[gryn]

as a long time user of firefox (also around 20years). it still has many pain points especially if you're a tab hoarder.

try closing a window with 400 mid to heavy tabs and see how long it takes, you can select the tabs individually and they will close way faster. (even on the best PC you can find)

this is niche but I wish there was a watered down /minimalist version that dropped, bookmarks, history, sqlite (I know HN likes sqlite a lot, but in this context chromes usage of levelDB beats it by a lot but you lose the advantage of running SQL queries directly to the file), basically everything besides extensions, containers, profiles.

- can't control it from the command line, only open urls and can't have them open in a specific container because the implementation is this weird mix of internal browser code + extension. (tools like brotab are limited, wish I could have a better flexibility to integrate into my i3/sway workflow, with things like the ability to merge all windows in a workspace into a single one)

- you can't run separate profiles on separate processes, so having a different network namespace for each profile is a pain (my use case, each profile is routed through a different VPN).

there are many mores minor grievances I forgot with time, but I still wouldn't go back to chrome.

[soulofmischief]

I currently have 8260 tabs open across 9 windows, and that's just on my main laptop, across all devices I probably have over 20k tabs, and I don't really have any issues regarding tab management.

I used to have issues with Firefox randomly nuking my state on load and having to restore backups, but now I use Tab Session Manager for that and never think twice about it.

[Topgamer7]

Y'all are crazy. What is even the possible value in this?

[titusjohnson]

Not who you're talking to, but there is none. Browsers have had "Bookmark all tabs" functionality for ages, which completely replaces tab hoarding. Especially now that the content of the page you visited 5 months ago isn't actually loaded in memory. It's basically a bookmark, switch to the tab and the content is reloaded.

[soulofmischief]

Yes, I am aware of bookmarks, and as someone who used to use them quite a lot, I'm aware of their limitations. Some things are just ephemeral and should remain so. Browser search is great. As you mentioned, tabs lazy load so the main functionality is the same, so it's presumptuous to assume I get no value out of my organizational strategy.

[kcplate]

Is there some specific reason why you are doing this? What possible benefit could this have beyond some weird bragging rights?

[soulofmischief]

Because it works for me. Every now and then I tend to it and cut a couple hundred or thousand tabs I no longer need.

[kcplate]

You seem here and in another comment to be kind evasive around the spirit of the question…which I think is more “how does this work for you?”

You choose to do it so I assume it works for you. What benefit does this give you over the more traditional bookmarking, etc?

[soulofmischief]

I don't meant to sound evasive, and your clarified question here is easier to understand and answer appropriately.

The benefit is that I went from thousands of bookmarks, which were difficult and time-consuming to organize and navigate, to contextual pages each filling specific roles and containing ephemeral links to what I need. It works very well for my ADHD and allows me to basically have a messy desk across several domains and contexts, while still having file cabinets for things I do want organized and stashed away.

This has let me vastly simplify my bookmarks, which I typically arrange as unlabeled favicons ordered by color on my bookmarks toolbar, with some others stashed away in a folder.

I keep what I really need, and I'm always ready to drop things I don't need, and it helps me keep a better long-term working memory of ongoing tasks, interests and hobbies.

[kcplate]

Thanks for the info—it’s interesting. I am glad you have a working system for you. At face value it would be difficult for me. I am probably the exact opposite—-I rarely go beyond two browser instances and if I get beyond 4-5 tabs in them, I’m closing something. However, it’s not just browser tabs, I am kind of a orderly minimalist freak about all things.