5 ms·

The main issue I've had with their new UI is the massive size of everything, it's fair enough for fat finger phone displays but is annoyingly wasteful for any r

by tomxor 3y ago

The main issue I've had with their new UI is the massive size of everything, it's fair enough for fat finger phone displays but is annoyingly wasteful for any regular sized desktop. This is partly due to the increased padding as per the article, but also because they removed the "compact" UI density option. However you can bring this back under about:config browser.compactmode.show Then go to menu > more tools > customize toolbar ... "density" at the bottom. The option is labelled "not supported", but it's been like that for years.

kwanbix 3y ago
Yeah, this is a problem for me also. FF UI is so big. Also, why a huge white space between the reload and url bar???? It is a horrible waste of space.
jasonjayr 3y ago
Is there any insight as to why do they mark it as "not supported" ?
- marionauta 3y ago
  It's corporate talk for "if it breaks, don't complain"
  - arboles 3y ago
    It's also a sneaky strategy to deal with features you've decided to remove, because users are that fucking stupid. 1. Instead of just removing the feature, hide the feature and call it unsupported so the users who remember the feature can't complain yet. 2. Then finally remove the feature in the next update, with justification that it was an unsupported option and used by few people, so users can't complain. Frog boiled. With each update the company seems to be acting rationally on "metrics" and principles, but the decision was set internally before that.
    - micromacrofoot 3y ago
      never remove features: “product is too bloated” remove features: “product is tricking us”
      - arboles 3y ago
        Browser companies, famous for prioritizing avoiding bloat.
      - jwells89 3y ago
        Usually when people call a feature bloat it’s because its presence, resource consumption, etc is too great relative to its value and utility to users or it’s not particularly relevant. I’d hesitate to call something like optional compact UI metrics “bloat”. To me the term is better applied to e.g. features associated with only tangentially related services or something running in the background sucking up CPU cycles for little user benefit… basically the modern Microsoft playbook.
        stevage 3y ago
        For Firefox the classic example is Pocket.
        arboles 3y ago
        Code bloat is not that obscure of a thing. I think a decent portion of people realize that a program with features upon features is stretched too thin to meet users' needs in high quality, or in a timely fashion, especially if they paid $0 for it. Don't get me wrong. When Firefox removes a feature, often it's not out the concern of bloat to be able to serve existing users better, but to shift resources for the next revamp that will make the browser ever more "modern", to claw for a new userbase.
        asadotzler 3y ago
        All features require maintenance as code around them and through them changes with time. Feature bloat is very often code bloat and maintaining code costs money, especially 20 million lines of it. When a module owner sees an opportunity to improve their module by removing low-use features that are built on code that's a challenge to maintain, that's a good thing for the long term health of the code base and the features it provides and the app they make up.
3abiton 3y ago
That was my issue with ir, I will try the flag today!
logicprog 3y ago
It's strange, I much prefer a substantial amount of padding to my interfaces. Having a good amount of padding lowers the visual noise/clutter and gives everything room to breathe, which may not give a specific practical advantage, but makes me feel less anxious looking at it.
- Shrezzing 3y ago
  Padding's great on my desktop with two 24" monitors. On my one-screen 13" laptop it's less welcome.
  - logicprog 3y ago
    Okay fair haha
  - pxc 3y ago
    Padding still gets in my way on a 38" ultrawide with two 24" monitors next to it, because my poor (uncorrectable) vision requires substantial UI scaling. If you can use tiny fonts for everything else I'm sure the padding is less painful but it's super annoying if you have to scale things up and you can actually get completely lost in it if you have to use much fullscreen magnification. This would be less frustrating if I could easily scale up UI fonts without also scaling up the whole UI proportionally, along with the padding. In terms of apps in my life with annoying padding or wasteful use of screen real estate, though, I have to say Firefox doesn't even remotely make the list.
- jwells89 3y ago
  Whitespace can be a good thing as you note, but thoughtful allocation distribution is critical, particularly on desktop operating systems. Firefox default isn’t the worst here but it’s also far from the best.
- gloryjulio 3y ago
  I uses a 40inch 4k monitor. The padding looks horrible. Chrome is not better in this regard though
- 3y ago
darkwater 3y ago
So we have people in the camp "don't waste space with padding, please" and then, each time a KDE discussion appears "how the hell can they cram so many information and text with no padding, it's unreadable" camp. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
- medstrom 3y ago
  That's why much like the dark/light mode switch has become standard, "compact"/"touch mode" should too.
  - Fnoord 3y ago
    Going full circle Hildon / Maemo.
- Klonoar 3y ago
  KDE is fine with little to no padding. Their problem is often that they have inconsistent padding/spacing, which just throws everything off as death by a thousand cuts.
- SamuelAdams 3y ago
  Well, yes and no. Different people want a different user experience. So this strikes me as a need for a new user configurable option. Make a new user option, so it is easy for users to compact information if they want to. It sucks having to support multiple states (more things to test and verify) but it seems like there is an audience for both ideas.
  - account42 3y ago
    Firefox did have such an option - they removed it (or rather significantly gimped it) with the Proton UI update.
- jlarocco 3y ago
  The mistake is to think there's a single "right" way to do it. Either make the UI flexible enough to accomadate everybody's personal preferences, or accept that some people won't like it and will choose something else.
sikhnerd 3y ago
Thanks for posting this, really makes a big difference!
- cassepipe 3y ago
  I have been using that for some time but I just tried Lepton now. Installing Lepton is as easy as one-liner and imho well worth it.
gsich 3y ago
"not supported" - that was out of spite for people who criticized the "modern" design choice.

by tomxor 3y ago

kwanbix 3y ago

Yeah, this is a problem for me also. FF UI is so big. Also, why a huge white space between the reload and url bar???? It is a horrible waste of space.

jasonjayr 3y ago

Is there any insight as to why do they mark it as "not supported" ?

marionauta 3y ago
It's corporate talk for "if it breaks, don't complain"
- arboles 3y ago
  It's also a sneaky strategy to deal with features you've decided to remove, because users are that fucking stupid. 1. Instead of just removing the feature, hide the feature and call it unsupported so the users who remember the feature can't complain yet. 2. Then finally remove the feature in the next update, with justification that it was an unsupported option and used by few people, so users can't complain. Frog boiled. With each update the company seems to be acting rationally on "metrics" and principles, but the decision was set internally before that.
  - micromacrofoot 3y ago
    never remove features: “product is too bloated” remove features: “product is tricking us”
    - arboles 3y ago
      Browser companies, famous for prioritizing avoiding bloat.
    - jwells89 3y ago
      Usually when people call a feature bloat it’s because its presence, resource consumption, etc is too great relative to its value and utility to users or it’s not particularly relevant. I’d hesitate to call something like optional compact UI metrics “bloat”. To me the term is better applied to e.g. features associated with only tangentially related services or something running in the background sucking up CPU cycles for little user benefit… basically the modern Microsoft playbook.
      - stevage 3y ago
        For Firefox the classic example is Pocket.
      - arboles 3y ago
        Code bloat is not that obscure of a thing. I think a decent portion of people realize that a program with features upon features is stretched too thin to meet users' needs in high quality, or in a timely fashion, especially if they paid $0 for it. Don't get me wrong. When Firefox removes a feature, often it's not out the concern of bloat to be able to serve existing users better, but to shift resources for the next revamp that will make the browser ever more "modern", to claw for a new userbase.
      - asadotzler 3y ago
        All features require maintenance as code around them and through them changes with time. Feature bloat is very often code bloat and maintaining code costs money, especially 20 million lines of it. When a module owner sees an opportunity to improve their module by removing low-use features that are built on code that's a challenge to maintain, that's a good thing for the long term health of the code base and the features it provides and the app they make up.

3abiton 3y ago

That was my issue with ir, I will try the flag today!

logicprog 3y ago

It's strange, I much prefer a substantial amount of padding to my interfaces. Having a good amount of padding lowers the visual noise/clutter and gives everything room to breathe, which may not give a specific practical advantage, but makes me feel less anxious looking at it.

Shrezzing 3y ago
Padding's great on my desktop with two 24" monitors. On my one-screen 13" laptop it's less welcome.
- logicprog 3y ago
  Okay fair haha
- pxc 3y ago
  Padding still gets in my way on a 38" ultrawide with two 24" monitors next to it, because my poor (uncorrectable) vision requires substantial UI scaling. If you can use tiny fonts for everything else I'm sure the padding is less painful but it's super annoying if you have to scale things up and you can actually get completely lost in it if you have to use much fullscreen magnification. This would be less frustrating if I could easily scale up UI fonts without also scaling up the whole UI proportionally, along with the padding. In terms of apps in my life with annoying padding or wasteful use of screen real estate, though, I have to say Firefox doesn't even remotely make the list.
jwells89 3y ago
Whitespace can be a good thing as you note, but thoughtful allocation distribution is critical, particularly on desktop operating systems. Firefox default isn’t the worst here but it’s also far from the best.
gloryjulio 3y ago
I uses a 40inch 4k monitor. The padding looks horrible. Chrome is not better in this regard though
3y ago

darkwater 3y ago

So we have people in the camp "don't waste space with padding, please" and then, each time a KDE discussion appears "how the hell can they cram so many information and text with no padding, it's unreadable" camp. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

medstrom 3y ago
That's why much like the dark/light mode switch has become standard, "compact"/"touch mode" should too.
- Fnoord 3y ago
  Going full circle Hildon / Maemo.
Klonoar 3y ago
KDE is fine with little to no padding. Their problem is often that they have inconsistent padding/spacing, which just throws everything off as death by a thousand cuts.
SamuelAdams 3y ago
Well, yes and no. Different people want a different user experience. So this strikes me as a need for a new user configurable option. Make a new user option, so it is easy for users to compact information if they want to. It sucks having to support multiple states (more things to test and verify) but it seems like there is an audience for both ideas.
- account42 3y ago
  Firefox did have such an option - they removed it (or rather significantly gimped it) with the Proton UI update.
jlarocco 3y ago
The mistake is to think there's a single "right" way to do it. Either make the UI flexible enough to accomadate everybody's personal preferences, or accept that some people won't like it and will choose something else.

sikhnerd 3y ago

Thanks for posting this, really makes a big difference!

cassepipe 3y ago
I have been using that for some time but I just tried Lepton now. Installing Lepton is as easy as one-liner and imho well worth it.

gsich 3y ago

"not supported" - that was out of spite for people who criticized the "modern" design choice.