I’ll try to make this succinct, but could the Sessions Tabs be put back into the browser features? I found them incredibly useful for managing multiple accounts, especially my emails, as well as privacy.
Along with this, it would be appreciated if private tabs could also be brought back as well. I found it to be less restrictive, and allowed a more persistent usage of private mode.
That said, if this is already in Brave Core, and I’ve just been unable to find it, I’m sorry, but could someone please help me out with finding these.
No, BRING BACK EVERYTHING that was in the old version. The new one is terrible. It is faster; that is the only thing that is better. Everything else is much, much worse.
In short, I would say it’s just a general reduction in features. Those little things that add up for a lesser experience. For me, these were two that instantly stood out to me. I have also noticed that the in-built spell checker now only applies to English US again, while the old Brave had long ago given the option for English UK, along with a long list of other languages. I had noticed that someone else mentioned that the placement of the tabs on top in line with the minimise/window/close buttons is less aesthetically pleasing and more cluttered than before when it was below the favourites bar, which is a complaint that I also agree with.
For me, Brave is now essentially Chrome but with a built in ad-blocker and slight improvements to security. There has been a loss of functions that I found to be incredibly utilitarian to Brave in an effort to focus on speed and nothing else, which was honestly a secondary benefit on desktop to me.
Even the use of a private window over the old private tabs is a system that is now identical to Chrome, a browser which I wanted to leave behind.
I think the team has made some excellent strides with the browser, but forgetting some of the best features that gave users more flexibility in their use of the browser as well as setting the browser apart from the others isn’t something that I’m a fan off, and it appears that some might agree with me there.
Either way, I really hope that the team can see this point of view and agree that it’s important to them too, because I don’t want to have to try and find another browser in the hopes that it can fulfill the needs I’ve grown accustomed too thanks to what Brave has offered me in the past.
Other than the new being tremendously ugly, I have explained my thoughts on this in great detail in the thread I started, to which you also replied. Muon felt special. This new thing doesn’t.
This is not the case and never will be. There is a lot that goes into Chrome that is propretiary to Google and Brave doesn’t do the same. You can read about the difference here.
Regarding Private windows this is currently done so as to isolate the data that gets created on the profile when using the same window. Its not that Private tabs in same window is abandoned. Its still on the roadmap and you can read whats coming ahead in the Brave Roadmap
I have faith that the Brave browser is simply suffering from growing pains after a code rebase. Sriram has made me feel much better about it. The great danger is in the perception that you had of it becoming just a modded Chrome becoming widespread due to the fact that it now looks and handles much more like Chrome than like its own past versions. Not everyone is going to come here and find out what’s going on. Most will simply jump to conclusions, likely unfavorable, and take action. Hence, my advice that this be a top priority for the developers.
The great danger is in the perception that you had of it becoming just a modded Chrome becoming widespread due to the fact that it now looks and handles much more like Chrome than like its own past versions.
This is precisely the concern that I had, and to an extent still have. I don’t doubt that the team will do the right thing, but it’s certainly a large worry when a supposed update leads to the removal or downgrade of several features.
I replied in a previous post… but I do NOT like the update. I will probably stop using brave if private with Tor, hover over tab, etc. are not implemented back in. It just chrome with an ad block extension now. There is zero reason to use it.
Also, I really liked how the tabs picked up the color from the top of the webpage. I thought that was a clever add.
The features you guys are pining for - they’re getting implemented. We’re transitioning into a brand new engine, interface, developer flow, etc. This stuff takes time. But almost all the features requested here are on the map for us. And the ones that aren’t solidified yet have explanations.
Don’t want to wait? No prob! Anyone is welcome to hop on our GitHub and fix/implement one of these features themselves - remember, Brave is open source.
Outside of that, some of these features are just going to take a bit. We have several large-scale projects getting shipped on top of a mountain of additional work, piled on top of a small team - and its the holidays (at the time of writing this).
Please be patient as we push out big updates and incrementally knock out requested features.
That’s great that they will be implemented in, but it’s poor form to update a browser, push it onto the rest of the users (including those that don’t know a lick of coding (like me)), and have less features than the previous version.
I get that it’s a long process, and that it’s a mountainous pile of work. I’m not trying to downplay that, or discredit any of it.
The issue is a lack of features. I’ve been assured that B:Core isn’t Chrome, but in terms of functionality, it’s missing pretty much everything I used that made B:Muon unique to other browsers out there. For me, personally, this is a functionality downgrade, and others agree. We’ve lost functions, and it’s outright admitted as so (with the promises that they’re coming).
And that’s kinda the thing. Instead of pushing this update out, why didn’t the team wait? Why not wait until it was up to scratch, so that the change wasn’t as jarring as it currently is? Surely that would have made more sense from a perspective sense than having it pushed onto the general userbase, right?
I’m sorry that I’m going on. I don’t want to be one of those guys who irritate and pester over an issue, but at the same time, something does need to be said in my opinion, even if I feel incredibly awkward doing so. I couldn’t recommend Brave enough from my experience with Muon. I’m incredibly glad that the team is as good as they are, and I’m saddened by a lack my lack of cash flow that I can’t afford to donate, because I wish I could.
I just wish that Core could have given a better first impression, because the current first impression is “Hi, I’m Chro- I mean Brave”.
I came here looking for this thread so I can voice my concerns.
I want to start by saying I’ve loved using Brave for the last 2 years. It’s been phenomenal watching Brave be and grow in to something different. Something new. It felt like a whole different experience compared to the other browsers out there. I loved everything from the design of the settings menu to the style of the tabs bar, bookmarks bar, and the way everything just fit together.
Now, with this new version, I get none of that experience. I boot it up and I’m staring at Chrome. Ugly, non-user friendly, stale, cumbersome Chrome. I don’t get that “Brave” feeling anymore. It just feels like one giant switch from “We want to be something new” to “We want to resemble the competition”. Other people have said it, and I hate to echo it, but I don’t see a difference between using Brave and using Chrome with an Ad Block extension. Sure, there may be a back-end difference, but on the front end that’s basically what it feels like.
I still have Muon on my PC and am probably going to continue using it for the time being.
If I could recommend one thing to make the experience better for us long-term users: make the UI look like the Muon UI. I can’t stress enough how the design of Muon Brave is more than half of what set Brave apart. It truly set the tone for the software and I can’t help but comment that Brave will never be as good as it was/is again without it.
@Ricwulf,
I certainly understand why that would seem like the obvious answer - “Why not just wait until its all done?”
There are two main reasons relevant to this discussion. First, just like every company, Brave has project deadlines and agendas that need to be met. Second, mentioned in this article here, a main driving force behind the transition was the ability to update the Chromium base (this is the framework in which the browser runs.
The Chromium project releases updates that get inherited by other browsers running on the engine) These updates need to be managed and adjusted for, then Brave releases an update with any new features/code Brave implemented, and the newly updated Chromium code.
Previously, this process could take a long time - 6 weeks in some cases. With the new build, compiling chromium updates takes a small fraction of that time. So why is this important?
Updates to the Chromium engine often contain security fixes and adjustments. Obviously this is a big deal and is why the first question you’re likely to be asked when requesting support (for any software) is the version number of the product and/or if you’ve “updated to the latest version”.
Now imagine you’re Brave. Your browser (Muon) is slowly falling further and further behind on these important framework updates. You already have a rewrite well into development. The rewrite takes care of this security issue (forever) but it wasn’t originally planned to come out for X amount of time. So now you have to run a cost benefit analysis - Should you:
Continue to let your current browser (Muon) slip further behind in chromium/security updates?
Cost - This makes your software vulnerable (and its users) to malicious software and security exploits. Additionally, it takes longer to release (Muon) updates containing Brave-specific features as well. Benefit - Gives more time for browser rewrite to be completed and at full feature parity (that is, every feature in Muon would be present in the new build) so that things like Clear data on exit and Session Tabs will be available.
Or
Release the rewrite earlier than intended and begin depreciating the old browser?
Cost - Certain features/options won’t be present yet in the rewrite. The bread and butter of it is there - more than usable - but some of the more granular/unique options will be missing.
Benefit - The rewrite is now kept up to date with the most recent security vulnerabilities and attacks. Your users will be protected and will remain so into the foreseeable future. Your devs now have time freed to bring the new build back to parity and focus on more interesting, Brave-specific features down the road since the updates are more efficient.
I know which one I’d pick.
It basically boils down to whether you (the user) would rather be protected while browsing or comfy while browsing. I know that it’s nice to have all the bells and whistles you’re used to right away but not at the expensive of your security. The decision to release Brave Core when we did was made intentionally and for good reason.
You’re more than welcome to continue using Muon if you’d like until these features return. But iirc, it’s currently ~3 chromium updates behind right now.
Oh, last notes:
I’m not entirely sure what you’re driving at here. I don’t know how coding experience ties into our update.
If you use the search bar here on Community and look for "Brave UI’ or “UI Customization” or “Brave Design” or some other related search, you’ll find that Brave is (once again) still transitioning into the new build - this includes design and UI changes. To be clear - Brave Core will not reflect the same design choices as Brave Muon. But it will continue to change and look more and more unique. After all, the Shields panel looked like this just a month or two ago:
You know what. That’s a completely fair analysis, and gives me all the information that I was looking for, because now I understand why this update was pushed out in the (in my opinion, lack lustre) state it’s in.
Thank you so much for the reply, because it’s sated most of my concerns, even if I am still somewhat impatient about features I came to love.
As for the quoted portion, I was mostly talking about how there were references to the backend of the browser that was being vastly improved. As someone who doesn’t understand the coding aspect and only sees the frontend of things, saying “it improves the behind the scenes aspects mostly” might mean something to someone with more of a grasp on coding (as they can figure it out), but for me it came off as a little dismissive (even though I get that it wasn’t).
Actually explaining that this was pushed to everyone because of safety concerns explains perfectly why this was pushed to everyone, instead of waiting for it to come with all the frontend features. So again, thank you for the explanation. It helped to ease my concern.
Happy to help!
Thank you for being understanding of our situation and our goals!
Enjoy your privacy and feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions or concerns.
Session window for the new Brave is not yet implemented. Logged issue 
I have elaborated my thoughts on the topic here: 
I’m not entirely sure what you’re driving at here. I don’t know how coding experience ties into our update.