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...
[2]: https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=344870#c...
It looks like Mozilla is making a new push with Firefox, as well, to attract devs back: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/07/big-ch...
If successful, it will be interesting to see how Chrome evolves for developers to compete.
(I was reminded of this because the Firefox sidebar was always wildly popular - I know lots of people that continue to use it specifically for that purpose)
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.
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.
But that's because up until now we couldn't care about it anyway if Chrome didn't support it. Sidebars can easily make a comeback if the functionality proves to be useful, and I can picture many extension developers experimenting with it if it's made available.
Additionally, we’ve seen numerous extensions create sidebars by injecting HTML content into the current page. It is likely that the majority of sidebar extensions would use a native sidebar if available. Here’s a sample of some of our favorite sidebar extensions...
Some of these tools charge over $5,000/yr/seat and have hundreds of large corporations like Facebook, eBay, Salesforce, Pinterest, Twitter, and Netflix using their software, which demonstrates the immense value that can be provided by a sidebar.
"Does this API expose any functionality to the web?"
"No"
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.
Another idea is vertical tabs.
[1]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/honey/bmnlcjabgnpn...
[1]: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/honey/bmnlcjabgnpn...
target="_search"
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/cc1...
I have been waiting for this for a long long time.
https://dev.opera.com/blog/showmodaldialog/
Both the ideas seem good, but it's hard to not think about "Embrace, extend and extinguish".