Main Split Tab View Concern
With the most recent update of Brave browser, which I’ve neglected to do for a while but finally did about two nights ago if I remember correctly, I’ve noticed a change with how split tab works, a change which I find very frustrating as it removed a helpful feature that I often used.
My goal with this post is to explain the change, how it was before and after, provide constructive criticism and feedback, and hopefully convince Brave to reinstate the feature. I will have some bonus feedback on split view in general at the end as well. I will also have alt text for images located right below them in parentheses.
As per usual, while in one tab (henceforth referred to as Tab A), one can right click on a second tab (henceforth referred to as Tab B) and click “New split view with current tab” in order to create a split view with those two tabs. Still as per usual, one can then right click on either of the two tabs in the hotbar at the top and then mouse over (or click on) “Arrange split view” in order to pull up another menu with the options “Unsplit tabs”, “Close left view”, “Close right view”, and “Swap tab positions”.
(“Arrange split view” menu from the tab hotbar, unchanged from before the update, May 2026)
As an avid user of split tab, the update that I’ve just noticed has been very frustrating to me. The change in question now happens with the icons at the bottom of each tab in the split view.
Previously, the icon in the bottom right corner would be the 3 dots shown here, which one could click on to reveal the “Arrange split view” menu at that location. I found this to be very useful in my use of split tab. I could very easily swap Tab A and Tab B between the left and right positions in two quick clicks of Mouse Button 1 (left click) instead of one click of Mouse Button 2 (right click), then either mousing over “Arrange split view” and waiting a second for a left click, or two left clicks. And then also, from the menu in the hotbar at the top, it takes longer to mouse over to “Swap tab positions” because it’s the final option in the menu. However, when accessing that menu from the bottom of a split view tab, it would be the closest option, adding more ease of access in this scenario.
(view of icons at the bottom of split view tabs before current update, December 2025)
Now, however, the 3 dots which revealed the “Arrange split view” menu is gone from the bottom of a split tab and is replaced by an X to close said tab in split view. This removal of functionality is something that I find quite frustrating, especially since it was a feature that I used quite a lot.
(view of icons at the bottom of split view tabs after current update, May 2026)
If I wanted to close a tab in split view, I could always mouse over the tab in the hotbar at the top of the page. I feel like this loss of functionality of the previous second location of the “Arrange split view” menu is not worth what is, what I feel to be at least, an extraneous and unnecessary addition of an extra location to close a tab in split view, especially when, regardless of browser, it is most common practice and people are used to closing tabs through the hotbar at the top.
(view of split view while in Tab A, showing the X revealed for Tab A, May 2026)
(view of split view while in Tab A and mousing over Tab B, showing the X for Tab A and revealing the X for Tab B, May 2026)
Of course, I would like the “Arrange split view” menu to be returned to the bottom right corners of split view tabs, however, I also see a chance here for customizability, something that is pretty much universally loved as it lets the user opt into their preferred experience. There could be a setting to allow one to change the icon in the bottom corner of a split tab and its functionality, in case anyone does like the second X in the bottom corner. If anyone has any other ideas for this feature of split tab, feel free to add something, but that’s all I have on this and I hope my feedback on it was helpful.
Extra Split Tab View Feedback
As for extra feedback about split tab while I’m here, I’ll preface it with the fact that I use both Brave and Opera GX simultaneously as primary browsers. I will say that I really like Brave’s split screen and its features more than Opera GX’s split screen, also that Brave’s split screen has more functionality (for example: being able to swap tab positions, I really like this feature if you can’t tell lol; and swapping a third tab into the split view).
(Brave browser’s swap tab into split view feature, May 2026)
Two features from Opera GX that could be quite useful, at least situationally, would be 1) mousing over the space between the two split view tabs to reveal a button to click to unsplit tabs and 2) having two separate url boxes, one for each split view tab.
(example of Opera GX’s split view while mousing over the space in between split view tabs in the hotbar, revealing an unsplit tabs button, May 2026)
Personally, I think the unsplit tab button here could be useful just for faster access of that feature. Also, two url boxes can make it faster to manually search instead of needing to click somewhere on the tab you want to use the search bar in in order to use it in the correct tab. However, because of that feature, I think maybe that’s why Opera GX doesn’t have the bookmarks show in split tab view, which is somewhat frustrating. Of course, I don’t think more customizability is a bad thing, and I don’t see why bookmarks can’t be visible in split tab view with two search bars.
Also, I’m particularly crazy and will sometimes split my tabs 3 ways with a split tab view in one window and a second window. I don’t know if it would be worth the effort, but imagine a triple split tab in one window… The main reason I don’t split my tabs 3 ways very often this way with 2 windows is because I like to have one window on my screen at a time for the most part and I don’t need or want the second window on my screen the whole time if I ever want to navigate to other tabs.
(a 3-way split tab created with a split tab view in one window and one tab in a second window, December 2025)
Anyways, that’s all of my feedback on the split tab view. If you read all the way through, thank you so much and have a great day! I hope that my feedback was helpful.
Okay so when trying to upload this, I became aware that new users could only have up to 4 pieces of embedded media, so I’ve removed the pictures that weren’t as important.