Microsoft's Edge browser just got more attractive: after going into preview four months ago, Microsoft plans to roll out vertical tabs to all users this month.

Web browser designers have rallied around the idea that tabs belong on a horizontal bar along the top. With ultra-wide monitors becoming increasingly popular, Microsoft believes there is a better way.

As shown in the animation below, Edge's new feature allows tabs to appear in a vertical pane on the left. To prevent websites from being obscured, this UI change reduces the text to a simple logo with the click of a button.

Chrome can mimic this functionality to some extent with such an extension, but as far as we know, developers cannot hide the original tabs.

Interestingly, vertical tabs were a feature in Chrome 10 years ago, but the company discontinued them due to lack of adoption. As an experiment, side tabs were not a success. A few people were really enthusiastic about it, but in the end it wasn't compelling enough to be adopted," one developer wrote in 2011.

Later, as many users grew attached to the feature, a developer who expressed regret for "prolonging the experiment too long" explained that such a tough decision was essential to the goal of keeping the browser as simple as possible.

"We torture ourselves with this stuff, and it comes down to painful decisions to keep Chrome lightweight," the developer continued.

"We know that features like this are really important to some users (and Chrome developers!). We know that these features are really important to some users (and Chrome developers!), but at the same time, we have to constantly cut and trim things, knowing that it will annoy people, so that Chrome doesn't become a bloated piece of software that doesn't satisfy anyone.

However, 10 years is a long time in the technology field, and the penetration rate of ultra-wide monitors will be higher in 2021 than in 2011. If Microsoft's hunch is correct, it would be very surprising if Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and others did not bring back vertical tabs for fear of losing wide-screen users to rivals.

Vertical tabs aren't the only thing Edge is getting an upgrade this month. Microsoft will also introduce a "startup boost" that will launch the browser in the background when users turn on their devices. This will reduce Edge's startup time by 29% to 41%. Of course, if it is running silently in the background and using system resources, this is something of an illusion.

Browser history will also be reviewed. Instead of taking up the entire page, it will now appear as a drop-down menu in the toolbar and can be conveniently pinned to the side.