There are a lot of cool extension in the Firefox add-on library. Many are wildly useful, but come in under the radar and don’t gain popularity. Tile tab is one of these add-ons. Simply put, Tile Tab lets you fit multiple tabs onto your screen without multiple instances of your browser being open.
How it works
When you have several tabs open in Firefox, you can use one of the menu options to start the action. Here is a before and after of 4 tabs open pressing Grid option under Tile all tabs.
Before
After
See how much easier it is to see all of the tabs?
Settings
There are some options you can modify when you first start. These will let you add tile more quickly and make Tile Tabs easier to use.
F Keys
By default, the F2, F8 and F9 buttons are set to basic functions.
- F2 – expand tiles
- F8 – Sync scrolling
- F9 – View normally
You can also choose change the F key to active a function or to replace any of the functions to something more useful to you.
It is a good idea to add a modifier key so you can keep this extension separate from other global hotkeys you may already have set up.
Add Shift or Crtl to make it a keyboard combination to activate the Firefox add-on.
Using the tiles
While having several tiles open, there are options to change the configuration, scrolling and other neat tricks. The more you know about the add-on, the more productive it can be when you are using it.
Simultaneous scrolling
This instantly stood out to me. By pressing the F8 button (default) when you have the tabs tiled, the option to scroll all of the tiled windows at the same time. That was a great feature to add.
Tile configuration menu
There are multiple ways to access the tile configuration options. All of which bring you to the same options.
From the menu bar.
The navigation toolbar.
And the right click menu.
More than one option at a time
You are not limited to just Grid or horizontal tiles. you can combine, mix and match the different options. Here is an example of different combinations used in the same window.
As you close the tabs, the grid or the separations disappear. If you want to focus on one tile, you can choose the F9 option to see just the one window. Think of how amazing this could be on a really large monitor.
Final thoughts
If you are sick of having too many tabs or windows open and you aren’t really sure what is on them until you click on it, this Tile Tab wants to be your new best friend. If you get into the habit if using Tile Tab to manage several tabs, I am pretty sure you will find them much easier to manage.
What add-ons do you use to manage tabs?
image credit: Lauren Manning
