github FaFre/WebLibre v0.20.0-alpha-9

pre-release6 hours ago

Highlights

  • Redesigned the Quick Tab Switcher into a new Tab Stacking system.
  • Added new layouts: Accordion and Two Rows.
  • Improved startup tab restoration so restored tabs appear earlier and are handled more safely.
  • Added a new Refresh Rate setting for smoother scrolling on supported Android devices.
  • Removed the Android “install unknown apps” permission from the app manifest.

Tab Switching Improvements

The Quick Tab Switcher has been reworked and is now configured through Settings > Toolbar Layout > Tab Stacking.

New options include:

  • Accordion: shows containers as chips and expands the selected container inline.
  • Two Rows: shows tabs from the selected container on one row and recently used tabs on another.
  • Recently Used Tabs: keeps the previous recent-tabs style.
  • Container Tabs: shows tabs from the selected container.
  • Disabled: hides the quick switcher bar.

Other improvements:

  • The active tab is kept centered more reliably while switching or reordering tabs.
  • Container chips now show tab counts and use clearer container coloring.
  • Tab chips can now show close buttons.
  • The active tab always gets a close button.
  • A new setting allows close buttons on every quick-switcher tab chip.
  • Closing tabs from the switcher now uses the same confirmation and undo behavior as the regular tab menu.
  • The maximum title width of quick-switcher chips is now adjustable.
  • Pinned, private, isolated, sandbox, and nested tabs are represented more clearly in the switcher.

Better Startup and Restore Behavior

Tab restoration after app startup is now more robust.

  • Saved tabs can appear earlier as temporary tab chips while the browser engine finishes restoring them.
  • Tapping a tab that is still restoring now queues the selection and opens it once it becomes available.
  • The app waits for the browser engine to report that restore is complete before cleaning up saved tab data.
  • This reduces the chance of restored tabs disappearing during startup or when opening WebLibre through a shared link.

Private tabs are still not restored, matching the existing private browsing behavior.

Appearance and Smoothness

  • Added Settings > General > Refresh Rate with System, High, and Low options.
  • The default is High, which can make scrolling and animations smoother on 90Hz/120Hz Android screens.
  • Low can be used to reduce battery usage.
  • The status bar and navigation bar areas now better match the active container or toolbar color.
  • System bar icons adjust for contrast so they remain readable.
  • Toolbar animations and tab favicons should feel smoother.
  • Recent tab entries now show container color and icon badges more clearly.

Settings Migration

Existing Quick Tab Switcher settings are migrated automatically:

  • If the switcher was disabled, it remains disabled.
  • Existing “recent tabs” and “container tabs” choices map to the new Tab Stacking options.
  • New installs default to Accordion when container UI is enabled.

Notes

  • The refresh-rate setting is Android-only and depends on device/OS support.
  • Container-based tab stacking modes fall back to recently used tabs if container UI is disabled.

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