Make collected Chrome tabs and bookmarks more aesthetically pleasing?

January 23, 2024 12:17 PM

This seems simple to me, but I'm falling into so many holes in the Chrome Store. All I want is a simple visual interface for dealing with many bookmarks and tabs. I'd like to be able to sort them into categories, and then have 20 or so of my favorite links pop up as visual logos when I open a category. Is there an app for this? (For desktop, not mobile. I'm even willing to switch browsers!) All my snowflakey feelings inside...

I like to visit a lot of sites repeatedly, and those sites often fall into different categories. For ease, let's say I want one "folder" or "page" for News where I've got links to my 15 favorite news sites, one for job search where I store my favorite pages to check on the regular, one for "wasting time" where I go to specific links and see what's happened since I was last there, and so on. I'd like to go to a webpage or site where I can click links to these groups and then see a visually pleasing array of icons for each of my favorite links in these categories. I'd like to move those icons around sometimes, but most importantly, I want them to be visual icons instead of a list.

I have Onetab, but it's really just a giant list and I don't find it that easy to navigate. In the Chrome Store, I found something called "Spaceboard" that's actually really, really close to the right thing, but it's riddled with annoying little errors like words being spelled wrong in the quotes they give and poorly formatted text and little "server not responding warnings" that pop up. Those issues are distracting. I tried Momentum in the Chrome Store, but the bookmark link thing is just a list, not a visual collection. And yes, I have bookmarks in my browser sorted into folders at the top of my screen, but I don't like going to them because they're lists, not visual icons. I really just want to open a tab and see 5 icons for categories, then I want to open those categories and have pleasant icons for my links.

I would be happy to make this myself if anyone can point me to a simple way to do that with some of the new AI website makers. I'd be happy to pay money for a productivity app that offers this or switch to Safari and buy something from Apple. (I'm a Mac User if that matters.) I'm shocked by how sloppy and buggy all the related stuff in the Chrome Store is and just want something simple and not halfway broken. I appreciate any and all related recommendations.

posted by luzdeluna to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

I'm even willing to switch browsers!

Vivaldi. Multiple Speed Dial pages + tab stacks + (if you're feeling fancy) workspaces.
posted by sailoreagle at 12:22 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

Also came here to say Vivaldi. Very powerful and customizable.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 2:55 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

I use Workona, and pay for it, but maybe I shoulds switch to Vivaldi.
posted by Morpeth at 3:49 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

actually you should try the Arc Browser!! it does exactly this and it's excellent.

took me getting a new computer to switch over (after having been meaning to try it for ages) and it's so good.
posted by wowenthusiast at 3:58 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

I use Toby for this. It lets you both save and open in bulk and lets you do sets of categories.
posted by eleanna at 4:03 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

Sorry meant to add that Toby is a browser add on that works on Chrome and is both Mac and PC compatible.
posted by eleanna at 4:05 PM on January 23 [1 favorite]

I think Chrome just released or is about to release new settings for group tabs. Read this on some tech blog recently, but blanking on source.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:31 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]