Brave Browser Adds Vertical Tabs to Address Overcrowding Up Top

Do you have too many tabs cluttering the top of your browser window? The privacy-focused Brave browser is looking to untangle some of the mess with a new “vertical tab” experience.

The feature, arriving in Brave version 1.52(Opens in a new window) for desktops, moves browser tabs from the top of the browser to the left side. 

(Credit: Brave)

Brave Software added the function precisely to address tab overcrowding. “The more horizontal tabs you have open, the smaller and more squished they become—often to the point of not being able to read any text on the tab,” the company says in its announcement(Opens in a new window). “Vertical tabs, however, provide much-needed breathing room, allowing for more information to be displayed at a glance, so you can find the tab you’re looking for faster.”  

Indeed, the feature offers a dedicated, and wider space, for all your tabs to appear, making the text clearly visible for each one, no matter how many tabs you may have open. In addition, you can minimize the vertical tab, reducing them to a strip of icons.     

(Credit: Brave)

The feature is also optional. To turn it on, right-click an existing horizontal tab and select “use vertical tabs” from the pop-up menu. Do the same on a vertical tab to reverse it.

Although the experience can be jarring at first, Brave says initial user feedback has been positive. “Most users love the experience and don’t plan on going back.”  

Brave isn’t the first to adopt vertical tabs. Microsoft’s Edge and Apple’s Safari(Opens in a new window) offer the option, too. Google’s Chrome has resisted the vertical tabs approach as a native function, so interested users need to opt for a third-party extension(Opens in a new window) to bring the tabs down from the top.