Drupal 7 vertical tabs like the ones in Drupal 8
You can use a combination of the Node form columns module and the Renderable elements modules.

Node Form cols separates the node forms into two columns and a footer.
This module alleviates some of the problems with the mile-long node forms in Drupal. Other than that it gives you the possibility to use different weights and collapsed states for your forms than for your presentation.

Renderable elements is more complicated to use but lets you split out the parts of the vertical tabs part of the node edit form. For example, after enabling these two modules, do the following for the article content type:

Visit node/add/article to add a new article content type
Click the new link at the top of the form which says &quot;Manage Form Display&quot;
Tick all the items you want to break out of the vertical tabs. As an example choose &quot;Publishing options&quot;, &quot;Published&quot;, &quot;Promoted to front page&quot; and &quot;Stick at top of lists&quot;
Click save
Goto Structure -&gt; Content types -&gt; Article -&gt; Manage form
Set the &quot;Publishing options (Field group)&quot; and &quot;Save&quot; to be in the right region and press save. nb. I had to use the drop downs here, it didn't seem to rememebr my region choices if I used drag and drop.
Visit node/add/article and see the collapsing publishing options block on the right.