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In-page sidebar · Clearer state

The In-Page Sidebar — Nav Lives Inside the Page Now

Navigation v1.3.0

v1.3.0 moves Nav's sidebar inside the web page — a slim panel that resizes narrower than Chrome's native one, docks to either edge, and even works on the Chrome Web Store, chrome:// pages, and PDFs. Keyboard hints and type-to-select now ship on by default, and a paused site greys out the toolbar icon so you can see where Nav is off. Your honest read is the only feedback signal a solo developer gets.

  • In-page sidebar (new, now the default) — Nav's sidebar can live inside the web page as a slim panel instead of Chrome's built-in side panel; switch styles in Options
  • Resizes narrower than Chrome's native side panel, docks to the left or right edge, and shows your tabs on pages where the native panel can't — including the Chrome Web Store, chrome:// pages, and PDFs
  • Favicon-only compact mode collapses the sidebar to a thin strip; hover to peek the full width without pushing the page, drag the edge in to collapse
  • Optional auto-hide slides the sidebar off-screen when idle and brings it back when you hover the edge; off by default
  • Keyboard hints and type-to-select now ship ON by default — hold Shift for letter badges over clickable things, type bare letters to highlight matching text
  • Paused sites now grey out Nav's toolbar icon on that tab, so you can see at a glance where Nav is off

The In-Page Sidebar

Nav’s sidebar can now live inside the web page as a slim panel, instead of in Chrome’s built-in side panel. This is the new default, and it does several things the native panel can’t.

It resizes narrower than Chrome’s native side panel, which has a hard minimum width — the in-page sidebar has no such floor, so you can make it as thin as you like. It docks to the left or right edge, with the open animation sliding in from whichever side you pick.

A favicon-only compact mode collapses the sidebar to a thin strip of favicons. Hover it and the full width peeks open without pushing the page around; drag the edge inward to collapse it again. An optional auto-hide slides the sidebar fully off-screen when idle and brings it back when you hover a thin trigger strip at the edge — off by default.

It also shows your tabs on pages where Chrome’s native side panel can’t, including restricted ones: the Chrome Web Store, chrome:// pages, and PDFs. On those, Nav opens a single helper tab to host the sidebar.

If you prefer the native side panel, it’s still there — pick it under Sidebar style in Options (a simple In-page / Native panel switch).

Keyboard Hints & Type-to-Select Now On by Default

The page-keyboard features that shipped off in v1.2.0 are now on by default. Hold Shift and a letter badge appears over every clickable thing on the page; type the badge to click. Type bare letters and every matching bit of text on the page highlights — arrows rotate between matches, Enter activates.

Both stay fully toggleable in Options. And per-site pause still works the same way: Alt+Shift+P on any page turns all Nav page shortcuts off for that site.

Greyed Toolbar Icon on Paused Sites

When you pause Nav’s shortcuts on a site — with Alt+Shift+P, the Alt+K palette, or the pill in the sidebar header — Nav’s toolbar icon now greys out on that tab. It’s an at-a-glance signal that Nav is paused there. Switch to a tab where Nav is active and the icon returns to colour.

The state is per-tab, so each tab’s icon reflects whether Nav is paused on that page.