Please ensure the "Modern" UI doesn't become the only option in the future

Type: Feature Request

The tabs view for open editors is objectively worse in every way in the Modern UI preview. No borders to separate things, a less readable font, less legible padding, etc.

I'm assuming just like Chrome, it will eventually become the default with no way to turn it off.

Please keep the old UI available as an option, or at least the old tab view.

I would give this the discussion label if I could- a GitHub issue is definitely not the most appropriate place for this, but I saw no other avenue for VSCode feedback submissions.

VS Code version: Code 1.133.0 (a5b500951314efd502d07465bd138dfbd714a960, 2026-08-11T22:14:08Z)
OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100
Modes:
Remote OS version: Linux x64 6.18.33.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2

System Info

|Item|Value|
|---|---|
|CPUs|11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11370H @ 3.30GHz (8 x 3302)|
|GPU Status|2d_canvas: enabled
GPU0: VENDOR= 0x8086, DEVICE=0x9a49 [Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics], DRIVER_VENDOR=Intel, DRIVER_VERSION=32.0.101.6737 *ACTIVE*
GPU1: VENDOR= 0x10de, DEVICE=0x25a0 [NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU], DRIVER_VERSION=32.0.15.9155
GPU2: VENDOR= 0x1414, DEVICE=0x008c [Microsoft Basic Render Driver], DRIVER_VERSION=10.0.26100.8875
Machine model name:
Machine model version:
direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok
gpu_compositing: enabled
multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on
opengl: enabled_on
rasterization: enabled
raw_draw: disabled_off_ok
skia_graphite: disabled_off
trees_in_viz: disabled_off
video_decode: enabled
video_encode: enabled
webgl: enabled
webgpu: enabled
webnn: disabled_off|
|Load (avg)|undefined|
|Memory (System)|31.84GB (13.43GB free)|
|Process Argv|--crash-reporter-id d816f7c1-3ddd-4980-88ee-a4ec7bc7d6d1|
|Screen Reader|no|
|VM|0%|

|Item|Value|
|---|---|
|Remote|WSL: Ubuntu|
|OS|Linux x64 6.18.33.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2|
|CPUs|11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11370H @ 3.30GHz (8 x 0)|
|Memory (System)|15.54GB (14.14GB free)|
|VM|0%|
Extensions (8)

Name|Identifier|Author|Version
---|---|---|---
PHP Intelephense|bmewburn.vscode-intelephense-client|bmewburn|1.18.5
NGINX Configuration Language Support|ahmadalli.vscode-nginx-conf|ahmadalli|0.3.5
Angular Snippets (Version 22)|johnpapa.angular2|johnpapa|22.0.0
Dev Containers|ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers|ms-vscode-remote|0.466.0
Remote - SSH|ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh|ms-vscode-remote|0.124.0
Remote - SSH: Editing Configuration Files|ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-edit|ms-vscode-remote|0.87.0
WSL|ms-vscode-remote.remote-wsl|ms-vscode-remote|0.104.3
Remote Explorer|ms-vscode.remote-explorer|ms-vscode|0.5.0

A/B Experiments

```
vsliv368:30146709
binariesv615:30325510
nativeloc1:31344060
dwcopilot:31170013
dwoutputs:31242946
copilot_t_ci:31333650
e5gg6876:31282496
pythonrdcb7:31342333
6518g693:31463988
aj953862:31281341
envsactivate1:31551504
478i5457:31544283
cloudbuttont:31379625
42190218_ostrepl:31403339
ec5jj548:31422691
cp_cls_t_966_ss:31526232
4je02754:31466945
c3h7c220:31478652
cp_cls_t_1081:31454832
conptydll_true:31498968
e9c30283:31461165
test_treatment2:31471001
c9b86496:31447327
ei9d7968:31496641
chat:31457767
ghj88844:31499326
ddid_c:31478207
hmra_i5g22:31518061
7df3h592:31512476
cp_cls_t_1082:31535311
logging_enabled_new:31498466
j0d79568:31499440
jb_cp_cls_t_632:31543129
748c7209:31512887
32d76977:31512328
ha629193:31508444
cdk-lw-on:31524445
jh5f2457_c:31540921
jbcp_cls_pctr_t:31531130
61138546:31518536
cp_intellij_t_nes:31548657
jf4hg949:31526829
ahp-both-windows:31556933
sessions_5:31532894
ihg5j128:31534457
f412h606:31551416
7g2b5551:31542111
enable_editor_pane_layout:31566738
allow-none:31555437
fd5dc207:31551400
36h42362:31564511
c7c27ce7:31554789
1h923230:31564177
0dg73464:31554319
treatment-23-1:31555779
unuse_dynamic_mcp:31555281
0d8dfbc3:31566037
switchtoauto:31559321
0c1h4866:31566224
vrbsty_tr:31561058
session-archive:31558132
ai4g2856_c:31563074
5b8j3302:31564601

```