Think of split-screen, but much more efficient and cleaner. That’s what Brave is testing in the latest version of Nightly. Basically, the new feature lets you browse a separate webpage in a sidebar, so that you don’t have to use the conventional split-screen method or end up using a new window or tab.

A design engineer at Brave officially posted about sidebar browsing on X, and we have attached the post below.

If you want to try this feature, the first step is to update to the latest version of Brave Nightly. For now, it remains an experiment, so it requires you to enable a specific flag.

Brave latest update.

Head over to brave://flags and search for “sidebar web panel.” Or, you could directly visit this link in Brave. It’s disabled by default, so you’ll need to enable it and restart the browser.

Brave Nightly flag.

After Brave restarts, all you have to do is open a website and then select the preferred site from the sidebar. Click on the icon, and it should open in a sort of “split” view; this is how sidebar browsing works for now.

However, there’s one bug for now. A team member at PiunikaWeb, Dwayne Cubbins, discovered that clicking on the icon seems to directly open a new tab instead of opening within the sidebar. In case you encounter a similar error, you just have to get rid of the shortcut from the sidebar and add it again. This restores the expected behavior.

In my personal test, adding the shortcut to the sidebar and then clicking on the icon opens it in the new view. It doesn’t interfere with the main tab interface, and the sidebar’s URL isn’t shown in the tab view.

Brave Nightly new sidebar browsing feature.

As expected, once the flag is turned off, the website opens in a new tab. It also completely overrides the existing tab.

In other Brave news, the v.99.55 update adds split-view dragging, Leo AI clarifications, and more. You can read about that here.

 
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PiunikaWeb’s Take

The Nightly version of Brave has finally improved the sidebar beyond just a convenient place to store bookmarks. The latest experiment lets you use a second website without needing to open a separate window or tab, and it’s a neat feature that makes a difference to everyday browsing. A good example is scrolling through your X or Instagram feeds while watching a video on Netflix or YouTube. Non-entertainment-based use cases exist too, such as watching the videos of a course on the main view while practising questions in the sidebar panel.

This feature neatly ties in to Brave’s broader push to improve the desktop interface. For example, we recently covered Brave’s experiments with a frameless browsing experience inspired by Arc and Zen. It appears that Brave is actively exploring new ways to make the interface more functional.

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Sudhanshu K
367 Posts

I have been a consumer technology enthusiast for over 5 years. Thanks to my experience in software beta testing and product reviews, I've understood and learnt a lot about what bugs and issues bother people, and I spend time trying to simplify their solutions. I cover smartphones, software, social media, apps, AI, and most consumer tech gadgets. Actively pursuing a Computer Science bachelor’s degree. I'm mostly active on Twitter/X (@TechWhirlUlt), drop a DM or tag me if you want to share info or connect!