Microsoft is testing a Split Mode in Edge

[harlan4096]

Microsoft is testing a Split Mode feature in development versions of Microsoft Edge currently that allows users to display two webpages or internal pages side-by-side in a single tab.



Microsoft Edge's Split Mode feature is not the first of its kind. Vivaldi Browser, also based on Chromium, supports several options to display multiple websites in a single tab in the browser. There have also been extensions and experiments, for instance Mozilla's Side View experiment or the extension Tile Tabs WE for Firefox and Chrome, that supported similar functionality.

Split Mode is an experimental feature that is only available in development versions of Microsoft Edge. It supports splitting a tab so that two different webpages may be displayed in it. The feature is easy to use once enabled: all it takes is a click on the split icon in the Microsoft Edge toolbar to split it in the middle.

Edge users may select one of the open tabs to display it next to the active tab. There is also an option to create a new tab and load any web address using the address bar.

Speaking of which, the address bar is split in two, which may be confusing to some users. Both URLs are displayed next to each other, separated by a "|" symbol. When one of the addresses is selected, it is expanded in the address bar and the other is hidden automatically.

Tab controls become available on hover. These controls include a close button to end split mode right away, an option to switch the link opening mode from opening links in the current tab to open links from the left tab in the right tab, to view the split screen pages in individual tabs, and to open one of the open webpages in a new tab.

The tab tiling feature is limited to two tabs at the moment, which makes it less functional than Vivaldi's tab tiling feature. Vivaldi has no restrictions and users may display more tabs in a single tab in the browser using its excellent tab stacking and tiling functionality.



Microsoft Edge users who want to give it a try need to load edge://flags/#edge-split-screen and set the experimental feature to Enabled. The new Split icon is placed on the taskbar after the required restart of the browser.

Please note that experimental features may not land in stable versions of the Edge browser. Some features are removed prior to that.

Now You: do you use Split functionality or would use it?
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