Here's how you can try out Firefox Nightly's Split View. But be warned: it's still very, very unfinished.

  • Firefox Nightly offers a split view feature.
  • It's in a very early stage and it's not working too well.
Pablinux

3 minutes

Firefox Nightly Split View

A few days ago we echoed a news item that stated that Mozilla was working to implement a feature of split view in FirefoxThe original source said it was available in the Nightly build, but we couldn't get it to work. We recently retested, and it seems Mozilla has added an option in about:config that now allows you to test this upcoming and long-awaited feature.

To get something like what you see in the header capture it is necessary to use the Nightly version Firefox. That option is about two months ahead of the stable version, and that's where they test everything they can think of. A lot of it makes it to the stable version, a lot of it doesn't, but we're absolutely sure this one will. The only question is when it will happen, but it's easy to imagine that Firefox will finally join the group of web browsers that can put one tab next to the other with a divided view.

Enable Split View in Firefox Nightly

What you need to do to test split view is also shown in the header screenshot:

  1. In the URL bar, we put about: config.
  2. If it appears because you have never entered before, we accept the message warning that it is a risk area.
  3. Inside we search browser.tabs.splitView.enabled.
  4. On the right, tap the switch. A curved arrow will appear on the right to undo the changes, and that same arrow will confirm that we've activated the feature.

What would remain is already explained in the article we published a few days ago: Select two tabs, right-click on one of them, and choose "Open in Split View." To split them again, choose "Separate Split View."

Having tried it, we now know something else:

  • You can resize the windows by clicking on the gap between them and sliding them to one side.
  • No more than two tabs can be selected, so three or more cannot be stacked.
  • As a Vivaldi user, I've also noticed or missed a feature to split tabs on top of each other.
  • If we want to change the side on which they appear, there is no option other than to separate them, reorder the tabs from the top to the desired position, and then divide them again.

This split view in Firefox is in its very early stages, but it's a good thing. We'll see it in the stable version sooner rather than later, but it probably won't be for two months.