✔︎ Last updated on February 18th, 2024
If you have ever wanted to view two or more tabs side by side in your browser, this article is for you. This article will teach you how you can have up to 4 tabs arranged neatly alongside each other.
If you still go back and forth between multiple tabs for your work, stop. There’s a better way. You can have them side by side so that you can view them at the same time.
But as far as I know, popular browsers like Google Chrome or Apple’s Safari don’t natively support the tabs in split screen. No Chrome extension provides this functionality either because Google disabled the ‘Panel’ experimental feature in the Chromium engine a few years back.
Your only choice is to open the websites in two separate windows and then arrange them vertically on your screen using your computer’s window management features.
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To say this looks ugly and is an overall suboptimal solution is an understatement. Microsoft recognized this and added a native ‘Split-screen mode’ in its Edge browser, which endeared it to many users. By default, the Edge browser supports two tabs side by side and another (mobile) website in its sidebar, so, practically speaking, you could have three tabs arranged vertically, on your screen using the Edge browser.
Now, 3 tabs are good enough for most people but what if you could have 4 tabs open together on your screen? Maybe you need 4 tabs for your research or maybe you have a widescreen monitor with extra space on the sides that is large even for three tabs to occupy!
Enter the Arc Browser, a new entrant that claims to be the future of browsers. It’s already making headlines for all the right reasons. Currently, it’s available on Mac and iOS devices but soon it will land for Windows devices too.
How to open 4 tabs (side by side) in Arc Browser on Mac
Once you open the Arc browser, you can open new tabs using the keyboard shortcut Cmd + T. Pressing this shortcut opens a command bar, where you can type the name of the website or any command.
When you have 4 of your favorite tabs open, it’s time to put them into the split view. You can do that either by typing a command (Add split view) on the command bar (Cmd+T) or by dragging your tabs to the main viewing area, like this:
Alternately, you can open the command bar on the Arc browser (using Cmd + T or Cmd + L) and type Add split view. Pressing enter will prompt you to provide the URL of the website or the tab you want to add to the split-screen view. You can type the URL or select one from the suggestions.
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I couldn’t get it to tile more than 4 tabs. I am not sure if it’s a hardcoded limitation or if it’s limited by the screen size and resolution of the device. By the way, I tested this on my M1 Macbook Air 2020 (13.3” screen). Your results may vary if you have a studio display or a larger Macbook.
Helpful tips while working with 4 tabs side by side
One more thing, I am on a smaller screen, where using four tabs simultaneously becomes a bit too cramped, so there are a few things I like to do to make my browsing experience roomy:
👉 By default, the sidebar on the Arc browser is on the left and you can’t move it anywhere else. However, you can toggle its visibility using the keyboard shortcut Cmd + S to get more horizontal space.
👉 I tend to sometimes change my display settings to a higher resolution (more space), using a native display setting.
To access this display setting, go to System settings → Displays → More space. You can also access this setting using Spotlight Cmd (⌘) + Space and typing “display” in its search bar. This is what this display setting looks like:
Alternatively, to make your tabs more spacious, you can set the default zoom level of the web browser to something like 90% or 80%, whatever feels comfortable to you.
To set the zoom level in the Arc browser, go to settings (Cmd + ,) → Advanced → More settings → Appearance → Page zoom.
This is what its settings page looks like:
Of course, zooming out too much can be a bit of a strain on your eyes, so change these settings judiciously.
That’s all, you are all set. You now don’t have to go back and forth between the browser tabs to do your research or to complete your coding assignment.
Personally, I use the split-screen functionality to compare the responses of different AI chatbots and image-generation tools and I couldn’t be happier.
Thanks for reading!