Firefox Test Pilot

#1

Post by vladikoff » Tue, May 10, 2016, 7:21 PM UTC

Firefox Test Pilot
testpilot.firefox.com

Re: Firefox Test Pilot

#2

Post by morinted » Tue, May 10, 2016, 7:55 PM UTC

This looks neat because it allows people to try new features without risking stability in a beta or nightly environment.

It also doesn't hold Mozilla accountable to get these new features into Firefox's core without proving that they are viable and popular.

I'm impressed.

Re: Firefox Test Pilot

#3

Post by chipperyman573 » Tue, May 10, 2016, 8:04 PM UTC

Interesting that these changes are installed via an add-on instead of through a different browser entirely.

Re: Firefox Test Pilot

#4

Post by kibwen » Tue, May 10, 2016, 8:14 PM UTC

Is the "Tab Center" feature a prototype for an official version of tree-style tabs, perhaps? I've seen that Servo/browser.html was experimenting with tabs-on-the-side, I'd love to see this graduate to more than just an experiment.

Re: Firefox Test Pilot

#5

Post by talmand » Tue, May 10, 2016, 8:17 PM UTC

kibwen wrote: post #4

Is the "Tab Center" feature a prototype for an official version of tree-style tabs, perhaps? I've seen that Servo/browser.html was experimenting with tabs-on-the-side, I'd love to see this graduate to more than just an experiment.

I seem to recall various addons for Firefox over the years that would put tabs on the side. No idea on the current state of such things.

Re: Firefox Test Pilot

#6

Post by lmorchard » Tue, May 10, 2016, 8:17 PM UTC

chipperyman573 wrote: post #3

Interesting that these changes are installed via an add-on instead of through a different browser entirely.

That's because a) we want to make it easier for folks to try these features out without switching to another release channel, and b) we want to get feedback on how they work in the browser that folks normally use day-to-day

Re: Firefox Test Pilot

#7

Post by rhinoceraptor » Tue, May 10, 2016, 8:17 PM UTC

Mozilla, please implement HTML5 input types.

Thanks, frontend web developers.

Re: Firefox Test Pilot

#8

Post by lmorchard » Tue, May 10, 2016, 8:21 PM UTC

morinted wrote: post #2

This looks neat because it allows people to try new features without risking stability in a beta or nightly environment. It also doesn't hold Mozilla accountable to get these new features into Firefox's core without proving that they are viable and popular. I'm impressed.

FWIW, we're also working to make these things remove themselves cleanly - and if you uninstall the initial Test Pilot add-on, it pulls out all the experimental add-ons along with it and disables any metrics we might have enabled along with it. Bug reports very welcome if this doesn't work as expected

Re: Firefox Test Pilot

#9

Post by greglindahl » Tue, May 10, 2016, 8:22 PM UTC

Very excited to see this launch! The Internet Archive has been working with browsers to check (opt-in) the Wayback Machine whenever endusers click on a dead link. We're in the queue for the next round of Test Pilot tests!

Re: Firefox Test Pilot

#10

Post by chuckharmston » Tue, May 10, 2016, 8:22 PM UTC

kibwen wrote: post #4

Is the "Tab Center" feature a prototype for an official version of tree-style tabs, perhaps? I've seen that Servo/browser.html was experimenting with tabs-on-the-side, I'd love to see this graduate to more than just an experiment.

Potentially!

The simple story is that the current tabbing model in was designed to save you from needing half a dozen browser window open. It just doesn't scale well past a dozen tabs or so, and we know that some users have dozens or even hundreds open at the same time. Tab Center is taking a fresh look at the problem with that in mind.