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Reinventing Firefox for Android

blog.mozilla.org

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271–280 of 395 posts

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#271

Post by hliyan »

torben-friis wrote: post #252

I'm aware that I'm reaching a Cartago-delenda-est situation here, but since I see some mozilla devs here I must ask: Is there any news about the deal breaker bugs that are still keeping thousands of people from moving to firefox on OSX? I'm referring to the bugs that cause extreme CPU usage and as a consequence extreme heating and battery usage, mainly on macbooks with retina screens set to "more space" resolution. I…

That's odd. I'm on a 2015 MBP with Mojave, and I recently switched from Chrome to Firefox because Chrome started causing intermitted freezes (even the mouse pointer wouldn't move). I've been on Firefox (and Safari) for over a week now. No issues.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#272

Post by kristofferR »

torben-friis wrote: post #252

I'm aware that I'm reaching a Cartago-delenda-est situation here, but since I see some mozilla devs here I must ask: Is there any news about the deal breaker bugs that are still keeping thousands of people from moving to firefox on OSX? I'm referring to the bugs that cause extreme CPU usage and as a consequence extreme heating and battery usage, mainly on macbooks with retina screens set to "more space" resolution. I…

Yeah, it's a shame that Firefox is unusable on Macbooks.

Subconsciously I started using Chrome on my Desktop more regularly too, since the abhorrent state of Firefox on Macbooks trained me into using Chrome instead.

The Firefox developers don't seem to care about the state of Firefox, on macOS, to be honest.

For example - This is a bug report I made 7 months ago of an issue that would be quick to implement, yet make a noticeable difference in UI on macOS (move the Share menu to the File menu). Nobody has bothered to respond. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1512851

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#273

Post by uhryks »

adzm wrote: post #235
m-p-3 wrote: post #125

Not fond of the bottom address bar, I guess I'm not used to it because I always tap the top-right corner to switch tabs... I just need to get it in my muscle-memory, not a big deal. I still cross my fingers this will be configurable at some point. My main gripe is that I feel like bookmarks are now a second-class citizen in Firefox Preview, they're not as accessible. I could see my mobile bookmarks right on the new t…

Mobile Chrome is moving to address bar on top, buttons / tab switcher on the bottom.

This has been the case on the dev release for months but they've yet to merge it to stable.

Sure it's disturbing at first but from a usability standpoint it seems vastly superior, especially for bigger screens.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#275

Post by squiggleblaz »

kumarharsh wrote: post #166
m-p-3 wrote: post #125

Not fond of the bottom address bar, I guess I'm not used to it because I always tap the top-right corner to switch tabs... I just need to get it in my muscle-memory, not a big deal. I still cross my fingers this will be configurable at some point. My main gripe is that I feel like bookmarks are now a second-class citizen in Firefox Preview, they're not as accessible. I could see my mobile bookmarks right on the new t…

Bookmarks have become even more first-class now - just swipe up from your address bar anytime. Try it now ( in the Firefox preview). Also, I feel the opposite regarding the address bar position - give it a few days, you'll absolutely love it. Edge on Windows Mobile had the same position, and it was a very nifty and time-saving UX. You can now use the phone one-handed more easily, even for small-handed people.

Any UI element that you can't find by searching is not first class. In particular, if there's some gesture you have to randomly guess exists, it's a hidden feature for advanced users only.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#276

Post by nonbirithm »

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.

Exactly. I wanted to use Firefox on mobile but Brave is so much more convenient since it puts the bar at the bottom. Reaching my hand up becomes annoying since I might have to use two hands to not drop my phone.

Another thing that annoyed me about the previous mobile Firefox was the 'x' in the URL bar closed the bar instead of clearing it like Brave. I had to unlearn months of muscle memory since it was a habit of mine. Maybe it doesn't matter since it's just an issue after switching.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#277

Post by uhryks »

hliyan wrote: post #271
torben-friis wrote: post #252

I'm aware that I'm reaching a Cartago-delenda-est situation here, but since I see some mozilla devs here I must ask: Is there any news about the deal breaker bugs that are still keeping thousands of people from moving to firefox on OSX? I'm referring to the bugs that cause extreme CPU usage and as a consequence extreme heating and battery usage, mainly on macbooks with retina screens set to "more space" resolution. I…

That's odd. I'm on a 2015 MBP with Mojave, and I recently switched from Chrome to Firefox because Chrome started causing intermitted freezes (even the mouse pointer wouldn't move). I've been on Firefox (and Safari) for over a week now. No issues.

Sounds weird to me too. I've been using FF as my main driver on mac, high sierra then Mojave and I never had this problem. If anything it's google chrome helper that often becomes crazy eating my CPU cycles for just 4 tabs.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#278

Post by mplanchard »

torben-friis wrote: post #252

I'm aware that I'm reaching a Cartago-delenda-est situation here, but since I see some mozilla devs here I must ask: Is there any news about the deal breaker bugs that are still keeping thousands of people from moving to firefox on OSX? I'm referring to the bugs that cause extreme CPU usage and as a consequence extreme heating and battery usage, mainly on macbooks with retina screens set to "more space" resolution. I…

I really hate to be a “works on my machine” kind of person, but I’ve been running FF Nightly for personal stuff and FF Developer Edition for work on a variety of Macs for at least three years now and have literally never had any problem.

I am not trying to cast doubt on your experience, but I just wanted to point out that it isn’t universal!

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#279

Post by zrobotics »

kevin_b_er wrote: post #220
mncolinlee wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"

Not to be mean, but that statement demonstrates a frankly shocking level of cluelessness. Extensions (mainly adblockers) are the critical feature that distinguishes FF mobile, and are the only reason I have ever been able to convince anyone to switch. I would almost consider adblockers functionality more critical than Javascript support, they should certainly be part of a minimum viable product. I know it's a preview version, but why would anyone in their right mind run this?

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#280

Post by zrobotics »

Droobfest wrote: post #113

I'm a huge fan of the navigation bar on the bottom. I've missed it since I had to give up Windows Phone. It's hard to believe that neither Apple or Google ever added the option. I can't think of a single reason it would be better on top, It's simply harder to reach and less usable. This also goes for all other apps...

Brave on Android has had bottom-bar for quite a while, it was the reason I switched from Firefox. I would switch back, but as there is no add-on support...
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