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I'm guessing this change was pushed forward after a Mozilla employee noticed the new Chrome and Google Search design [1] (click on the search bar to see it pop

I'm guessing this change was pushed forward after a Mozilla employee noticed the new Chrome and Google Search design [1] (click on the search bar to see it pop out and expand in a similar way), and nobody found the power to protest against it internally. This was a deliberate move by Google to reduce the visual distinction between Chrome's browser frame and the search site, and it was copied by Firefox without consideration. Experimentation is needed, but there should be more checks along the way, and feedback should be requested from the target audience, so that a designer's fever dream does not land on hundreds of millions of devices, to the bemusement of everyone. [1] https://www.google.com/search?gl=us&hl=en&gws_rd=cr&q=firefox https://www.google.com/search?gl=us&hl=en&gws_rd=cr&q=firefo...

tetris11 7y ago
I understand Mozilla's need to target base users in this losing war against google, so I'm forgiving when they make Firefox more like Chrome, but I just wish that in their releases they could say "hey, loyal Firefox fans - just disable this, this, and this to keep the previous behaviour". That way they can pander to the masses as much as they want and still keep their fan base. Right now it feels like the fanbase is being ignored.
- coldpie 7y ago
  You (and others in this thread) are way, way underestimating the cost of configuration options in software used by lots of people. There's the cost of having to support that huge fractal in the code. And there's the cost of things being broken for users who don't understand the options and broke things for themselves. Configuration options are bad news for software not intended exclusively for technical users.
  - dessant 7y ago
    Alienating some of your most loyal users whom have spent decades advocating for Firefox has its costs too, and there are always ways to safeguard or hide configuration options, such as about:config. Personally I wouldn't mind a slight expansion to highlight the search bar, but the current design is crude and over the top, and it has led to usability issues.
    - kelnos 7y ago
      For some balance: As someone who is one of those most loyal users and has been using Mozilla since they were releasing milestones of the app suite after the 1998 open-sourcing, then moving on to Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox... I can say I just don't care about this change. I run beta channel, and it was a weird jarring surprise when I first saw it a month or so ago, but within a few hours I just stopped noticing it, and stopped caring. I just don't get why people end up in arms about such trivial changes to software. Admittedly I used to be like that, to some extent, but at some point I realized this sort of thing doesn't actually affect my life in any meaningful way and so there's no point worrying about it. Change your mindset. This sort of thing is not worth even the tiniest raise in blood pressure. It's a waste of time and energy to even give it a second thought. Doing so provides no value to anyone, especially yourself.
      - CabbageRice 7y ago
        If nobody cared about the quality of software we'd still be using internet explorer.
        sgift 7y ago
        Nothing about this change applies a change in quality. It's the opinion of a few vocal people that this is bad, nothing more.
        guug 7y ago
        I don't like this change but haven't publicly remarked about it until now. What about the vast majority of people who don't browse hn or haven't been provoked into making their opinions heard? Dismissing opinions you don't agree with as vocal minority won't help you and certainly won't help Mozilla. Mozilla like other companies providing user-centric products must conduct focus groups to see what works and what doesn't. Relying on designers' ideas without proper validation is a recipe for disaster.
      - avh02 7y ago
  - ubercow13 7y ago
    True but look at about:config.. there are a lot of options already! It's one reason people use Firefox
    - agrover 7y ago
      about:config is not for typical users.
      - ubercow13 7y ago
        This discussion is about a preference which would be (and is/was) in about:config
  - zapttt 7y ago
    and companies copying features no user asked for from the top competition is even more expensive and dumb. it's like gnome giving up all its good differentiating features during the great rewrite just to mimic osx, no matter they were in a cargo cult mindset copying even the flaws, shortcomings and bugs. here Mozilla is copying Chrome's abusive forceful use of google's services from the UI, no matter if the user wants or not
  - craftinator 7y ago
    It would be nice if Firefox stayed friendly to technical users then. They have a large market factor that Chrome does not have in that it's favorable to us techies; we then contribute to Firefox in return. Shooting tinkerers in the foot loses the value we provide.
    - Narishma 7y ago
      Indeed, Chrome removing the option to use backspace to go back is why I dropped it years ago.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    Tell that to people who A/B test…
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- riedel 7y ago
  I loved firefox actually for the ability to style the UI using user styles. IMHO they need to bring back the old way of customizing. In constrast to Thunderbird (which allows it but has even less of a community) allowing webextension experiments and unsigned addons in any version might bring back freedom even in the times of webextensions. I really hate how they started patronizing their loyal users with all its colateral damage. It has become easier to customize chrome than firefox, strange times...
lloeki 7y ago
Ah I'm not using Google anymore so I did not notice it, but the recent Slack update has the search box behaving kind of the same. So there's a trend (fad?) here in design language, and I would be fine by it... if it wasn't clashing with every other part of the UI language, from Material cards to good old desktop windows. But this way, the extra Z value, size and color flash attention grab is just cognitively dissonant. I place the new pointer support on iPad OS on the same trend, as the pointer moves, the target has varying physical changes and hints the user with a little poppiness on the Z axis (parallax as the pointing device is operated, extra box around), but it's 1. a hint, not shovelled in your face and 2. consistent with the surrounding design language.
- egeozcan 7y ago
  The same weird design can be found on the updated confluence search box too. This is like websites implementing their own smooth scrolling with Javascript. We all know how that worked out.

tetris11 7y ago

I understand Mozilla's need to target base users in this losing war against google, so I'm forgiving when they make Firefox more like Chrome, but I just wish that in their releases they could say "hey, loyal Firefox fans - just disable this, this, and this to keep the previous behaviour". That way they can pander to the masses as much as they want and still keep their fan base. Right now it feels like the fanbase is being ignored.

coldpie 7y ago
You (and others in this thread) are way, way underestimating the cost of configuration options in software used by lots of people. There's the cost of having to support that huge fractal in the code. And there's the cost of things being broken for users who don't understand the options and broke things for themselves. Configuration options are bad news for software not intended exclusively for technical users.
- dessant 7y ago
  Alienating some of your most loyal users whom have spent decades advocating for Firefox has its costs too, and there are always ways to safeguard or hide configuration options, such as about:config. Personally I wouldn't mind a slight expansion to highlight the search bar, but the current design is crude and over the top, and it has led to usability issues.
  - kelnos 7y ago
    For some balance: As someone who is one of those most loyal users and has been using Mozilla since they were releasing milestones of the app suite after the 1998 open-sourcing, then moving on to Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox... I can say I just don't care about this change. I run beta channel, and it was a weird jarring surprise when I first saw it a month or so ago, but within a few hours I just stopped noticing it, and stopped caring. I just don't get why people end up in arms about such trivial changes to software. Admittedly I used to be like that, to some extent, but at some point I realized this sort of thing doesn't actually affect my life in any meaningful way and so there's no point worrying about it. Change your mindset. This sort of thing is not worth even the tiniest raise in blood pressure. It's a waste of time and energy to even give it a second thought. Doing so provides no value to anyone, especially yourself.
    - CabbageRice 7y ago
      If nobody cared about the quality of software we'd still be using internet explorer.
      - sgift 7y ago
        Nothing about this change applies a change in quality. It's the opinion of a few vocal people that this is bad, nothing more.
        guug 7y ago
        I don't like this change but haven't publicly remarked about it until now. What about the vast majority of people who don't browse hn or haven't been provoked into making their opinions heard? Dismissing opinions you don't agree with as vocal minority won't help you and certainly won't help Mozilla. Mozilla like other companies providing user-centric products must conduct focus groups to see what works and what doesn't. Relying on designers' ideas without proper validation is a recipe for disaster.
    - avh02 7y ago
- ubercow13 7y ago
  True but look at about:config.. there are a lot of options already! It's one reason people use Firefox
  - agrover 7y ago
    about:config is not for typical users.
    - ubercow13 7y ago
      This discussion is about a preference which would be (and is/was) in about:config
- zapttt 7y ago
  and companies copying features no user asked for from the top competition is even more expensive and dumb. it's like gnome giving up all its good differentiating features during the great rewrite just to mimic osx, no matter they were in a cargo cult mindset copying even the flaws, shortcomings and bugs. here Mozilla is copying Chrome's abusive forceful use of google's services from the UI, no matter if the user wants or not
- craftinator 7y ago
  It would be nice if Firefox stayed friendly to technical users then. They have a large market factor that Chrome does not have in that it's favorable to us techies; we then contribute to Firefox in return. Shooting tinkerers in the foot loses the value we provide.
  - Narishma 7y ago
    Indeed, Chrome removing the option to use backspace to go back is why I dropped it years ago.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  Tell that to people who A/B test…
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
riedel 7y ago
I loved firefox actually for the ability to style the UI using user styles. IMHO they need to bring back the old way of customizing. In constrast to Thunderbird (which allows it but has even less of a community) allowing webextension experiments and unsigned addons in any version might bring back freedom even in the times of webextensions. I really hate how they started patronizing their loyal users with all its colateral damage. It has become easier to customize chrome than firefox, strange times...

lloeki 7y ago

Ah I'm not using Google anymore so I did not notice it, but the recent Slack update has the search box behaving kind of the same. So there's a trend (fad?) here in design language, and I would be fine by it... if it wasn't clashing with every other part of the UI language, from Material cards to good old desktop windows. But this way, the extra Z value, size and color flash attention grab is just cognitively dissonant. I place the new pointer support on iPad OS on the same trend, as the pointer moves, the target has varying physical changes and hints the user with a little poppiness on the Z axis (parallax as the pointing device is operated, extra box around), but it's 1. a hint, not shovelled in your face and 2. consistent with the surrounding design language.

egeozcan 7y ago
The same weird design can be found on the updated confluence search box too. This is like websites implementing their own smooth scrolling with Javascript. We all know how that worked out.