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Reinventing Firefox for Android

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#211

Post by vmarsy »

piyush_soni wrote: post #107
teekert wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh the + is on the same spot as the tabs symbol so it's just a fast double tap and that means one less button in the interface. Edit: OK, the fact that you have to wait for the animation is annoying indeed.

Yup. Even though in Firefox Android 'regular' that's at the same page, as you noted it's not always that fast, especially for low end phones. But with this new Firefox Preview even the Plus button is not at the same 'position', and the new page opening up with animation takes even more time.

See my other comment, the "+" button is useless is Firefox Preview, there's not a single use case where you need it. It was probably added for people who didn't notice that the address/search bar is already here, or with "muscle memory" of searching for a "+"

At the time you opened the tab menu, you're already in a new tab.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#212

Post by anoncake »

mncolinlee wrote: post #177
godelski wrote: post #129

To any Mozilla/Firefox developer reading this. I try to convert people to Firefox. The number one reason people switch, by far, is because mobile has add on support. So I say to push this front and center in marketing (I know this is a preview). People are reluctant to switch their desktop browser because chrome pretty much has the same features. But it they switch their mobile browsers they also switch their desktop…

We're certainly aware of how significant ad blocking extensions are. This release required a great quantity of features with only a six month timeline until now. We already support a very limited set of the WebExtensions API to offer features like Reader Mode. Rest assured that more features will land in the coming months. If you're a developer and you want to help us, our Github site is at this link. We mark easier…

You don't have to release unfinished software.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#213

Post by bscphil »

Causality1 wrote: post #189
bscphil wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now if they could just fix Firefox Mobile's abysmal tab management. Chrome Mobile's tab screen is a stack of pages in the Z-axis with the one closest to the user being the most recent tab and so on. Firefox Mobile's is a grid with the number of rows and columns being variable depending on screen dimensions. You can change it to a linear list easily. Settings -> General -> Compact Tabs. Personally I strongly prefer…

...which does nothing to address the problem of inconsistent UI experience because the setting doesn't affect landscape mode so now it's even less consistent.

You're right! I didn't realize it didn't affect landscape mode. That's probably a bug.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#214

Post by jazoom »

vast wrote: post #65

Just yesterday I thought it is really annoying that mobile browsers put the address bar on top, even worse if it is moving in and out. That way it is impossible come close to a native look and feel. Now FF puts the address bar on bottom. Quite a suprise but I think it is a pretty smart change.

But then when you go to enter a URL it jumps to the top. That was annoying as I was pasting in all the URLs from my other browser.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#215

Post by JoshTriplett »

pcwalton wrote: post #182
theturtletalks wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also think they should fix zooming and un-zooming with the Mac trackpad for desktop Firefox. I had someone switch and they were so used to zooming in using the trackpad, they couldn't stay on Firefox. There is a 3rd party extension that fixes this, but should it not be built-in?

Actively being worked on at the moment.

Do you have a link for where this is being worked on?

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#216

Post by a254613e »

lucideer wrote: post #132
abdulmuhaimin wrote: post #29

I dont envy Mozilla. The demographic that they're targeting are really hard to please.

You're probably right but, as a member of that demographic: - I use Firefox, and have done continuously for a long time. I don't intend to switch to anything else, despite being very unhappy with the experience in many ways, as I consider it to be the "least worst" - I genuinely believe there are very easily achievable low-hanging fruit that Mozilla could implement that would at least please a large swathe of their t…

I'm with you on this one. I don't think mozilla is as privacy oriented as HN would make you think.

* They pushed ad/extension for a TV show to everyone

* They silently served modified installers to a small subset of users downloading firefox which sent all browsing data to a 3rd party by default.

* Disabling experiments used for pushing the mr robot ad does not disable "normandy" - which is practically the same thing and they used to push new certificates once their old ones expired and broke addons recently. This feature is hidden in advanced settings.

And then as you say, using google analytics everywhere (giving google data), painting google indirectly as evil while having it as a default engine and collecting google money.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#217

Post by unicornporn »

godelski wrote: post #129

To any Mozilla/Firefox developer reading this. I try to convert people to Firefox. The number one reason people switch, by far, is because mobile has add on support. So I say to push this front and center in marketing (I know this is a preview). People are reluctant to switch their desktop browser because chrome pretty much has the same features. But it they switch their mobile browsers they also switch their desktop…

^ THIS.

Please listen Mozilla. Firefox is the only browser that works as intended for me, on mobile. Cookie AutoDelete + uBlock Origin and Dark Reader. What a blessing.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#218

Post by anoncake »

throwupaway123 wrote: post #102
jnurmine wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Anyone remember when Firefox extensions broke recently? I thought it was a rather horrible experience. If the new Firefox Preview can natively block advertisements, whitelist sites, disable third party cookies, prevent and hide social trackers, block anti-ad-blockers, etc. etc. then I agree that extensions are kind of useless, and I understand Mozilla's point. However, I see the lack of extension support det…

This is still a preview, it's nowhere near a finished product. Extensions come after MVP https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/662#issuecomm...

There is no minimum viable product here. The MVP was the first usable mobile Firefox. A version of Firefox without extension support is just broken.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#219

Post by JoshTriplett »

samueloph wrote: post #71
vast wrote: post #65

Just yesterday I thought it is really annoying that mobile browsers put the address bar on top, even worse if it is moving in and out. That way it is impossible come close to a native look and feel. Now FF puts the address bar on bottom. Quite a suprise but I think it is a pretty smart change.

I can't understand how UX designers come up with the idea that putting stuff on the top of the screen* is a good thing, and even keep reiterating through that. That's an honest question, anybody knows what's the motivation behind that? * or, places that are hard to reach for most users

In addition to familiarity as others have mentioned: when you scroll a site, it feels natural to "scroll away" the UI on the top. If you have UI on the bottom, and you want to hide it when scrolling, that doesn't feel as natural.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#220

Post by kevin_b_er »

mncolinlee wrote: post #61
dsr_ wrote: post #3

Does not support any addons, and is therefore useless until it does. (uBlock Origin is a prerequisite for me.)

It's a preview release. Addons are coming as well as ad blocking. It's not the same thing, but the built-in tracking protection incidentally blocks a portion of ads.

Per Barbara Bermes, senior product manager in firefox mobile, addons are not part of the minimum viable product. They're in the "backlog"
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