I’m not one to usually diss new UI changes, but this one grinds my gears.
Firefox for Android has released a new menu design. It organizes everything a little differently, which is alright it looks fresh. But 2 things are really annoying and a continuous design trend in Firefox.
- The option to open page in external app has been tucked away in a sub menu. I used this often and it was in the top level menu before. Companies just love hiding things in menus for no reason.
- 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.
So yeah that’s my rant. I’ll see if I open a bug requesting the 2nd issue back.
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?? 🤔 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?
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.
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? 😂
Companies can have my data when they prove they have stopped repeatedly misusing it.
Until then they can fuck off.
Has Mozilla misused your data?
Well, 1. They’ve been accused such, if that’s what you’re asking,
- Everyone else has, so now all analytics and metrics get disabled, regardless of who its for.
This is also solved by extensions. (Link in other comment)
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.
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.
I like the new menu, I don’t mind the organisation of things, but the lack of priority to opening things as a normal tab is frustrating. As far as the developers are concerned, it was only a Nightly feature and not very many people used it, so no need to ensure it’s available presently. That said, I’m not sure that’s a criticism of the new menu, which I reiterate, overall is massively positive and makes Firefox feel a lot more modern and a better fit for modern Android.
You can follow along with the progress of open in regular tab here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1923716
I’m so glad to know I’m not alone in my frustration. I totally forgot I was using nightly. Thanks for the link!
From the hug link: Seems like it was only assigned to a dev a week ago. And with all the conditions for it to acrually land in the final menu, the chances look tepid at best…
I’ve switched back to the old menu until they fix the bug. I use open in normal tab tens of times a day.
Honestly, I’m kinda at fault here. Both my NextDNS and Pi-Hole block Telemetry, so they’re not getting usage numbers to support prioritising the feature.
You can disable this?
Edit: found it. I disabled the experiment. Thank you so much!
I don’t think it’s you who is at fault here
There’s a means built-in to shower usage. If my network blocks that and they think no one is using the feature. That’s on me. As a Nightly user, I should support the product with bug reports and also things like letting them know which features I use and how often.
I’m blocking that too, it’s even disabled in the settings. in my opinion they shouldn’t be doing this in a privacy oriented browser in an opt-out manner. look at where they host the data: GCP and AWS. that’s maybe fine for firefox sync data because it’s encrypted (probably only on a per-record level though, so it may still be useful to measure activity), but for usage data, no thanks
As a Nightly user
that makes some difference, but they shouldn’t count the needs of nightly users as the needs of release users. totally different userbase, to begin with
But your definition of privacy is different to theirs. You see all Telemetry as bad. They say that the world isn’t so binary and that there’s good telemetry and bad telemetry. Also they have data to prove that opt in doesn’t work. They shouldn’t kneecap an entire project just to keep a handful of privacy zealots happy. Of which I fall into that category given my DNS level blocks.
As for Nightly users, they’re still users.
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.
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
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…
I’m not sure I’ve gotten this new menu, despite having been on Beta since forever. Can you link some screenshots?
Is this the same menu that makes viewing and adding bookmarks one step more tedious than they used to be?
To add a bookmark:
- Tap menu
- Tap Save
- Tap Add to Bookmarks
To view bookmark (from anywhere but the Home overlay):
- Tap menu
- Scroll down
- Tap controls
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 😉 Especially because Firefox on the desktop offers first-class bookmark management IMO.
I know I use it a ton, anyway.
Yes. Because everything needs to be tidy in sub menus!
Huh? If i open the side menu on mine, i just click the star icon once to save as a bookmark?
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.
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 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.
I don’t understand two things here:
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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.
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Why would you need to open instagram links in non private windows?
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.
Got it, thanks. Makes sense.
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.
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