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Reinventing Firefox for Android

blog.mozilla.org

381–390 of 395 posts

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#381

Most of the time it feels great already (sometimes it freezes for a few moments), but does someone know how/if it is possible to add Progressive Web Apps to the desktop with this Firefox for Android Preview?

The Firefox Preview team is actively working on PWA support for Q3 or Q4, including add to home screen.

Thanks for the info. I am looking forward to it :-)

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#382
post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm I see. I think I was getting confused since I searched for browser app in settings and ended up setting browser app as well as Voice and Assist app as Firefox as they are in the same submenu. If I choose Voice and Assist app as Firefox instead of Google then active edge, Ok Google does not work. May be I could just try setting browser app to firefox. Let me give this combination a try for a few days. Browser is f…

Yeah, the assist app and default browser aren't really related settings. "Assist app" settings determines which app can respond to assistant invocations (ok google, long press home, squeezing the phone...) and grants special assistant privileges to app. Default browser is another setting :)

Also the news on the Google app (the most easily accessible one with a left swipe), also open in I guess Android Web View. I use my mobile browser mostly for news articles and less often for opening other websites. Will still end up using Chrome like stuff I guess.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#383
post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than putting Google Analytics on all Mozilla properties as sibling commenters have already mentioned (link to info on that here [0]), there is also the following: - as I mentioned in another comment, Firefox Preview comes with Google as a default search engine (not a huge issue) and with "search suggestions" enabled by default (which sends everything you ever type to Google). - Even if you disable search sugges…

Thanks for the clarification - this is all acceptable in my eyes then. Of course I never use Google Search (prefer Qwant, StartPage and DDG) and location services are never running in my browser. Safe Browsing - I prefer not to have it enabled, but it's not such a risk if it is. This is quite a different thing from using Chrome(-ish browsers) with the "phone home".

Exactly.

This is what it comes down to: I still use Firefox confidently despite being aware of these issues, as I'm aware they're still very minor compared to running Chrome, or even any other Google-engine-based project.

It's still however worthwhile probing these issues. They're still far from ideal, even if they're preferable as a "least worst" option.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually... Id like a black theme as well as just a dark theme. Thanks.

Fullscreen mode would be good. And bookmarks seem like something of a car-crash. They're in there somewhere but it looks like Collections are easier to get to so obviously they're going to get used instead. I don't care what they're called - i just need a way of getting to frequently used urls. And it would be good if I could rename bookmarks/urls/items in collections because currently i'm stuck with whatever the sit…

F11 is full screen unless I'm missing something? It has been better than chrome in full screen for a while now bc if the floating Omni bar

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#385
The situation didn't change with this another version of Firefox for Android (and I have all of them):

1) A webpage with many and mostly made out of grid and flex elements does tender waaaaay too slowly and ugly (low quality artifacts on scrolling)

2) Animations like of the mere max-height to unhide content perform like garbage, as if it was performed by the CPU alone

And I already did report this behaviour even with this version, let's see how it will turn out.

Out of this experience, expecting mobile web apps to perform well enough is meaningless, lag and rendering artifacts will fill your patience meanwhile on Chrome like browsers everything is waaaay smoother.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#386

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fullscreen mode would be good. And bookmarks seem like something of a car-crash. They're in there somewhere but it looks like Collections are easier to get to so obviously they're going to get used instead. I don't care what they're called - i just need a way of getting to frequently used urls. And it would be good if I could rename bookmarks/urls/items in collections because currently i'm stuck with whatever the sit…

F11 is full screen unless I'm missing something? It has been better than chrome in full screen for a while now bc if the floating Omni bar

Firefox for Android... Android.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#387
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.

Can I get to my bookmarks that way? Seems to only allow me to make them.

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#388
post #347

What is the point to have a different version of Firefox? Can't they simply remove the unneeded cruft from the standard version?

The new Firefox for Android should eventually have roughly the same feature set as the old one. It's faster because it uses a whole new technology stack, not because they decided not to add unneeded cruft, whatever that means.

I wish that were true. But from other software redesigns and improvements, I learned that new designs often come with simplifications and reduction of functionality. Missing about:config and very simple Settings page is frightening me. Firefox and Mozilla saved the world from IE monopoly and it was always targeting power users but I fear that might change. :( So far I am happy with mobile FF but so far pretty unhappy with this preview. Almost everyone talks about bottom address bar (which after clicking moves on top anyway) and the speed. I am alergic to oversimplification ala new apple designs. I fear of: "We've reinvented mobile browsing. Now there is one big blowing button and an animation of colorful unicorns where you can customize the speed of movement and size of its horn. applause It loads 2x times faster but you can't configure anything else because it's using our next-gen AI which learns your habits and automatically enables pull to refresh after after 50 swipes down (no way to disable) and starts blocking some ads (except those participating in OurSafeAD(tm) program) once it detects from your eye movement you are trying to avoid looking at them"

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

It's really weird, because some people I talk to has never noticed a problem, yet I've been able to reproduce it (unwillingly) every time I've tried to install firefox on any macbook - different machines, different OS version, clean installs, you name it. It's just a matter of installing FF and using it lightly for some minutes (different websites too, or just showing the start page in the background) and the fans ar…

Make a repro checklist and file a bug, if it's so easy to reproduce for you! Write down what you do, as you do it, and maybe devs could then repro it too!

Re: Reinventing Firefox for Android

#390

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 run mostly with my laptop closed and two external monitors and the only time FF makes the fans run is one particular site (dailykos.com) which seems to make the CPU go nuts.

Otherwise, I've always been on FF from the Netscape days. I use Chrome when I have to (noticably Hangouts for a while), but otherwise stayed with FF without a problem.

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