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What We're Working on in Firefox

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: What We're Working on in Firefox

#31

Post by em500 »

gamepsys wrote: post #14

As a Firefox daily user, this list makes me better understand why Firefox has such a low market share. Reorganizing menus or adding alt text to PDFs won't make any impact on user adoption/churn because users don't care. The alt text specifically sounds like resume engineering for some developers that want "on device generative ai" as a bullet point on this LinkedIn. Bullet points like this wouldn't be a problem if Fi…

How are they stretched for resources? Mozilla's revenue is around a half billion USD per year.

Re: What We're Working on in Firefox

#32

Post by kreyenborgi »

gamepsys wrote: post #14

As a Firefox daily user, this list makes me better understand why Firefox has such a low market share. Reorganizing menus or adding alt text to PDFs won't make any impact on user adoption/churn because users don't care. The alt text specifically sounds like resume engineering for some developers that want "on device generative ai" as a bullet point on this LinkedIn. Bullet points like this wouldn't be a problem if Fi…

Are you saying that they should avoid writing about features that aren't "core" (privacy, speed, battery life, sync) when telling you about the work they've done? I mean, they do say that

> You can expect even faster, smoother browsing on Firefox, thanks to quicker page loads and startup times – all while saving more of your phone’s battery life.

and regarding privacy

> we’ve worked hard to make things like translation and PDF editing in Firefox happen locally on your device, so you don’t have to ship off your personal data to a server farm for a company to use it how they see fit

– so they seem to have ticked your boxes, but they've also committed the sins of boasting about design and used the "AI" buzzword.

Yes, "most people" don't care about "adding alt text to PDFs" but then most people don't even know what accessibility means. For the people who do need it, it's essential, and I think it would be awesome if it happens on-device instead of giving google/amazon/microsoft a description of every pdf image a blind person might want described.

Re: What We're Working on in Firefox

#33

Post by sli »

OtomotO wrote: post #7
Night_Thastus wrote: post #3

I still remember the launch of Firefox 3 back in the day. I'm so glad it's still around, and they keep working on it. I don't think there's a single piece of software I've gotten more utility out of in all that time. It's definitely not perfect, but we'd be in a worse world without it.

I have fond memories of 3 and 4... Started using it somewhen around 2 :)

I have fond memories of discovering Phoenix ~v0.1 during high school and mostly never looking back. Had a short stint with Chrome until it intermittently stopped even attempting to load pages. Switched back and couldn't imagine daily driving Chrome.

Re: What We're Working on in Firefox

#34

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

iforgotpassword wrote: post #18
blizdiddy wrote: post #5

> More streamlined menus that reduce visual clutter and prioritize top user actions so you can get to the important things quicker Oh no, more of this. What about less used options? How much slower? How much less discoverable? Desktop applications are already for power users almost by definition, let’s not slow them down for the sake of reducing “clutter”. Absolutely annoying trend of the last 15 years or so.

IDK, they're just following what Chrome has been doing forever now, and it has worked there. I guess that really is what the vast majority of normal people want. And considering how even among my most tech-savy friends and colleagues Chrome appears to be the browser of choice, it seems even these folks don't really care...

That doesn't necessarily follow; a person could easily argue that Chrome won because Google abused its search monopoly to push it, then kept winning because of inertia. Unless your friends specifically prefer Chrome because of UX reasons, it could be unrelated.

Re: What We're Working on in Firefox

#35

Post by dagurp »

iforgotpassword wrote: post #18
blizdiddy wrote: post #5

> More streamlined menus that reduce visual clutter and prioritize top user actions so you can get to the important things quicker Oh no, more of this. What about less used options? How much slower? How much less discoverable? Desktop applications are already for power users almost by definition, let’s not slow them down for the sake of reducing “clutter”. Absolutely annoying trend of the last 15 years or so.

IDK, they're just following what Chrome has been doing forever now, and it has worked there. I guess that really is what the vast majority of normal people want. And considering how even among my most tech-savy friends and colleagues Chrome appears to be the browser of choice, it seems even these folks don't really care...

Or is it Google deciding for you what you should want?

Re: What We're Working on in Firefox

#36

Post by dochtman »

OtomotO wrote: post #7
Night_Thastus wrote: post #3

I still remember the launch of Firefox 3 back in the day. I'm so glad it's still around, and they keep working on it. I don't think there's a single piece of software I've gotten more utility out of in all that time. It's definitely not perfect, but we'd be in a worse world without it.

I have fond memories of 3 and 4... Started using it somewhen around 2 :)

I remember when it was still called Phoenix — the lean pure-browser reborn “from the ashes” of the Mozilla Suite (SeaMonkey). Amazing run…

Re: What We're Working on in Firefox

#37

Post by tresclow »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #13

> We’ve been listening to your feedback, and we’re prioritizing the features you want most. > Tab Grouping, Vertical Tabs, and our handy Sidebar will help you stay organized no matter how many tabs you have open — whether it’s 7 or 7,500. > Plus, our new Profile Management system will help keep your school, work, and personal browsing separate but easily accessible. Wow, that ... actually is what users have been aski…

I remember around 2012 Firefox did use to have tab grouping, and they dropped the functionality after. I remember a friend of mine being annoyed for that, although I myself didn't appreciate much the functionality.

Re: What We're Working on in Firefox

#38

Post by e44858 »

dbg31415 wrote: post #8

For me, the big thing Firefox needs is better power management. Mac user here, and streaming video or doing a video call just kills my battery compared to Chrome or Safari. Would love to see more focus on energy consumption optimization.

It's the opposite for me on Linux. Firefox can play 4k 60fps perfectly, while Chrome drops frames and gets hot. I guess hardware-accelerated video is hard to get right.

Re: What We're Working on in Firefox

#39

Post by morsch »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #13

> We’ve been listening to your feedback, and we’re prioritizing the features you want most. > Tab Grouping, Vertical Tabs, and our handy Sidebar will help you stay organized no matter how many tabs you have open — whether it’s 7 or 7,500. > Plus, our new Profile Management system will help keep your school, work, and personal browsing separate but easily accessible. Wow, that ... actually is what users have been aski…

I'll take the "streamlined" menus if it gets me first party vertical tabs and auto segregation of profiles. The latter especially, I'm excited about whatever they come up with. The former, I think it'll take a long time to reach feature parity with existing add-ons, if they ever get there, seeing how they tend to keep novice users in mind.
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