Worskpaces/Containers feature feedback

[aguscruiz]

Hi all! I’m Agustín, I work as product designer for desktop in Brave. I wanted to reach out to you all because we’re actively considering the much requested functionalities of Containers and Workspaces.

We recognize that people who request this features in particular come from other browsers where they are already available. But since they have overlapping functionality (in addition to our Profiles), we wanted to ask for your input and try to understand what about those features make your life easier, to try to solve the problem you are facing.

Here is a list of questions we think can help us figure out what about the features is worth exploring:

• What do you like or dislike about the Workspaces/Multi-account containers/Profiles features you’ve used in other browsers?

• What are the biggest frustrations you experience when trying to keep your different online activities separate and organized in your browser?

• Why doesn’t the profile functionality work for you? You can have multiple profiles, each working as a clean slate for the browser in the practical sense.

• For what specific situations would you find it helpful to have separate “spaces” or “containers” within your browser? (e.g., work projects, personal projects, different clients, social media management, etc.)

• What problems do you encounter when switching between different online accounts (e.g., multiple email accounts, social media profiles, work accounts)?

• What kind of information do you want to keep separate between these “spaces” (e.g., Browse history, cookies, logins, extensions, themes)?

• When separating different logins/sessions, is having them visible and accessible within the same browsing window important to you?

• Are there any specific websites or web applications that you would always want to open in a particular “space” automatically?

Please feel free to elaborate on these questions, and provide any additional insights about what these features actually solve for your daily browser usage. We want to create the best tool for you, and your thoughts will be crucial for this.

We took these threads in the community as the basis of this breakdown.
Thanks in advance for all the valuable feedback!

Equivalent of Multi-Account Containers or Temporary Containers Extension (FF)

Switching from Firefox to Brave, this feature is the one I’m missing the most. My use case: I want to log in to different google accounts in an isolated environment. For example, Container1 = only private Youtube Account, Container2= Work Google, and in the basic (no container) I don’t want to be logged in to google at all. This way my Google Search is done without an account. multiple social media accounts from the same service (Facebook, Instagram, …) I hope so much, this feature is coming! …

Workspaces in Brave

Hi, I have been working on multiple projects for some time and have a lot of tabs open. I currently use Tabs’ groups and Memory Saver. Of course it does help, but it doesn’t solve everything. Group names also take up space… My suggestion is to create something similar to Opera GX. How it works? you can create one workspace for free-time with specific cards (eg. youtube, facebook) then you create new workspace for work (eg. gmail, github). What’s next? let’s say, you just finished your wo…

Add a tab grouping feature like Opera Workspaces

there’s extension called Workona which gives you a similar feature to workspaces in Vivaldi. but I have to say it doesn’t work that well with Brave.

Brave workspaces?

Using edge. I was using Vivaldi but it doesn’t work well with phantom wallet…and mobile version doesn’t have translator(same for brave)

[NicoProducto]

• What do you like or dislike about the Workspaces/Multi-account containers/Profiles features you’ve used in other browsers? I can add multiples accounts and have browser history differentiated by account, this is extremely important for my personal use cases because I have three different accounts and I dont want to mix stuffs. The other thing I like is how quickly I can access and switch between profiles, it just two clicks away.

• What are the biggest frustrations you experience when trying to keep your different online activities separate and organized in your browser? Tabs mostly. The other thing is Meets, for example: I have a meet scheduled for one profile, and I am working in another profile, that always fail in every browser I tried.

• Why doesn’t the profile functionality work for you? You can have multiple profiles, each working as a clean slate for the browser in the practical sense. Profile is hidden in Brave Desktop, in Mobile I couldnt find it.

• For what specific situations would you find it helpful to have separate “spaces” or “containers” within your browser? (e.g., work projects, personal projects, different clients, social media management, etc.) Work and personal projects mostly.

• What problems do you encounter when switching between different online accounts (e.g., multiple email accounts, social media profiles, work accounts)? It not simple to switch, the biggest problem its in terms of meets from different accounts (see second answer).

• What kind of information do you want to keep separate between these “spaces” (e.g., Browse history, cookies, logins, extensions, themes)? History, passwords, extensions/plugins.

• When separating different logins/sessions, is having them visible and accessible within the same browsing window important to you? YES, please

• Are there any specific websites or web applications that you would always want to open in a particular “space” automatically? Yes, work related apps and products, dashboards and other similar things.

Happy to go deep in each answer
Abrazo Agus

[mrCaliburn]

I know this a bit of a essay I am going to write below and my feedback could be all over the place, but I would like to express my vague idea and some issues i faced when using a browser which had workspaces. I also attached a small rough sketch i made just now to explain how i think a rough visualisation of workspaces could be at the end of response

*** What do you like or dislike about the Workspaces/Multi-account containers/Profiles features you’ve used in other browsers?**

What I like: workspaces implementation is useful in academic/project setting to seperate concerns. I like the heirarchy of the workspaces implementation Arc has. You have different profiles(kind of like in Brave) and each and every workspace is assosiated with a profile. So, multiple workspaces can have synced passwords etc., while having the bookmarks, favourites seperated. I can simply have an profile with all my school related password and accounts and then have multiple workspaces in each profile for specific subject or project.(You can translate the analogy to any field) You can then have other profiles for other tasks.
To put it simply: You can see workspaces and use them but the profiles tie some of them in the background.
What I dont like: It is impossible in some browsers(ahem Arc) to export all your bookmarks/favourites and passwords when changing browsers. I suffered a lot when switching to Brave. Please if possible think of a clean way to integrate the workspaces to export functionality.

*** Why doesn’t the profile functionality work for you? You can have multiple profiles, each working as a clean slate for the browser in the practical sense.**
As I said above it is great that profiles offers a clean slate, but in most cases it is better to have a state based on a profile in the background. Like if i want to create a new workspace for my new project, I can simply create a new workspace for the project with the Work Profile. I would still have most of my passowrds, base settings in place. I can then set a differnt theme(identify quickly which workspace i am in) and then add project specific bookmarks, favourites, account logins etc.,
*** What kind of information do you want to keep separate between these “spaces” (e.g., Browse history, cookies, logins, extensions, themes)?**
As said above i would like to have base settings of profiles like password info, extensions to be shared across the workspaces within each profile. But, i would like the logins and browse history, favorites and bookmarks to be separate across them.
*** When separating different logins/sessions, is having them visible and accessible within the same browsing window important to you?***
Yes, i would atleast like to see a small icon/visual indicator to identify quickly which workspace i am in and a keybinding option in settings to switch between workspaces.
*** Are there any specific websites or web applications that you would always want to open in a particular “space” automatically?**
we can implement pinned tabs/tab groups in workspace to always open automically when switched to that workspace.

[Mythical5th]

I use profiles and only use Brave, so some of the questions don’t apply to me. I have a Brave profile on each virtual desktop, together with the apps relevant to that profile, and I swipe between desktops as I switch tasks.

• What are the biggest frustrations you experience when trying to keep your different online activities separate and organized in your browser?
  a) Links opened from other apps will open in the most recently used Brave window, which is not necessarily the intended one.
  b) Only one profile can sync to mobile, so bookmarks from other profiles are inaccessible when AFK, and viewed pages are added to the history of the wrong profile

• When separating different logins/sessions, is having them visible and accessible within the same browsing window important to you?
  No

[BraveGem]

What do you like or dislike about the Workspaces/Multi-account containers/Profiles features you’ve used in other browsers?

I love the ability to have my same set of bookmarks and extensions/settings, but have a new window of tabs. This is especially useful for different work projects. I may need a whole dedicated space for writing a report and need lots of stuff open that I don’t want in my normal window/workflow.

What are the biggest frustrations you experience when trying to keep your different online activities separate and organized in your browser?

Mostly work, but sometimes in private. I really don’t want a long list (I use vertical tabs) of stuff that I may not be in the mood for at that moment. Tab groups are useful here, but it would be great if they lived in their own space entirely.

Why doesn’t the profile functionality work for you? You can have multiple profiles, each working as a clean slate for the browser in the practical sense.

I use different profiles for work/home, but I don’t want to create a new profile for each new project I’m working on, which means installing new extensions, changing the browser settings for every new profile.

For what specific situations would you find it helpful to have separate “spaces” or “containers” within your browser? (e.g., work projects, personal projects, different clients, social media management, etc.)

When researching something, or writing a report where I need a lot of stuff open that would normally be too much for day to day things combined with my normal work.

There may also be a workflow where I want to have a constant of a certain number of data tabs open. Being able to just switch to this workspace that has everything I need is much easier than opening bookmarks and closing them each time.

What problems do you encounter when switching between different online accounts (e.g., multiple email accounts, social media profiles, work accounts)?

This can be tricky, so in some cases I do create separate profiles or I use the private browsing mode when logging into other accounts.

What kind of information do you want to keep separate between these “spaces” (e.g., Browse history, cookies, logins, extensions, themes)?

I’m fine with keeping existing cookies/history/extensions/logins, I just need different places to store my open tabs and research.

When separating different logins/sessions, is having them visible and accessible within the same browsing window important to you?

Having a private tab within a same window as normal tabs, that would be really great.

Are there any specific websites or web applications that you would always want to open in a particular “space” automatically?

Google Docs, Youtube (for music). Not something I require though.

Context: I am a full time user of Vivaldi for work. Would love to be able to use Brave for vertical tabs, side panels, and workspaces.