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Firefox Compact Mode Might Get Removed

26 points by dont__panic 6y ago

karmakaze 6y ago
Thanks, didn't know this was there. Enabled, for now.
- hsgdh3487 6y ago
  I enabled it too. They could have just made the feature more visible. I vaguely remember a time when Firefox was easily customizable. Now that software developers are targeting a different audience than they used to, I need to remember to explore things more than I would out of curiosity. I bet there are tons more hidden, awesome features that I don't know about (not just in FF).
alphameese 6y ago
I will be very disappointed if they remove this option. I’ve used the compact option since I first installed Firefox. I may have to try one of the forks that brings back Mozilla’s removed features.
vanilla_nut 6y ago
I use Firefox in compact mode on all of my work/personal machines, and have noticed that most of my Firefox-using friends also use compact mode. I absolutely cannot stand product managers who try to remove features that they don't personally use. I remember when Firefox used to be customizable. I wish there were some way for users to have a voice -- the bugzilla system doesn't even have a way to vote against a "feature" that removes features you actually use!
BugWatch 6y ago
...meanwhile, TMK, session managment proper APIs that were promised pre-quantum migration still haven't materialized. There still is no session manager that is on par to ye Olde Session Manager by Kraft (IIRC names accurately). I hate that part of new Firefox, that loss of customization/-ability.
livre 6y ago
I always use compact mode regardless of screen height but one of my screens is 600px high, I need compact mode for it. The web is unusable without those few extra pixels I gain from compact mode. I also set layout.css.devPixelsPerPx to 0.75. I keep telemetry enabled too because I know some of the features I need are in danger of being removed if they disappear from their statistics but it seems that it doesn't help at all if they remove them anyway. If this gets removed I'm turning off telemetry, I'll have no use for it anymore.
anoncake 6y ago
What the hell is wrong with these people? > "Compact" density is a feature of the "Customize toolbar" view which is currently fairly hard to discover, and we assume gets low engagement. 1. If the feature gets little "engagement" because it's hard to discover – not because it's useless – maybe consider making it easier to discover? 2. Firefox is full of telemetry so I can't believe you have to "assume" the feature is little-used. My theory: This is corporate-speak for "We don't care if people use compact mode, some UI designer wants to remove it because - they don't find it aesthetically pleasing (bonus points if people seeing "ugly" Firefox is bad for the brand). or - they get paid to change things. This is changing things, so they do it. or - they are part of a simplicity (cargo) cult." > We want to make sure that we design defaults that suit most users and we'll be retiring the compact mode for this reason. This makes no sense. The default mode doesn't suit people better because you remove the alternative. > For clarity we retain the "Touch" density for accessibility reasons on touch devices. So removing compact mode doesn't even simplify anything!
Ekaros 6y ago
Why do I feel like devs themselves are trying to kill Firefox. Previously hiding close all tabs functionality and now this... I don't really understand what sort of demographic all they trying to look for? Clearly they see little value in supporting power users...

26 points by dont__panic 6y ago

karmakaze 6y ago

Thanks, didn't know this was there. Enabled, for now.

hsgdh3487 6y ago
I enabled it too. They could have just made the feature more visible. I vaguely remember a time when Firefox was easily customizable. Now that software developers are targeting a different audience than they used to, I need to remember to explore things more than I would out of curiosity. I bet there are tons more hidden, awesome features that I don't know about (not just in FF).

alphameese 6y ago

I will be very disappointed if they remove this option. I’ve used the compact option since I first installed Firefox. I may have to try one of the forks that brings back Mozilla’s removed features.

vanilla_nut 6y ago

I use Firefox in compact mode on all of my work/personal machines, and have noticed that most of my Firefox-using friends also use compact mode. I absolutely cannot stand product managers who try to remove features that they don't personally use. I remember when Firefox used to be customizable. I wish there were some way for users to have a voice -- the bugzilla system doesn't even have a way to vote against a "feature" that removes features you actually use!

BugWatch 6y ago

...meanwhile, TMK, session managment proper APIs that were promised pre-quantum migration still haven't materialized. There still is no session manager that is on par to ye Olde Session Manager by Kraft (IIRC names accurately). I hate that part of new Firefox, that loss of customization/-ability.

livre 6y ago

I always use compact mode regardless of screen height but one of my screens is 600px high, I need compact mode for it. The web is unusable without those few extra pixels I gain from compact mode. I also set layout.css.devPixelsPerPx to 0.75. I keep telemetry enabled too because I know some of the features I need are in danger of being removed if they disappear from their statistics but it seems that it doesn't help at all if they remove them anyway. If this gets removed I'm turning off telemetry, I'll have no use for it anymore.

anoncake 6y ago

What the hell is wrong with these people? > "Compact" density is a feature of the "Customize toolbar" view which is currently fairly hard to discover, and we assume gets low engagement. 1. If the feature gets little "engagement" because it's hard to discover – not because it's useless – maybe consider making it easier to discover? 2. Firefox is full of telemetry so I can't believe you have to "assume" the feature is little-used. My theory: This is corporate-speak for "We don't care if people use compact mode, some UI designer wants to remove it because - they don't find it aesthetically pleasing (bonus points if people seeing "ugly" Firefox is bad for the brand). or - they get paid to change things. This is changing things, so they do it. or - they are part of a simplicity (cargo) cult." > We want to make sure that we design defaults that suit most users and we'll be retiring the compact mode for this reason. This makes no sense. The default mode doesn't suit people better because you remove the alternative. > For clarity we retain the "Touch" density for accessibility reasons on touch devices. So removing compact mode doesn't even simplify anything!

Ekaros 6y ago

Why do I feel like devs themselves are trying to kill Firefox. Previously hiding close all tabs functionality and now this... I don't really understand what sort of demographic all they trying to look for? Clearly they see little value in supporting power users...