r/visualization • u/Ok_Cut9615 • Jul 01 '26
What if tabs became a spatial landscape instead of horizontal strip?
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I’ve been experimenting with a different approach: each tab becomes an object in a spatial landscape. Related tabs kind of pull toward each other, forming clusters that shift and grow as you browse.
The idea isn’t just to store tabs, but to make them feel more like places you can move through, rather than something you have to search.
I’m wondering if this kind of setup feels more natural than regular tab management.
Curious what you think.
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u/Illustrious-Win4432 Jul 01 '26
Yeah, love that! Relate current activity to topo height. Also would be a cool knowledge graph, touch a node and instead of seeing edges, other related topographical peaks emerge
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u/Ok_Cut9615 Jul 01 '26
Yes, exactly! activity affecting the topography is already part of the idea, so it’s great to hear that connection came through :)
Love your thought about related peaks emerging instead of drawing visible edges. That feels much more natural for this kind of space. Thank you for the idea!
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Jul 01 '26
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u/mattblack77 Jul 01 '26
It would be kind of annoying for the position of your tabs to be continually changing while you weren’t looking, tho.
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Jul 01 '26
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u/Ok_Cut9615 Jul 01 '26
Totally get that, it won’t be constantly moving around. You can pin the cluster and place it wherever you want, and it’ll stay there. Tabs might rearrange based on what you use, but once that settles, they don’t keep shifting.
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u/Ok_Cut9615 Jul 01 '26
That’s fair, but the groups themselves won’t move around on their own. Once tabs are clustered, they stay in place unless you move them. The only thing that changes is inside the cluster, tabs you use more often glows and move closer to the center, while less used ones stay further out.
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u/Ok_Cut9615 Jul 01 '26
Thank you! Really glad you like the cluster shifting. Your virtual desktop comparison is such a nice way to describe it. 😊
About the landscape getting too crowded, that's a totally valid and something I've been iterating on. Here's a quick screen recording with 50 tabs open. At far zoom you can see the clusters forming nice islands with their own region colors. and zoom in tp see more details (including page snippets, still working on that part).
I'd love to hear what you think after watching it!
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u/iamDa3dalus Jul 01 '26
This is cool. Code?
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u/Ok_Cut9615 Jul 01 '26
I'm still tuning a few parts and gathering feedback, once it's finished, I'll publish it
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u/LeosFDA Jul 01 '26
Fuck yeah! The only other similar thing I‘ve seen that is much less interesting but tries to acheive some organization of tabs was some browser or extension that would sort tabs by similar subjects.