fenix
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mozilla-mobile
Desktop like tab bar option
Hi!
On reddit I was told to put my opinion here (still not sure if it belongs here, but ok), so I was just trying Fenix on my tablet and as it turns out it uses the same user interface as the one on phones, which I believe doesn't use the much bigger screen of a tablet as well as it could. Specifically I'm really missing the desktop like tabs layout, which works very well on tablets. Any chance this will change to what it is like now in Firefox Mobile (or Fennec if you prefer)?
┆Issue is synchronized with this Jira Task
@Kuvesz Thanks for reaching out - and, yes, this is the right place to share your feedback and ideas! Our first releases will focus on phone, but we expect to optimize for tablet later this year. I'm not sure what that means in terms of tabs, but we will work to make the experience as useful and usable as we can.
Thank you for the quick answer, not sure what your policy is so I won't close the issue, but I'm always happy to use Mozilla's software, so whatever happens I'm looking forward to the Fenix Google Play release. :)
Please leave it open - I've added it to our backlog so we have your input when we work on this in the future. Glad you share our excitement for the upcoming release!
Can this be renamed and tagged with Feature:FennecTransition?
I was unable to find this issue with "tabbed browser".
Quoting from https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/10607:
Beta users have asked about this.
What/Requirements
- An option in the customize section of settings that allows users to enable a tabbed browser. This exists in Vivaldi as an option for "tab strip."
- User can tap tabs to switch to them.
- User can rearrange tabs by dragging them.
Acceptance Criteria (how do I know when I’m done?)
Users have visible tabs in their browser like in Fennec.
Quoting from #10607:
Beta users have asked about this.
What/Requirements
1. An option in the customize section of settings that allows users to enable a tabbed browser. This exists in Vivaldi as an option for "tab strip." 2. User can tap tabs to switch to them. 3. User can rearrange tabs by dragging them.Acceptance Criteria (how do I know when I’m done?)
Users have visible tabs in their browser like in Fennec.
I think, a good description would be a desktop like UI optimised for touch
Related AC issue: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/android-components/issues/1302
it looks like the project this was in (https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/projects/2#card-21229607) got closed, without this issue being moved to a still open project: as functionality that was marked as MVP, hopefully this can be moved to the project for the next release? (it's a missing feature that's forced me to using Chrome for now, since I heavily rely on instant tab switching on my tablet that has until recently only had FF and FF Nightly installed on it)
- Opera: I think it's the most typical.
- Samsung Internet: Tab bar under the address bar
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- Vivaldi: It can also be at the bottom.
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On a phone, the "tabs" (which aren't tabs at all, of course) are fine: it's the same "your 'tabs' are on a different screen" UX as before, even if the presentation is different.
The problem is that the phone UI got forced onto tablet users, too, which these screenshots are not useful for: tablets can use the original tabs-at-the-top with the url bar in the tab's view perfectly fine. There is tons of space to keep the UI the same as it was before we were all forced onto the new UX.
While giving phone users the option to force-turn-on tabs should of course be standard operation (the whole point of Firefox is that you are in control of the browser, which is why disabling about:config in the release version is still an incredibly bad decision that should be reverted as soon as possible), designing the "real tabs" UX should pretty much ignore phones completely and focus on restoring what FF gave users before the forced updated.
I also have to use another browser, Kiwi browser in my case (open source chromium fork) on my desktop mode Android, until Firefox provides an acceptable large screen UI.
For god sake, people asked this feature for 2 years. It's the game changer feature for big screens & tablets. Seriously I'm waiting for this to make Firefox my main Android browser.
It's quite jarring. On Android tablets, Firefox has removed proper tabs. On iPadOS, Firefox has proper tabs but is broken in many other ways. Essentially, there is no way to use Firefox on mobile OS tablets at the moment without tremendous frustration.
I switched to Vivaldi until this is fixed.
And since sync is important to me, I had to do it on all platforms: Android/phone, Android/tablet, Mac, Windows.
Please allow enabling the tab bar so that I can switch back to Firefox!
@cadeyrn rather than downvote emojis, please triage this into the correct project - it was in the MVP list for the original release project, but that project got closed without this work having been completed. Even if it's 2 years later, making sure it gets done is still very much worth the effort (unless of course the UX already does this now, in which case we can close this issue as resolved).
@cadeyrn rather than downvote emojis, please triage this into the correct project
- I do not work for Mozilla so I can't "triage this into the correct project".
- GitHub features are there to be used. It's not your business if I use a reaction for one (!) comment of another user. If I use reactions (positive or negative) I have reasons for that and I don't have to justify myself to you or anyone else.
@cadeyrn rather than downvote emojis, please triage this into the correct project
@Pomax I complete agree. Energy spent that could be used more productively.
2. GitHub features are there to be used. It's not your business if I use a reaction for one (!) comment of another user. If I use reactions (positive or negative) I have reasons for that and I don't have to justify myself to you or anyone else.
Likewise @cadeyrn 🤨
Okay, I didn't expect this to turn into an argument and I don't think it's the right place to argue about the features Github offers and how to use them or about downvotes in general really. Can we just focus on the issue instead? 😅 To answer you @Pomax I've checked the open issues and it seems this feature request is still valid as newer issues either also request this feature or reference it. I also pulled my good old tablet up and checked, just to be sure and there is no option or anything for desktop-like tabs. :)
Sorry guys.. but moving to edge browser. This is so frustating on part of Ff. I use FF on iphone, samsung note, samsun dex, win 10, linux n chromebook. Having consistent gui across bigger screens and some other consistent gui on smaller screens is a must for end user experience.
The lack of this feature is literally the only reason I can't leave Vivaldi on both desktop and mobile (due to sync)
Vivaldi really is the only browser that understands that if you're running on a tablet, a desktop UI is perfectly fine (and while the reload button shouldn't be tucked away in the hamburger menu, that's pretty much the only gripe. It does so many things right that mobile Firefox should have had from day one. (and of course ironically, for the most part actually had before the decision was made to switch the codebase and release a completely new app with drastically fewer features, and effectively all power-user features removed)
Vivaldi really is the only browser that understands that if you're running on a tablet, a desktop UI is perfectly fine (and while the reload button shouldn't be tucked away in the hamburger menu, that's pretty much the only gripe. It does so many things right that mobile Firefox should have had from day one. (and of course ironically, for the most part actually had before the decision was made to switch the codebase and release a completely new app with drastically fewer features, and effectively all power-user features removed)
I think that's not Vivaldi invention. It is Chromium and or Chrome that know the difference between tablet or phone (big/small screen) and change its UI accordingly. Vivaldi might just make use/enhance that with whatever their extra ideas.
Do you guys think, its funny to lose user base? Today I was using FF on Chromebook and also Win 10.. Win 10 : I created a gmail draft and uploaded some attachments. Later wanted to edit the draft, download some attachments to check and upload few more and send email. I used Chromebook for the edit draft bla bla steps. Just look at the FF GUI. Hopeless GUI. I was forced to use chrome browser to do my stuff. (Someone might ask, why not use gmail app. Well, it has some bugs related to replying to drafts.)
@amitrgholap that has nothing inherently to do with having a desktop-like tab bar or not. If you have an issue that you want to raise, file a new issue (or find a preexisting one about the same thing), but as much as we're complaining about FF for Android here, it's still centered very specifically about the removed-and-we-still-want-it-back desktop UI at sizes where that UI would work just fine.
Firefox for iPad has a tab bar so this is also a feature parity issue.
I dont own iPad. But if it works on ipad, Please provide same features on android and chromebook as well.
+1 for a tab bar option!
I just bought a Chromebook (Lenovo Duet 5) and I would really like to use Firefox on this tablet. However, the android version is not very comfortable to use on it.
I stumble across the old screenshot of the old Firefox for Android, it's indeed has tabs when it's on tablet mode. Really hope tabs will be returning soon.
