A place to discuss the news and latest developments on the open-source browser Firefox
The changes can thankfully be reverted, for now, by toggling Menu Redesign and Navigation Toolbar in the Secret Settings Menu.
Secret Settings is activated by clicking the Firefox Nightly symbol 10 times in the About Firefox Nightly menu in settings.
Hopefully it stays
Wait what? Was there ever an option to open a private tab as a normal tab?? ๐ค I'd love to have that, but thought it would never get added. What version were you on before (and in which one are you now)?
Yes, it's right there in the menu. It's been there for years on android.
I'm either being very dense right now, or I don't have that o.I How is it called, or where is it located next to?
FYI I don't see it on Fennec (F-Droid Firefox) so if you're using that, that's why.
Now why Fennec has different UI than standard Firefox I do not know...
I think in another comment they mentioned that this was only in Nightly?
Yeah, I see the "open in private tab," but it opens in the private tabs section, not in the regular tabs section.
That's fine with me, but it would be cool if there was an option for private tabs to live next to regular tabs. And for me, selecting the "open links in private tabs" does nothing, it just navigates in whatever tab I'm already in.
I'm on Mull 133 BTW, and the menu looks the same as it always did (long click -> open in private tab). So maybe mine is already updated and that checkbox is now broken? I'm on the official release, so maybe OP is talking about a beta or something?
I'm not sure I've gotten this new menu, despite having been on Beta since forever. Can you link some screenshots?
I prefer not installing random extensions just to replace what should native.
This seems like a perfect use case for extensions. You want a UI feature that the developers seem to have decided is too niche to include in the app.
The reason it's a terrible use case is that this feature was 2 clicks away in a menu. No extension can add menu items 2 clicks away.
It does not say that this addon is available for android.
The Android version supports desktop addons now.
Does it support ALL addons? I thought i was only those with the marker, like this one.
You might be right. I haven't tried installing the add-on, but the site does indicate that it might not be supported. Though it does still have the install button.
I will say, this FINALLY fixes my main gripe.
The "new tab" page used to be in the history of the back button, and when you're on it, there is no forward button.
So when you hit back one too many times, you couldn't go forward. Now you're last back ends on the first non-start page, which is way better.
The new menu does get a few things right.
Classic FF android bullshit.
Plenty of time to reorganise a menu that works just fine.
No resources to give us theming add-ons or even a basic OLED black theme. Let alone allow any other UI customisation.
Reorganizing the menu takes maybe two collective working days until all discussions have been had. Impacts all users.
OLED black theme, probably takes about as long, with accessibility testing, and getting the settings entry translated into all the languages. Impacts the 1% of users, who bother looking through the settings and use a dark theme on an OLED screen.
Integration of theming add-ons takes more than a month, quite possibly more than two. And this is taking into account that they do already have a rough theming extension API (for desktop) in place. This is also a task that you can't give to the people who reorganize menus. Again, impacts maybe 1% of users.
I get that you don't feel like reorganizing the menu was necessary, but it's really not like you'd save the world in that same time...
Or a fix for accidentally closing something when scrolling vertically through open tabs. This still happens to me daily. Going on a year now. https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/option-to-disable-side-swipe-gesture-to-close-a-tab/idi-p/48053
Edit: Added link
I don't understand two things here:
What's the point of private tabs? Just set firefox to clear history on close? Then you never have to switch between "private" and not.
Why would you need to open instagram links in non private windows?
Just set firefox to clear history on close?
I like my history right where it is. I use my phone browser in lieu of apps, so it's really nice to have things autocomplete for my bank and whatnot.
So I use private tabs fairly frequently for things I don't want to be tracked in my history or cookies, such as anything owned by Meta (SO still sends me Instagram links).
Makes sense! I just rather never have history saved so I have it set to clear on every exit. It's just the way I feel comfortable.
There are sites I want to remember my session, but most sites I don't want setting tracking cookies on my phone. Most instagram/meta links I don't want linked to me. But sometimes I want to access my Instagram account.
Is this the same menu that makes viewing and adding bookmarks one step more tedious than they used to be?
To add a bookmark:
To view bookmark (from anywhere but the Home overlay):
Yes. Because everything needs to be tidy in sub menus!
Adding a bookmark is indeed one extra click, while viewing a bookmark is still two clicks
You see the Bookmarks menu item without scrolling down in the menu? Most of the time (read: when I'm not on the Home overlay) I need to scroll down to reveal the rest of the menu.
The menu item to save a bookmark is there without scrolling. The option to view bookmarks is below the fold.
I could see why that could be inconvenient for some, though I suspect that like me, most people don't use bookmarks much any more.
I always assumed anybody on a Firefox subreddit was cut from a different cloth ๐ Especially because Firefox on the desktop offers first-class bookmark management IMO.
I know I use it a ton, anyway.
The option to open page in external app
For me (rev133.0) this comes up as a distinct top level option when I'm in a tab that could be opened in an app eg a YouTube tab
Same, and it ought to only show up if there is any app on the device that can handle this page.
the option to open a private tab as a normal tab is GONE. This is how I use Firefox: someone sends me a link, I click on it and it opens in a private tab by default. If I need to sign in to see it (e.g. private Instagram links) then I open it in a normal tab. This option is now simply gone.
I'm going to wager this is such a hyper-niche use case that the devs might genuinely not be aware of anybody doing this at all. Reminds me of the relevant XKCD, basically.
It's already acknowledged by the devs though, the feature should still/again be there soon, but it stays a nightly-only feature for the time being.
I highly doubt that. Why else would this feature exist? To me this features purpose seems explicitly to open a tab with persistent cookies.
I meant not that the situation couldn't come up at all, but that someone uses it as their normal way of browsing.
I also doubt that, as this is a feature inherited from Firefox Focus, to open links in private tabs by default.
This is also solved by extensions. (Link in other comment)
This is exactly why usage analytics are important metrics...
Yeah but everyone turns them off or blocks them, then wonders why seemingly Mozilla never considers their use case. You made it invisible to see that use case, what did you expect? ๐