- General
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Idees
Saving tab trees to bookmarks
The problem
In the event of a Sidewise/browser malfunction, or accidental closing of a branch, the ability to save all tabs (including hibernated) to a folder in the bookmarks would be very useful.
Currently, I manually hibernate everything, and then individually wake trees that need to be saved. I then use the "FreshStart - Cross Browser Session Manager" extension to save these tabs. Unfortunately, it is a slow method when I have a large number of tabs in a tree.
A solution
Saving the bookmarks to a folder like FreshStart does would be useful. Each folder in Sidewise will correspond with a folder in the bookmarks.
This is just an idea (and a bad one): a 'metadata bookmark' could be saved as well to record the state/location of each tab in the branch, as well as its labels/highlights.
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P.S. You may want to take this into consideration before implementing "non-core features" -- even if I suggest some! ;)
Answer
An ability to save both single tabs and branches of tabs to bookmarks is definitely planned and I consider it a core feature. The "metadata bookmark" idea is an interesting one; I'll have to give this some consideration. It would definitely be a hack, but it would sure be nice to have those Sidewise-specific states retained. Perhaps it will be a (default off) option that users can turn on if they want to make that trade-off.
Regarding the issue of feature bloat: I agree this is something to be studiously avoided; I can think of numerous examples of once-great lightweight apps that gradually become laden with features that are low-value cruft, and which end up detracting from the performance, usefulness, and clarity-of-vision of the earlier versions.
I have in mind a "core" feature set that will eventually result in a total of about 9 sidebar panes that will come "built in" with a Sidewise install, and I plan to have 4 or 5 of these *at most* turned on by default, along with an ability for the user to control which panes are visible (and their ordering) in the options page. I consider these "built in" panes to be a part of my original vision for Sidewise, together comprising a comprehensive set of sidebar-oriented tools that give great visibility and control over the user's browsing experience. All of these panes will be designed to work together in a holistic manner.
Any additional sidebar panes will likely be made available by installing extra "sidebar pane" extensions from the Chrome Web Store, which will also allow for other folks to create their own sidebar panes, or give existing extensions the ability to show up as a Sidewise pane.
I am taking a similar tack with the options page, with an overall goal of the default "non advanced" options page taking up about one screen-height at the most. Power users can then "reveal advanced options" if they really want to get customization-crazy.
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An ability to save both single tabs and branches of tabs to bookmarks is definitely planned and I consider it a core feature. The "metadata bookmark" idea is an interesting one; I'll have to give this some consideration. It would definitely be a hack, but it would sure be nice to have those Sidewise-specific states retained. Perhaps it will be a (default off) option that users can turn on if they want to make that trade-off.
Regarding the issue of feature bloat: I agree this is something to be studiously avoided; I can think of numerous examples of once-great lightweight apps that gradually become laden with features that are low-value cruft, and which end up detracting from the performance, usefulness, and clarity-of-vision of the earlier versions.
I have in mind a "core" feature set that will eventually result in a total of about 9 sidebar panes that will come "built in" with a Sidewise install, and I plan to have 4 or 5 of these *at most* turned on by default, along with an ability for the user to control which panes are visible (and their ordering) in the options page. I consider these "built in" panes to be a part of my original vision for Sidewise, together comprising a comprehensive set of sidebar-oriented tools that give great visibility and control over the user's browsing experience. All of these panes will be designed to work together in a holistic manner.
Any additional sidebar panes will likely be made available by installing extra "sidebar pane" extensions from the Chrome Web Store, which will also allow for other folks to create their own sidebar panes, or give existing extensions the ability to show up as a Sidewise pane.
I am taking a similar tack with the options page, with an overall goal of the default "non advanced" options page taking up about one screen-height at the most. Power users can then "reveal advanced options" if they really want to get customization-crazy.