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I've been trying to use Firefox's containers for a while. They are pretty clunky - you need to open a blank container tab using a menu and then enter the url. I

I've been trying to use Firefox's containers for a while. They are pretty clunky - you need to open a blank container tab using a menu and then enter the url. I forget to do that all the time, so after some time you are just logged into everything in the "global" container, or logged in to google and twitter in the same container etc. If you check the "Always open this page in this container thing" - then it prompts you with an "are you sure you want to open this page in this container" every time you go to that page which is very annoying. Edit - this is not true - there's a checkbox to "remember your choice". I don't know why I didn't see it. They are error prone enough that they aren't good tracking protection. Just use ublock origin or a similarly good privacy plugin to globally block as much tracking as you can. The facebook container eliminates some of those annoyances, but only for facebook.

jakecopp 9y ago
> then it prompts you with an "are you sure you want to open this page in this container" every time you go to that page which is very annoying. That isn't true - you say yes/no the first time and then it's automatic. Works great for me. I create a container for every service I want to stay logged into and whitelist the specified sites with Cookie Autodelete (which is container aware), then auto delete all other cookies on tab close.
- tomc1985 9y ago
  There's a "remember this" checkbox and that worked last time I tried to use it.
- function_seven 9y ago
  Yeah, I'm not getting it after the first "Are you sure?" prompt, but that first one is annoying. I already checked the box asking to always open foo.com in a specific container. Why is it asking again? Also, I'd love to do this in my bookmarks, instead of having to visit each site and set the container one-by-one.
  - zjs 9y ago
    > I already checked the box asking to always open foo.com in a specific container. Why is it asking again? I have some sites that I almost always want to open in a specific container. Except when I don't. I suspect this double-confirmation is for people like me: I can chose between "always open this site in this container" and "always suggest opening this site in this container".
    - kbenson 9y ago
      I actually have a few cases like this as well, but they are very common cases I encounter 20-30 times a day. I thought containers were clunky too until I went looking for bug reports for the functionality I wanted (always open domain in container) and found out I just wasn't using them right. I'm actually really impressed with how polished it is given the complexities it entails
      - infogulch 9y ago
        Is there an official article/tutorial detailing how to use them and use cases with examples?
        kbenson 9y ago
        From searching I just found a Mozilla help page[1] that seems to have much of the useful info, along with some links to other articles. Not sure of it or something similar was referenced at some point during the extension install process. 1: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers
unethical_ban 9y ago
There is an add-on called "new container tab" that uses alt+C to open a new tab in the same container. So I'll open my banking tab and Alt+C several times to do all my monthly tasks. And as others have said, the "always open in this tab" shouldn't act how you describe. Finally, there is an option in about:config called "firstparty.isolate" or something similar that does what containers do, for the most part, by default. It will break SSO with Google/Facebook/etc. though.
0xfeba 9y ago
Agreed, in Chrome I used profiles to segregate, and it worked well. Profiles in Firefox is somewhat clunky to use at the same time (I end up just using two installations). I tried containers as well, but gave up, due to reasons you describe.
- JoshMnem 9y ago
  It's easy to launch new Firefox profiles if you create an alias something like: $ alias ff='firefox -ProfileManager -no-remote &' You can also make desktop icons that open different profiles quickly.
RX14 9y ago
You can middle click on the refresh button and it'll clone the tab you're currently in. Very useful for duplicating containers. And yes, that's terrible discovery in ux.
- chillydawg 9y ago
  It's always been obvious to me that the nav buttons are treated the same as links. Left goes there, middle goes there in a new tab, right has options.
shimon 9y ago
I recommend the "Switch Container" extension for this. For developers, containers and this extension also make it super easy to test what a page looks like when logged in as a different user.

jakecopp 9y ago

> then it prompts you with an "are you sure you want to open this page in this container" every time you go to that page which is very annoying. That isn't true - you say yes/no the first time and then it's automatic. Works great for me. I create a container for every service I want to stay logged into and whitelist the specified sites with Cookie Autodelete (which is container aware), then auto delete all other cookies on tab close.

tomc1985 9y ago
There's a "remember this" checkbox and that worked last time I tried to use it.
function_seven 9y ago
Yeah, I'm not getting it after the first "Are you sure?" prompt, but that first one is annoying. I already checked the box asking to always open foo.com in a specific container. Why is it asking again? Also, I'd love to do this in my bookmarks, instead of having to visit each site and set the container one-by-one.
- zjs 9y ago
  > I already checked the box asking to always open foo.com in a specific container. Why is it asking again? I have some sites that I almost always want to open in a specific container. Except when I don't. I suspect this double-confirmation is for people like me: I can chose between "always open this site in this container" and "always suggest opening this site in this container".
  - kbenson 9y ago
    I actually have a few cases like this as well, but they are very common cases I encounter 20-30 times a day. I thought containers were clunky too until I went looking for bug reports for the functionality I wanted (always open domain in container) and found out I just wasn't using them right. I'm actually really impressed with how polished it is given the complexities it entails
    - infogulch 9y ago
      Is there an official article/tutorial detailing how to use them and use cases with examples?
      - kbenson 9y ago
        From searching I just found a Mozilla help page[1] that seems to have much of the useful info, along with some links to other articles. Not sure of it or something similar was referenced at some point during the extension install process. 1: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers

unethical_ban 9y ago

There is an add-on called "new container tab" that uses alt+C to open a new tab in the same container. So I'll open my banking tab and Alt+C several times to do all my monthly tasks. And as others have said, the "always open in this tab" shouldn't act how you describe. Finally, there is an option in about:config called "firstparty.isolate" or something similar that does what containers do, for the most part, by default. It will break SSO with Google/Facebook/etc. though.

0xfeba 9y ago

Agreed, in Chrome I used profiles to segregate, and it worked well. Profiles in Firefox is somewhat clunky to use at the same time (I end up just using two installations). I tried containers as well, but gave up, due to reasons you describe.

JoshMnem 9y ago
It's easy to launch new Firefox profiles if you create an alias something like: $ alias ff='firefox -ProfileManager -no-remote &' You can also make desktop icons that open different profiles quickly.

RX14 9y ago

You can middle click on the refresh button and it'll clone the tab you're currently in. Very useful for duplicating containers. And yes, that's terrible discovery in ux.

chillydawg 9y ago
It's always been obvious to me that the nav buttons are treated the same as links. Left goes there, middle goes there in a new tab, right has options.

shimon 9y ago

I recommend the "Switch Container" extension for this. For developers, containers and this extension also make it super easy to test what a page looks like when logged in as a different user.