
Chrome is developing a Sidebar API - ohaal
https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=477424
======
ohaal
In the comments so far, there seems to be some confusion on what this is. The
Chrome Sidebar API is an API for Chrome extensions, adding a sidebar surface
to Chrome.

 _The proposed API allows Chrome extensions to access and control a sidebar
panel - a per-tab split-pane HTML container to the right (to the left in RTL
environment) of the main page content with the ability to resize
horizontally._ [1]

In short, it provides extensions an alternative to using popups or injecting
HTML directly into web pages in order to display something to the user.

With it, you could for instance (re-)implement something like the old Side
Tabs feature, which was removed from Chrome because _the complexity of a tree-
style interface in terms of usage is beyond what most users need or want, and
in terms of implementation is more than passes the cost /benefit test for
building into Chrome natively as an option._[2]

[1]:
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/102hfWTM5cMl-95PyfGcn89YH...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/102hfWTM5cMl-95PyfGcn89YHDTffBMMumLUBOnxLp0A/preview?sle=true)

[2]:
[https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=344870#c...](https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=344870#c113)

~~~
smurfpandey
We had a sidebar extension on Chrome called Teamgum[1]. But it was removed
from store last month because we were using remote iframes. And when we asked
for more explanation nothing from their end. And now I see they are developing
there own sidebar.

[1]: [http://www.teamgum.com](http://www.teamgum.com)

------
eloisant
It's funny, in the golden age of Firefox extensions sidebars where very
popular, and when Chrome released without one people where complaining.

The response was that a popup that appears when you click a toolbar button was
enough.

It's funny to see they're going to release one now that nobody cares about it.

~~~
Gys
I use Firefox by default with an add-on 'Vertical Tabs'. This moves all tabs
away from the top into a narrow sidebar.

Screens are more wide then tall and for me my vertical space is more valuable.
Every line that holds only static info (address bar, open tabs) is not
strictly needed at all times, so I want them either to popup (like the menu
bar in full screen view) or at least move to the sides ('cheaper' space).

I am somewhat surprised this is not more common opinion.

~~~
malnourish
I use Tree Style Tabs as well. As you said, vertical space is a premium. Back
in the day (and perhaps still), there were user chrome tweaks you could make
to hide the address bar until you hover over it.

~~~
Retra
Vertical space is not really at a premium when it comes to viewing static
documents under access to a scroll wheel.

Why does the developer console open on the bottom, constraining your vertical
space? Because there is such a dearth of horizontal space that that it would
be uncomfortable to do otherwise. The reason things keep eating up vertical
space is because that's the only space that's _not_ at a premium.

~~~
sp332
Most monitors are 16:9 with the 16 being the horizontal dimension. It's also
difficult to read very long lines of text, so my browser windows tend to be
narrow and tall. When I use the developer console, I pop it out into another
window and put it next to the original window.

~~~
Retra
Most monitors are 16:9 _because_ horizontal space is more important than
vertical.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Most monitors are 16:9 because horizontal space is more important than
> vertical.

Most monitors are 16:9 because that aspect ratio fits certain popular
entertainment media content that people consume, and a significant usage of
general purpose computers is consuming that content (and, also, a significant
use _outside_ of general purpose computers of displays is for consuming that
content, which effects the economics of producing panels.)

That doesn't necessarily reflect the relative value of horizontal vs. vertical
space in other applications.

------
Kartificial
Important part here:

"Does this API expose any functionality to the web?"

"No"

------
amk_
Opera recently sidebar extensions back in for the first time since the re-
architecturing of a few years ago. That was a month ago and there are already
quite a few extensions available:
[https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/?tag=sidebar&order=po...](https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/?tag=sidebar&order=popular).

Vivaldi, basically a modernized Opera 11/12, has supported some sidebar
elements from the beginning.

Since Opera and Vivaldi are both Chromium-based, it's not surprising to see
sidebars getting into upstream.

------
username3
Is this going to make Sublime Text mini maps possible for webpages?

~~~
kuschku
Yes. While they have been possible in Firefox since forever, they should now
be possible in Chrome, too.

Another idea is vertical tabs.

~~~
degenerate
Is this the best one out there?

[https://github.com/diox/firefox-minimap-
scroller](https://github.com/diox/firefox-minimap-scroller)

------
vyrotek
Finally! Our customers have been begging us to provide this for years. We
build "Employee Engagement" (aka gamification) tools that extend various CRMs.
Not all of them support a way to extend the UI but a sidebar would be perfect.

~~~
iolothebard
Build an application.

~~~
vyrotek
We currently have a free-floating chrome application which looks like a
detached sidebar. The problem is our customers want to see it all the time and
don't want it to go behind or on top of the browser. As far as I know, there's
no good way to "dock" it to the side of a screen and prevent other
applications from using that space.

------
7952
This would be great for messaging clients which are painful to use in tabs.

------
wooger
Looks good, now they need a way to hide the existing tabs (and perhaps the
addressbar too) and we can move to a nice slick side-tabs extension for
Chrome.

------
aarohmankad
Does anyone know how Honey [1] implemented a sidebar like UI in their chrome
extension? It seems pretty solid and I wonder how they got around the current
limitations against Sidebars in chrome extensions.

[1]:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/honey/bmnlcjabgnpn...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/honey/bmnlcjabgnpnenekpadlanbbkooimhnj?utm_source=chrome-
ntp-icon)

~~~
highwind
I think they just inject iframe into the actual DOM. It's not an UI element
that's part of the browser.

~~~
aarohmankad
alright thanks! The consensus seems to be injecting a sidebar div into the
current page.

------
nathanathan
I've been working on a graphical command-line for manipulating webpages with
natural language queries
([https://contextscript.com](https://contextscript.com)). So far I've been
using a bookmarklet, which has the benefit of working across browsers, but it
has a lot of drawbacks too. If I go the browser extension route, this looks
like it would be very useful for developing the UI.

------
nathan_f77
Funny timing for me, I'm just about to start working on a Chrome extension
with a sidebar. Maybe we'll be able to use this when it comes out.

~~~
aarohmankad
I'm currently working on creating a sidebar app similar to Honey's UI [1].
Have you made any progress implementing the sidebar look? It doesn't seem very
documented and even Honey seems to do it in a hacky way.

[1]:
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/honey/bmnlcjabgnpn...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/honey/bmnlcjabgnpnenekpadlanbbkooimhnj?utm_source=chrome-
ntp-icon)

~~~
nathan_f77
Sorry I haven't used Honey, and the demo video didn't seem to show a sidebar?
Also I actually inherited this codebase, but yeah our sidebar looks good. It
just injects a container div into the site.

------
iansilber
Awesome. I built Intab ([https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/intab-
beta/bfaekma...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/intab-
beta/bfaekmalldododidalckpccilpcdefme?hl=en)) but it's admittedly a bit hacky.
Hoping this API will support the same use case in a much more stable way.

------
spdustin
In reminded of :

    
    
      target="_search"
    

Sure was a handy way to get a sidebar opened with a "mini" web app

------
jebblue
It'a good idea, it reminds me of IE Bands, one of the few things I liked about
IE:

[https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/desktop/cc1...](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/windows/desktop/cc144099\(v=vs.85\).aspx)

------
shwetank
Opera already has support for Sidebar extensions, you can check it out here
[https://dev.opera.com/extensions/tut_sidebar_actions.html](https://dev.opera.com/extensions/tut_sidebar_actions.html)

------
ushi
This could make the octotree[0] extension even more awesome. Let's see.

[0]
[https://github.com/buunguyen/octotree](https://github.com/buunguyen/octotree)

~~~
hmhrex
Never heard of this. Looks like a really cool project.

------
collyw
I remember all the fuss that was made about a sidebar in Windows (was it in
Vista?) At the end of the day its just a souped up menu in a different
position.

------
ThomPete
Finally!

I have been waiting for this for a long long time.

------
dragthor
Sounds like a mechanism for ads. (unfortunately)

~~~
jessaustin
If the user installs an extension that delivers ads, then perhaps it is the
user's intention to receive ads? Barring some kind of exploit, this won't be
something that a website can do to you.

------
curiousjorge
thank god. I've been asking for this a long time and its finally making

------
ksk
Relax guys, nobody is going to abuse this API!

------
paulojreis
I haven't read everything in detail, but this reminded me of the API developed
for modal dialogs. It ended like this:

[https://dev.opera.com/blog/showmodaldialog/](https://dev.opera.com/blog/showmodaldialog/)

Both the ideas seem good, but it's hard to not think about "Embrace, extend
and extinguish".

~~~
pvg
The sidebar API is for chrome extensions, not web pages. They're probably not
extending their own API in order to extinguish it.

~~~
paulojreis
You're right. I haven't noticed that the API was "chrome.sidebar".

