Tab bar in compact mode sometimes gets stuck using alt+ctrl+s to toggle it

[stemid]

Hi been using Zen for a week now and I must say I am impressed with the UX you have created. I have been faithful to Firefox since it was still called Mozilla. This is only the 2nd browser I have ever tried as a daily driver.

I love the compact mode but I use alt+ctrl+s to toggle the tab bar and sometimes it gets stuck and refuses to toggle. I have to switch between workspaces a few times, maybe even use alt+ctrl+c to toggle the Compact setting, before it releases.

Is this a known issue perhaps?

I am running Sway with a Swedish keyboard layout with xkb_options caps:escape,numpad:pc in case it matters.

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi @stemid! I'm Dosu and I’m helping the desktop team.

Yes, this is a known issue. There are several reports of the tab bar, sidebar, or toolbar getting stuck or refusing to toggle in compact mode, especially when using keyboard shortcuts like Alt+Ctrl+S and Alt+Ctrl+C. Users have found that toggling compact mode, switching workspaces, or re-entering the shortcuts in the settings can temporarily resolve the problem. On Windows, shortcuts sometimes need to be manually re-entered in the settings to work reliably [1].

The root cause seems to be related to how Zen manages UI state and animations for compact mode and tab bar toggling. Rapid toggling or switching workspaces can sometimes leave the UI in an out-of-sync state, causing the tab bar to get stuck [2] [3] [4]. This is an area of active development, and recent updates to the compact mode code may affect this behavior [5].

Workarounds that have helped others include: toggling compact mode off and on, switching workspaces, resetting the toolbar (right-click and reset), clearing the startup cache (about:support), or re-entering your keyboard shortcuts in the settings [6] [1]. There isn’t a permanent fix yet, but the issue is known and being tracked.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[stemid]

I want to add that I have by accident found a website where you can re-create the compact mode issue.

Of all my websites the Google Chat one always makes the tab bar stick.

1. Press ctrl+alt+s to bring up the tab bar.
2. Click the Google Chat tab
3. The tab bar does not go away like it does on other websites.

Nothing I do on this website can make the tab bar go away unless I use cltr+alt+c and toggle compact mode.

But on other Google Workspaces websites like Gmail and Calendar it is no problem, as soon as I click its tab and the page is shown the tab bar hides again.

Even with the tab bar hidden I cannot use ctrl+alt+s on Google chat at all to toggle the tab bar. It seems that website is truly hijacking something that is disturbing Zen.