shouldn't feed trolls

I'll defer to administrative decision on this situation :mrgreen:

[ETA: but I do feel that that post offered an important opportunity for clarification; I want to doubly-emphasize how central those 2 points I listed in response are to the reason this thread exists in the first place]

New Tobin Paradigm

Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by New Tobin Paradigm » 2020-03-28, 10:45

One correction in my post above.. No current chrome or mozilla browser that is a standard windows application has a true titlebar. (except in the case with mozilla and uxp based applications where it is enabled by means).

SINCE THIS IS A LINUX BOARD which I failed to notice before.. The answer is going to be a str8 up no. Because UXP does not use custom window frames on Linux. Nor will it ever.

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Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by vannilla » 2020-03-28, 11:10

AgentOrange wrote:
2020-03-28, 09:35
  1. I can't drag the window around by the area horizontal of the tabs
  2. I might not have a Close Window button anymore (much less Min/Max buttons)
Yeah, this is what happens when you tell the window manager to stop doing its job.
Really, having the tabs in the title bar is not worth the effort of reimplementing half of a different program within the browser.
Especially when all it does is saving up a few pixels of vertical space, a thing that can be changed directly in the window manager.

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Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by illiad » 2020-03-30, 10:49

sorry, forgot you are talking Linux, where there are totally different ways of control... :oops:
And you did not mention that your picture was a screen shot... it looks like those pictures in the PM addons site...

Can you not just ***inside PM*** go to the topmenu, do 'view, toolbars, untick menubar' ???

in MS windows, it is no problem to 'drag the window around by the area horizontal of the tabs'

is there not a orange, green & red button on the top right that does 'minimize, restore, close window'??

gogling a lot, is there not usually *some* kind of widget in the top right???

I was looking around, saw this.. viewtopic.php?f=37&t=23616&p=181834&hil ... ix#p181841
VM 300Mbs in london england :lol: :coffee: on Intel Core I7 3GHz on Gigabyte X58a.
PM 32.4.1(64bit) on win7(64bit) sp1 - does ytoobe better than FF!! 8-) :lol: :P
Got 24Gig, Nvidia GTX 1060 :D dont need 4k - not rich, not gamer, newer GPUs only for $$$ peeps
:eh: useragentstring(com) :problem: FF 115.3.1 :angel: :P

AgentOrange

Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by AgentOrange » 2020-04-04, 06:24

illiad wrote:
2020-03-30, 10:49
Can you not just ***inside PM*** go to the topmenu, do 'view, toolbars, untick menubar' ???
I have stated multiple times that I have already done this. :coffee: Disabling the menubar saves some space, yes—but it still doesn't merge the tabs with the conceptual “titlebar”.
It gets you closer, but not all the way.

There seems to be some kind of breakdown in communication here—would you mind explaining why you keep suggesting that? Maybe I'll be able to make more sense of it and resolve whatever it is you're thinking if you follow thru to the “why” of your suggestion. Where are you going with that thread?
in MS windows, it is no problem to 'drag the window around by the area horizontal of the tabs'
Even if that were true[1], it'd be no good. :thumbdown: This thread is about confirming that behavior to be unsupported on Linux, and finding+discussing workarounds.
is there not a orange, green & red button on the top right that does 'minimize, restore, close window'??
Only if you leave the window manager's titlebar enabled. Which, unfortunately, necessarily pushes the tabs down to a different strata than the window grip area.
That is good to see, but, frankly, the WM's Close button is just a formality/custom, anyway—I find it much quicker to press Ctrl_Q. The real “goodness” of the titlebar is its use as
  1. a window grip
  2. access to soft-fullscreen via double-clicking and/or a Maximize button
both of which functionalities Firefox enables, with a good UX, in the same “strata” as the tabs—and both of which HCTP only technically fulfills, having a tremendously deficient and buggy UX.

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Re: Tabs-in-titlebar (like Firefox)?

Unread post by Moonchild » 2020-04-04, 08:59

AgentOrange wrote:
2020-04-04, 06:24
both of which functionalities Firefox enables, with a good UX, in the same “strata” as the tabs—and both of which HCTP only technically fulfills, having a tremendously deficient and buggy UX.
If you feel there is no solution that suits you, then instead of shooting down what you don't like and spending time complaining about it here, you could also write your own extension to do exactly what you want, instead, possibly using HCTP as a starting point. I'm sure there are more people who don't like the limitations of using a custom UX on Linux, so they will thank you for it.

And yes, this is how most extensions out there came to be. Someone didn't like the way the browser did something and sat down and wrote an extension to make it do what they wanted and how they wanted it.
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