Add keyboard shortcut to show/hide sidebar

[A-t-s-u-s-h-i]

Description

I have a user who is considering to change his main browser from Vivaldi to Brave. He says Brave should have a shortcut key to show/hide sidebar. Now users need to move mouse cursor to the side of the browser window or click sidebar button to show/hide sidebar. But sometimes these operations could be frustrating users a bit. It would be very nice if Brave has the shortcut key to show/hide sidebar.

FYI, Vivaldi shows/hides sidebar by [option] + [command] + [p] on MacOS.

[rebron]

Proposing Ctrl+B on Windows and command+B on macOS to match Firefox open/close of sidebar.

[rebron]

cc: @simonhong @spylogsster
@bradleyrichter @aguscruiz

[stephendonner]

Verified PASSED using

Brave	1.50.90 Chromium: 111.0.5563.64 (Official Build) beta (x86_64)
Revision	c710e93d5b63b7095afe8c2c17df34408078439d-refs/branch-heads/5563@{#995}
OS	macOS Version 11.7.4 (Build 20G1120)

Steps:

1. installed 1.50.90
2. launched Brave
3. clicked on the Show Sidebar button on the browser toolbar
4. confirmed it opened
5. pressed command + B
6. confirmed the sidebar snapped closed
7. pressed command + B again
8. confirmed the sidebar opened

example	example	example

Also tried the keyboard shortcut in various scenarious/states in 1.49.120, and it didn't do anything, as expected. All keyboard shortcuts with B also have additional modifiers:

example	example

[LaurenWags]

@brave/qa-team please check keyboard shortcut on previous release (1.49.x) to confirm we're not overriding a previous keyboard shortcut as well as confirming the keyboard shortcut behaves as expected with 1.50.x.

[MadhaviSeelam]

Verification PASSED using

Brave | 1.50.108 Chromium: 112.0.5615.39 (Official Build) (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | a0e7b9718a92bcd1cf33b7c95316caff3fc20714-refs/branch-heads/5615@{#753}
OS | Windows 11 Version 22H2 (Build 22621.1413)

New Profile - Sidebar left

1. Install 1.50.108
2. launch Brave
3. clicked on the Show Sidebar button on the browser toolbar
4. confirmed it opened
5. pressed Ctrl+ B
6. confirmed the sidebar snapped closed
7. pressed command + B again
8. confirmed the sidebar opened
9. clicked reading list icon to close the sidepanel and sidebar

step 4	step 6	step 8

Upgrade - Sidebar right

1. Install 1.49.132
2. launch Brave
3. open brave://settings/appearance
4. select Show on right option in `Show Sidebar button
5. verified Ctrl+alt+B (bookmarks bar)
6. close the browser
7. relaunch Brave with 1.50.x
8. clicked on the Show Sidebar button on the browser toolbar
9. confirmed it opened
10. pressed Ctrl+ B
11. confirmed the sidebar snapped closed
12. verified Ctrl+alt+B (bookmarks bar) again

step 4	step 8	step 10	ctrl+alt+B (bookmarks bar)

[btlechowski]

Verification passed on

Brave	1.50.93 Chromium: 111.0.5563.64 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)
Revision	c710e93d5b63b7095afe8c2c17df34408078439d-refs/branch-heads/5563@{#995}
OS	Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

New Profile - Sidebar left

1. Install 1.50.x
2. launch Brave
3. clicked on the Show Sidebar button on the browser toolbar
4. confirmed it opened
5. pressed Ctrl+ B
6. confirmed the sidebar snapped closed
7. pressed ctrl + B again
8. confirmed the sidebar opened
9. clicked reading list icon to close the sidepanel and sidebar

Upgrade - Sidebar right

1. Install 1.49.x
2. launch Brave
3. open brave://settings/appearance
4. select Show on right option in `Show Sidebar button
5. close the browser
6. relaunch Brave with 1.50.x
7. clicked on the Show Sidebar button on the browser toolbar
8. confirmed it opened
9. pressed Ctrl+ B
10. confirmed the sidebar snapped closed

1.49.x

1.50.x

[bastian-purrer]

As a user that doesn't use the sidebar, this implementation is very flawed. I accidentally open the sidebar, with no obvious way to close it.
The sidebar is also opened if I explicitely de-activated it in the Brave settings. And there is no way to deactivate or change the shortcut. Major headache

[simonhong]

As a user that doesn't use the sidebar, this implementation is very flawed. I accidentally open the sidebar, with no obvious way to close it. The sidebar is also opened if I explicitely de-activated it in the Brave settings. And there is no way to deactivate or change the shortcut. Major headache

@bastian-purrer I think you could remove unwanted shortcuts from brave://settings/system/shortcuts.
As it's available from 1.53.x(currently in beta), you could customize shortcuts from the next major update if you're using stable channel now. Hope that helps!

[q2apro]

The decision to user CTRL B is unfortunately bad.

Every time I am using an editor (HTML textarea) and mark a word, then hit Ctrl B, the word gets marked bold - ⚠️ AND the sidebar of Brave shows up. And the editor (textarea) is losing focus!

I cannot deactivate it under brave://settings/system/shortcuts

There are also no browser settings.

Please remove this shortcut again.

[simonhong]

@q2apro Sorry for the inconvenience. We're planning to release major update next week.
With it. you could remove ctrl + b from brave://settings/system/shortcuts

[mihaime]

this one is super annoying especially in Confluence where you use ctrl+b / cmd+b to Bold Text.
Now instead the sidebar keeps popping up..

[q2apro]

The latest update did NOT solve the issue.

[elron]

Please re-open this issue.
The command+B (in mac devices) should be reserved to bold text in text editors, not open sidebar. (Personally I don't use the sidebar at all)

[mihaime]

same opinion here...adding a modified shortcut for "a single user" "who is considering to change his main browser from Vivaldi to Brave" does not really make it the norm for the rest of us that are really using Brave on a daily basis.