New Taskbar Tabs feature transforms your favourite websites into Windows 11 apps

Mozilla is developing a new feature in the Firefox browser on Windows 11 called “Taskbar Tabs,” which will enhance user interaction with web applications by making websites app-like experiences. According to a new recent first look from Windows Report, the feature lets you pin web apps to the Windows taskbar for convenient and uninterrupted access.

What are PWAs?

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are websites that are utilized to act like native applications and offer benefits like fast start-up times as well as offline functionality. While Mozilla once tested on PWA capability via a Single Site Browser (SSB) feature, they never actually rolled out the feature. Due to the increasing need for this, however, Mozilla is now actively attempting to implement Taskbar Tabs within Firefox to allow websites to act like a standard app.

David Rubino, a Firefox product manager, said that the team is currently refactoring PWA implementation based on feedback from the community. They want to enable users to make any site a web app in one click so that it can be executed in its window with a bare-bones browser interface. These web applications would remain open until they are closed manually, handle links in their own domain, and integrate seamlessly with the Windows operating system, like appearing on the taskbar for instant use.

Here’s how the extension works

Mozilla originally developed Taskbar Tabs as a standalone extension before they decided to make it a standalone feature of Firefox. This feature sends tabs to single-site windows on the taskbar, improving the user experience by providing an app-like experience with websites.

So far, Mozilla has not shown a specific launch of Taskbar Tabs. Users are encouraged to look out for updates since Mozilla continues to refine and test the feature in an attempt to improve the web browsing experience on Windows 11.