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Google Contemplating Removing Chrome 'Close Other Tabs' and 'Close Tabs to the Right' Options (bleepingcomputer.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Chrome engineers are planning to remove two options from Chrome that allow users to quickly close a large number of tabs with just a few clicks. The options, named "Close other tabs" and "Close tabs to the right" reside in the menu that appears when a user right-clicks on a Chrome tab. According to an issue on the Chromium project spotted yesterday by a Reddit user, Google engineers planned to remove to menu options for many years even before opening the Chromium issue, dated itself to July 31, 2015. After several years of inactivity and no decision, things started to move again in September 2016, when usage statistics confirmed that Chrome users rarely used the two options they initially wanted to remove. Seeing no new discussions past this point, Chromium engineers assigned the issue in February, meaning engineers are getting ready to remove the two menu options it in future Chromium builds.

41 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. I use them quite a lot by Harold+Halloway · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As someone who tends to open new links in a new tab and who ends up with a dozen or so open, I've always found those options to be very useful, especially the 'Close Tabs to the Right' one. I'm not sure why Google would want to get rid of them - the options hardly seem like a security risk or a burden on processor or RAM resources. I'll miss them if they do disappear.

    1. Re:I use them quite a lot by smelch · · Score: 2

      As somebody who is constantly having Visual Studio open new tabs in chrome, Close tabs to the right is fantastic.

      --
      If I can just reach out with my words and touch a butthole, just one, it will all be worth it.
    2. Re:I use them quite a lot by uberdilligaff · · Score: 2

      Exactly right. Google something, right-click-open-in-new-tab a bunch of interesting looking sites, then easily close them all down when you're finished. I use these very useful features multiple times every day. Please don't kill them.

      --
      Against stupidity, the Gods themselves contend in vain. --Friederich Schiller
    3. Re:I use them quite a lot by joelgrimes · · Score: 4, Informative

      Close other tabs is fairly trivial to replace. Just drag the tab out and kill the original window. I'll miss close-to-the-right.

    4. Re:I use them quite a lot by Grishnakh · · Score: 2

      I'm not sure why Google would want to get rid of them

      Because everyone is all about "minimalism!!!" these days, and Chrome is the poster child of this. I'm actually surprised these features have lasted this long, or even got in there in the first place.

      Go back 15 years and look at the UIs we used to have: we have far more features than today. Now everything needs to be designed to run on a small tablet screen and operated with your thumbs.

    5. Re:I use them quite a lot by Frobnicator · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The story says the engineers found it was used rarely, citing that as the reason for removal.

      However, doing something rarely does not mean it is used never, nor does it mean removal is appropriate.

      I rarely use a fire extinguisher, yet I keep one in my kitchen and my vehicle. I rarely use my window shutters, but I'm absolutely glad the house has them as they can save a fortune during a storm. I rarely print documents, but I still maintain a printer.

      Just because it is rarely used does not mean it isn't useful, nor does it mean it should be removed.

      --
      //TODO: Think of witty sig statement
    6. Re:I use them quite a lot by Altrag · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In TFA, it even has a ranking of several features. Close to the right is used more than say, Mute Tab.

      And they're still keeping "bookmark all tabs", a feature with 1/10th the usage of Close to the right.

      Makes you wonder if someone in the "feature"-assigning group is on Microsoft's payroll. Chrome and FF keep removing features and getting slower while MS at least is trying to make a useful browser (pretty unsuccessfully so far but hey if all they have to do is wait for the competition to implode, they'll still win at the end of the day!)

    7. Re:I use them quite a lot by aknowles · · Score: 5, Informative

      Close tabs to the right can be achieved by clicking the first tab, shift clicking the last and then control-w (or -w on mac) since I found out about this (from reading the bug report at https://bugs.chromium.org/p/ch...) I'm less upset about the menu items going away.

    8. Re:I use them quite a lot by Gr8Apes · · Score: 2

      You could also just say: "Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

      When asked to use Chrome? Absolutely!

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    9. Re:I use them quite a lot by mcswell · · Score: 2

      Google doesn't care about you, you're the exception to their statistics. I'm the exception to some of their other statistics, and they don't care about me either. For example, I actually used the '+' to indicate in Google Search that I want a particular term to actually appear in the results. They say you can use double quotes, but (a) that isn't as convenient, and (b) double quotes mean something else, particularly when used to group words into a phrase.

      You can also see Google's (non-)response to users in forums when the users complained about changes to Google News and Google Maps. The company simply ignored the users, even though the outcry was quite vociferous.

      Of course Google isn't alone in this. Microsoft Office's obligatory use of the Ribbon made some of us mad, and they just ignored us. (Unlike LibreOffice, which recently added a ribbon, but kept the menus--which are actually the reason I use LO instead of MsOffice at home.) And Adobe has introduced the worst UI I've ever seen in their recent versions of Acrobat. Only when the outcry becomes tumultuous do these companies seem to listen--the reversion of Windows10 to something more like (if still not as good as) the Windows7 interface is a rare example.

    10. Re: I use them quite a lot by p91paul · · Score: 2

      Be prepared to lose all that, Firefox is breaking this kind of extensions in favor of Chrome-like ones...

  2. What I want back by OhSoLaMeow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Vertical tabs.

    --
    They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
    1. Re:What I want back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Vivaldi is what you want then.

    2. Re:What I want back by lgw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Remember the good old days, when software companies added features that the user base wanted? It's true - many moons ago, the great software companies wanted to please their users, instead of their "designers". It was a grand old time.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  3. Huh? I use these all the time. by bfwebster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can't be the only person who uses these on a regular basis.

    Unless...I am.

    Mind. Blown.

    No, seriously. Is usage that rare? Because I do use these a lot. ..bruce..

    --
    Bruce F. Webster (brucefwebster.com)
    1. Re:Huh? I use these all the time. by MightyYar · · Score: 2

      I just select the tabs that I want to close in gang (either with shift or ctrl/cmd) and then close them either with ctrl/cmd-w or a right click. For me it would be very rare that I want to close all but a single tab.

      But I admit that I'm weird. I still can't completely let go of Firefox because of Tree Style Tabs. Tabs on the top is madness! :)

      --
      W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
    2. Re:Huh? I use these all the time. by EvilSS · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I can't be the only person who uses these on a regular basis.

      Unless...I am.

      According to their telemetry, yes, you are the only one.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    3. Re:Huh? I use these all the time. by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      IT'S STILL NEEDED

      Nope. It's WANTED. Not needed. There's many ways to close tabs.

      Clearing cookies is rarely needed as well

      This IS needed. It is a form of user protection. There's no other option to clear cookies other than this.

      I'm sure the real reasoning behind this is to pad their usage stats.

      I'm sure the reason for this is removing a rarely used option that there's no point in maintaining the code in the menu for, or in the underlying system.

    4. Re:Huh? I use these all the time. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      According to their telemetry, yes, you are the only one.

      Odds are, people who use advanced features are more likely to turn data harvesting off. Thus making those metrics questionable. Then again, anyone who is opposed to being monitored is not part of the Google's target audience.

  4. Features? Look Elsewhere by xession · · Score: 2

    Anyone still using Chrome should have long since resolved to using a mostly featureless browser. If you are looking for features, you probably should be looking more at using Palemoon or another browser maintained by another small group. Once a browser seems to hit critical appeal, features start getting stripped out because your grandparents might fuck something up.

    1. Re:Features? Look Elsewhere by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's what I call "New Coke Syndrome".

      When a product becomes very popular and widely used, the people who work on the product have a problem. They can't just stop working on it. They can't stop going to work and just say "we're number one, so there's no need to do anything. Send me my paycheck.".

      And so they keep working. Adding new features, removing old features. Making all sorts of "improvements" that in reality actually make the product worse. It happened to Windows. It happened to Firefox. And now it is apparently happening to Chrome.

  5. If it ain't broke... by jenningsthecat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Assuming that those options aren't problems from the code maintenance or security points of view, and if users haven't complained about them, then why remove them? I'm sure some people use them; in Pale Moon I have Tab Mix Plus set up to handle tabs in a way that most users would never even think of, and honestly, I'd be lost without it.

    I know it's heresy to suggest that Chrome might actually be configurable to suit individual needs and tastes; that said, why can't they they just have a preferences setting to show or hide those items? There's a difference between taking the lowest common denominator into account, and catering exclusively to it; and I'm tired of features being stripped away from both software and hardware because the average non-demanding user isn't sufficiently sophisticated to make use of them.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    1. Re:If it ain't broke... by nightfire-unique · · Score: 2

      So, here's what happens:

      As a product improves, it gathers users. This is a mark of continuing success.

      Features are added, and users rejoyce.

      At some point, the product plateaus. There are no new users coming in, and people start getting nervous.

      A UI designer is introduced to the product.

      "There's a whole market of learning-disabled children and moderately senile elderly folks we've been ignoring this whole time! They get confused by all of this rich functionality. Burn it to the ground!"

      ... and they do. They onboard a bunch of users who were formerly confused by features like "close all tabs," while their core fanbase deserts the product. But that fact doesn't become known for some time.

      Rinse, repeat. Bitter much? Nah.

      --
      A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
  6. Don't remove, fill out remaining options by MiniMike · · Score: 5, Funny

    Those two options are so useful, but I've been waiting for them to fill in the obvious remaining choices:
    - Close tabs to the left
    - Close this tab and tabs to the right/left (this is two options)
    - Close odd numbered tabs
    - Close tabs I don't want my Boss/Mom to see (shortcut keys: Ctrl+Ctrl+Ctrl+Ctrl)
    - Close tabs with numbers in the Fibonacci sequence
    - Close tabs with pages originating in travel ban countries
    - Close tabs except those with numbers on my lucky number list (default values will be provided)

  7. good thing I don't use Chrome by mad7777 · · Score: 2

    Google takes their users to be a bunch of moronic infants. Why remove a feature? Ever?? Especially one that has been working fine for years. Oh right... because you don't want to confuse and upset the fragile minds of your users, you can barely manage to use one button on mouse. OK, so that's not for me.

    --
    Might makes right irrelevant.
  8. Usage statistics by Exitar · · Score: 2

    Probably made by the same people that decided to shut down google reader.

  9. never understood removing features by _Shorty-dammit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Removing features simply because they're not used by everyone every single day never made sense to me. Even if it is something only a very small percentage of users use, so what? It's not like you have to write that code again every time you compile. It just sits there minding its own business. Leave it alone and mind your own business. It doesn't affect any other work, so why remove it? To save a few bytes of memory? We all have nine zillion memories now. Who cares? Some people use it. And if more people knew about it they'd probably use it, too.

    Most people power on their machine, use the web browser, and office apps. That doesn't mean it would be beneficial to stop making all other programs just because most people don't use them. Same thing.

    1. Re:never understood removing features by nightfire-unique · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Narcissism. There are droves of trendy fashionista UI designers that like "clean" "simple" interfaces, and think to themselves:

      "I don't need this functionality. So let's get rid of it. Fuck everyone else."

      I swear it's that simple.

      --
      A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
    2. Re:never understood removing features by Kjella · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Removing features simply because they're not used by everyone every single day never made sense to me. Even if it is something only a very small percentage of users use, so what?

      Because a lot of people get confused by too much information and too many options. And contrary to nerds they won't simply dismiss what they don't need they tend to avoid it saying it's too difficult. I'm not surprised if Google has analyzed that they'll lose 0.1% tech savvy users and gain 0.2% computer newbies instead. A case study: My online bank.

      They used to have rather information dense pages and complex filters and dialogs with lots of cross links to related functions. I loved it, you had pretty much everything you wanted to see, do or go to at your fingertips. My parents, well they used it because I used it and having free support was more valuable than trying some other bank. They redesigned, far more simple pages. Far more hierarchies and less directly accessible functions. I hated it, at the time I mostly blamed it on designing for cell phones and tablets not big computer monitors.

      But then I saw how my parents liked it much, much better than before. They said it was so much simpler and less confusing to use. Even though they never used but the first two options, it was far simpler to choose from three than eight and the rest hidden under "more options". The transcript page used to have lots of filters, now by default it has account and period, with the period being predefined like "last 30 days" or whole months with custom dates hidden another layer down.

      And it turns out, that's all they really use. if they ever wonder if they did pay the power bill of $100 in the first two weeks of January they wouldn't filter by recipient and amount and date. They'd just scan the monthly statements manually. I'm thinking this and this applies, sure they could learn how to make the computer do more but is is worth it? Considering how little they seem to remember of the basics, I'm thinking neither the investment nor the upkeep is worth it.

      So I can totally understand why, the question is do you have to only cater to my parents. But when push comes to shove, I'll manage to do five clicks instead of two just fine even though I'm slightly annoyed by it. My parents though, for them it makes a real difference. Unless it's really a professional's tool that you work in many hours a day, I'll always survive doing it the slightly harder way like just X'ing out all the tabs or hitting Ctrl-W repeatedly without being a make-or-break deal. It would be nice if we could have a browser by nerds, for nerds though. Maybe it's time for a new Phoenix?

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    3. Re:never understood removing features by Altrag · · Score: 2

      There's a HUGE difference between cleaning things up and moving less-used options into submenus and other "hidden" places, vs removing those features entirely.

      Close tabs to the right is already in a menu many people don't even know exist, never mind use. So why are they singling out those two options when there's say, "Bookmark all tabs" on that same menu which by their own stats is used 1/10th as much?

  10. Re:Wrong reasoning by jeremyp · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The flaw in the logic is that "rarely use" is not the same as "would be fine if it didn't exist". The reasons for removing the feature look bogus to me in that they seem to satisfy an aesthetic quality that the developers want rather than provide any benefit to the users of the browser.

    --
    All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
  11. Get rid of the X on the tab while you're at it by junkfish · · Score: 2

    Sheesh, i would prefer if they just got rid of the X on the tab? I inadvertently close tabs I have open because there is an X on each tab. Get rid of it. I will do a Ctl+w if I am done, or just close the entire browser. The X i feel eats up real estate, and is an annoyance.

  12. Re:don't remove menu items by lgw · · Score: 2

    Remove Nazis instead.

    Learn the power of "and".

    I'd like to remove all hateful political ideologies, even those wrapped in religious trappings.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  13. Re:And the print option? by Dayze!Confused · · Score: 2

    Quite often I want to "print" a page to PDF. But I suppose, to me it's a moot point as long as we still have the keyboard shortcuts that I rely on instead. I didn't even know where in the context menu Find and Print are located. For find, I'm going to be typing what I want to find anyway, so I might as well use the keyboard shortcut to start the search.

    --
    "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." [Thomas Jefferson]
  14. Extension by GuB-42 · · Score: 2

    If this feature can be reproduced with a simple extension, no big deal.
    Probably very few people used this feature, so it makes sense to remove it. For those the few who did use it, this is what extensions are for.

    For instance, I like using backspace to go to the previous page. Apparently is pissed some people off so Google removed it. Found an extension to re-enable it, everybody's happy.

  15. Re:And the print option? by Cigarra · · Score: 2

    Of course there is, but it's in the context menu for text selection. Quite useful for looking up name or specific phrases from a page you're reading.

    --
    I don't have a sig.
  16. Dear engineers... by Grim+Beefer · · Score: 2

    To whom it may concern...

    There's an utterly mind-blowing, revolutionary notion called "customization".

    There are ancient rumors that before the coming of the return of the Great Dark Apple, people that used shit used to have options on how to do so. Ye, let it be known that you can also give users the option to turn on or off certain UI elements instead of just removing them...so it is written in the ancient texts.

  17. Re:And the print option? by Yalius · · Score: 2

    Totally off-topic here, but I just want to say that I appreciate you using the phrase "moot point" as opposed to "mute point." Such a rare thing to see someone use the phrase correctly. Kudos.

  18. Re:NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! by Guidii · · Score: 2

    If you're not in incognito mode, you should be able to press Ctrl-Shift-T to reopen the last closed tab. If you closed a window, all of the tabs come back.

  19. tabs are pathetic by mspring · · Score: 2

    Tabs are an overly simplistic way to track and manage "views". In browsers and in IDEs I encounter daily a situation where I created too many of them and they loose their meaning to me. I wished there was a better way to organize "views" in a more scalable way, while also preserving the history of their creation. I want to be able to navigate them by keyboard (and mouse).

  20. Re:TreeStyleTabs by lucm · · Score: 2

    I usually have 40-50 tabs open at once, and there is no way I will do that on a browser not supporting vertical tabs.

    Tab hoarding is a serious condition and it appears it has started to impact your daily life. Maybe it's time to get help.

    --
    lucm, indeed.