Fenix: [UX] [Meta] Make the most useful content easily accessible on the homescreen

[vesta0]

User Story

As a user, I want my browser homescreen to show me content that is most relevant and useful to me, such as my frequently-accessed types of content (bookmarks, history, recent tabs, top sites, synced tabs, collections, pocket) or relevant updates or tips about the product, so I can easily navigate to them with the least number of taps required

Feature Brief: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GQ7ncFM_UcThSx6CldbrkuQRPxXsJ13rHXNPXI1_qoQ/edit

For UX: Please consider the following issues as you work on this:

11453

6510

9328

Acceptance Criteria

• I see my most frequently-accessed types of content on my homescreen by default. Note: Collections and Default top sites should always show up by default (order to be determined) until user decides to turn them off.
• Navigating to my most frequently-accessed sites should not take more than 2 taps.
• I can customize my homescreen to only show types of content that I want to access frequently.
• My homescreen provides me with the type of information that is relevant and useful to me.

[data-sync-user]

➤ Adam Bitner commented:

[~[email protected]] This is the home screen story that should be moved over to the Sour Patch board. Not sure if there are other related home screen stories that should come with.

[dglttr]

Something akin to the options available in desktop Firefox would be very nice for customizability and consistency.
Pasting the section here for reference:

[madb1lly]

Hello @vesta0 and @apbitner,

By "2 taps" where do you mean from? If from the homescreen itself then Please make so only one tab is needed to load a frequently accessed site, i.e. these sites are shown on the homescreen.

Cheers 🙂

[maverick74]

Hi @vesta0 thanks for your feedback.

I would like to manifest that it would be nice that either this would also apply to the edit-URL-screen or that the edit-URL-screen would go to the so called "homescreen".

I ask this because, when I'm done with a webpage, I would like to be able to not only search for something else from that tab, but also to use the same tab and substitute that same webpage (which no longer interests me) by some other bookmarked site or top site.

I can elaborate more if I'm not clear enough.

Thank you all

[madb1lly]

Hi @maverick74,

That sounds to me just like how the Awesomescreen ( home screen) on Fennec works!

Cheers 🙂

[madb1lly]

Hi @maverick74,

I not sure why you reacted like that to my comparison. In the current (or old now?) Firefox for Android, codenamed Fennec, when we select the address bar we get the "Awesomescreen" which can be used for all the things you suggest - search, new address, bookmarks, top sites, as well as frequently used sites, history, synced tabs, even pocket recommendations and personalised highlights.

I'm still very confused as to why Fenix did not start with this design as a default because it still seems to me to be the slickest way to include all these things on the homescreen. Only collections is missing, and that would be very easy to add to one of the available panes or add as a completely new pane perhaps.

@vesta0, can you explain what's wrong with the Fennec homescreen? Is there some document/explanation from the early history of Fenix that explains this?

Thanks 🙂

[maverick74]

@madb1lly sorry, I pressed the wrong emoji.
Yes, I don't understand that either. I was a heavy user of that homescreen

[vesta0]

We couldn't just start with the old design because we actually built the new Firefox from scratch. My goal for creating this user story was to make the Firefox home screen as useful as possible and AFAIC that could very possibly result in rebuilding parts of the old Firefox homescreen that users loved and found useful, without making it too cluttered which users certainly didn't like. Our UX team is investigating this.

[madb1lly]

Hi @vesta0,

Thanks for the explanation. I think you _could_ have started with the old design but you would have had to build it from scratch, so in fact you took the opportunity to see if you could improve it, which is good.

Personally I didn't find the Fennec homescreen cluttered, which may be why I find the current design to waste a lot of screen space.

Maybe a way to find the happy medium would be to make the homescreen very dense with features and see what the feedback is then. I'm sure there will be some negative feedback, so you can just reduce the density until people are generally comfortable with it.

However I know that screen object density has accessibility aspects, so I know it's not as simple as I'm suggesting.

The main point is that I miss the utility of the Fennec homescreen, it really did make everything much more quickly accessible than the Fenix homescreen does.

Cheers 🙂

[Alighierian]

One way to reduce the clutter would be in the customisation. It's inevitable that people want different things from their browser. To a point I'd certainly agree the base has to be good. After all, if the base is lousy, users might not even bother into looking how to customize.

I would argue, however, that a bookmark browser rates higher in basic accessibility necessity than the tab groups/collections function, especially since you have to manually set the latter up, tab by tab.
In terms of clutter, a collapsed default look might do the trick, just like the collections are by default. As customisation there could be a toggle to have it expanded by default, so it's a user choice in how much they clutter and with what.

[dglttr]

One way to reduce the clutter would be in the customisation.

I just want to point at my comment from above (https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/12065#issuecomment-672196671) again and add some additional reasoning:

• Generally, having similar options across platforms is nice for consistency, but of course has to work individually on each platform.
• From the desktop options, I think the toggle for top sites as well as the ability to choose the number of rows could easily be used. Additionally, there would be a toggle to turn of auto-populated top sites in Fenix (see #10342).
• At some point, I think Mozilla will add snippets in Fenix too (not sure if there is a ticket already?), so that toggle will be needed too. I guess the "What's new" (#6510) and onboarding cards (#9328) could be seen as a kind of snippet.
• The other two things don't exist/aren't relevant on Fenix (namely toggling of the web search bar and the "Hightlights" section.
• What _does_ exist in Fenix is Collections, so there should be a toggle for that (in Nightly, one can hide the no-collections placeholer since #12377, but there is no way to turn it back on).
• If easy access to bookmarks and history is added (#11453), we should be able to turn that off too.
• If a Pocket integration is eventually added (#3788), there should be a toggle.

Did I forget something?
Definitely a lot of stuff to configure to _really_ make the start page your own (eventually).

[terr72]

It might sound like a wild idea, but why not just recreate the homescreen design from FF68 in a major effort and add the optional collections at the bottom as fast but temporary solution?
Over the last days I've read many reviews in the Play Store and various comment sections in news articles about the FF79 release and the lack of bookmarks on the default page are _the_ most missed feature people complain about.
I'm afraid that an elaborated UX design discussion might lead to even more lost users than it already has.

[gerdwagner]

First of all for me it would be best to have bookmarks back in their former place, too.

But there's another aspect of bookmarks/collections that is important to me:
I want to be able to edit saved URLs. This is right now possible for bookmarks but isn't for collection entries. The reason is that URLs may be changed when a page is loaded. Usually only after loading I'm able to save the page as bookmark or collection entry.

Last and less important: It would be nice to be able to sort bookmarks. A nice example implementation is the sorting function of Spotify's playlists.

[terr72]

@gerdwagner I remember the constant feature requests about the ability to sort the bookmarks since at least 2-3 years.
They all basically ended with "we won't do that in Gecko anymore, but the successor will feature it".
Not sure why all the time spent on the collections and the new homescreen (both things practically nobody asked for) wasn't invested in a basic feature requested by many people over the years.

[davidmegginson]

First of all for me it would be best to have bookmarks back in their former place, too.

But there's another aspect of bookmarks/collections that is important to me:
I want to be able to edit saved URLs. This is right now possible for bookmarks but isn't for collection entries. The reason is that URLs may be changed when a page is loaded. Usually only after loading I'm able to save the page as bookmark or collection entry.

Last and less important: It would be nice to be able to sort bookmarks. A nice example implementation is the sorting function of Spotify's playlists.

Yes, it's frustrating that bookmarks are no longer a page that I can return to with the back button.

[rusegithub]

Over the last days I've read many reviews in the Play Store and various comment sections in news articles about the FF79 release and the lack of bookmarks on the default page are _the_ most missed feature people complain about.

Hear hear.

Please fix this, Mozilla.

[rusegithub]

First of all for me it would be best to have bookmarks back in their former place, too.

... It would be nice to be able to sort bookmarks. A nice example implementation is the sorting function of Spotify's playlists.

I strongly agree.

[ghost]

In my opinion, this is a major defect in the product and should be treated as a bug

[FenixRevival]

I'm getting a bit tired of all those close / open issue. My issue #12941 has been close in favour of that one.
People have been giving feedback on the #12941 plus support (see OP with emoji).

I'm deeply and sadly frustrated with the way this matter is handling. This is something a lot of people, see notably r/Firefox on Reddit & issues on that matter, are missing and want.
I can fully understand the huge backlog of work you have on Fenix, but this is taking a very long time and the closing issues doesn't make it good. I feel you're just earning time by closing those issues.

Anyway, my issue #12941 is kind different with that one. What I wanted is the Legacy way of having Bookmarks/History/etc. it _is not_ the way Top Sites are doing. As long as we're good on that, we can keep the previous issue closed.

[cadeyrn]

and the closing issues doesn't make it good.

It's a duplicate. It doesn't make sense to have multiple open issues for the same request.

What I wanted is the Legacy way of having Bookmarks/History/etc. it is not the way Top Sites are doing.

Nobody said that top sites are a replacement for a faster way of accessing bookmarks and history. That's why this issue is still open.

[FenixRevival]

and the closing issues doesn't make it good.

It's a duplicate. It doesn't make sense to have multiple open issues for the same request.

Yes, and the previous one (older than this one) was closed because they didn't want to think about it (#10437). My point isn't to say this issue should be open instead of that one. Only that, this is a bit of a mess.

Fair enough for this issue, I'll check that one now then.

[davidmegginson]

Having the option to have new tabs default to an actual bookmarks page (that you could go back to with the back button) was highly useful in v68. I hope this issue includes a similar option, and not just some bizarre "home screen" popup with a lot of clutter, like we have now.

[violasong]

Hi all! I've started working on the UX for this bug. Here's the plan:

Milestone 1

• Research: Review existing feedback, research, and discuss with Mobile and Desktop UX (underway)
• Create MVP design (rough wireframes in progress)
• Make fast iterations based on feedback, user testing
• Release

Milestone 2

• Wait for this bug to collect telemetry data
• Create survey and run through user testing
• Launch survey to a sample of release users
• Create MVP 2 design
• Iterate based on feedback
• Release

[ghost]

Thanks for the plan. To delay this bug until telemetry data is improved is not really practical.

This bug is far more important than telemetry data. The development team have destroyed in my opinion, the user experience in Android by their design.

I never use top sites, I simply use an organised list of bookmarks, and the changes made by the development team have increased my key presses by over 100% to get to the same position.

An earlier suggestion to provide the options similar to the desktop version is a quick win, probably very simple to implement, and once completed, you can wait for telemetry to improve the experience. Starting from a disaster position, simply I don't think is correct.

[xobs]

I have a question about #14866: Will the telemetry data also catch users who are still on Firefox 68?

I have uninstalled the latest version of Firefox and have installed Firefox 68 from an apk. I'm waiting until this bug is closed before I upgrade, and I imagine others are the same, or are using a different browser in the interim. If telemetry data is only collected from users of the latest version, then I suspect the data won't be very useful.

[violasong]

To clarify: The plan is to launch a release between these two milestones so that we can get a UX fix out as soon as possible. It will still take some time for me to determine what that UX fix should be, but I'm aware of the urgency.

[atulsnjena]

The current layout with Top Sites only makes a lot of sense to me, I hope you don't throw it away.

[Imold]

The current layout with Top Sites only makes a lot of sense to me, I hope you don't throw it away.

I don't even want Top Sites, I just want Bookmarks.

The old Firefox let us have it both ways. change it back.

[klint]

I really hope the whole thing will be configurable in the end. For instance, the way I use bookmarks on the phone is by storing them and using them as suggestions when quickly typing a few letters in the address bar. I find this more efficient. I never navigate in the bookmarks tree, the phone's screen is too small anyway. Therefore I'd prefer my home screen not to be cluttered with bookmarks. Although I perfectly understand that others may need it of course 😊

[TheRealOsas]

I use collection more than bookmarks now so pls don't remove collection from its position or if u could put it in another good discoverable spot that would be nice.

[Matth7878]

Collections should have their own UI and IMHO renamed as saved sessions or grouped tabs (aka panorama). I think homepage is a shortcut for them but they should also be present in tab tray within their own tab. (Besides normal and private)

To get back more on topic : collections are different from bookmarks and user should be able to access to both. It would be really nice to be able to customize homepage so you could choose what / how / in which order to display : top sites / collections / bookmarks / history.

[FenixRevival]

You don't have to "fight" against each others. The idea would be to make a customisable Home, you'll decide what you want to have. That way everyone will be happy. I myself don't care about the default layout, do what you know is better for mass users. That's what I said in my previous Issue, and why I don't like the fact it's closed (but that's how Github works), there is precision I hope this could be added to OP.

I just want to customise my Firefox. FF Android has _always_ been poor in term of customisation, I hope this could change now.

[JoGarWeb]

¿Tabs Tray "ruined home screen"? I don't know, but in previous versions of Firefox opening 3 tabs from the Home Screen and manage them took less clicks. In addition to being more relevant in the use of Firefox.
Firefox Nightly (June 3rd Build) vs Firefox Beta
https://twitter.com/JoGarWeb/status/1304903761530368003 👀

[ghost]

Hi all! I've started working on the UX for this bug. Here's the plan:

Milestone 1

* Research: Review existing feedback, research, and discuss with Mobile and Desktop UX (underway)

* Create MVP design (rough wireframes in progress)

* Make fast iterations based on feedback, user testing

* Release

Milestone 2

* Wait for [this bug](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/14866) to collect telemetry data

* Create survey and run through user testing

* Launch survey to a sample of release users

* Create MVP 2 design

* Iterate based on feedback

* Release

I would suggest that for speed and resolving this issue quickly, not necessarily as a 100% solution you follow the suggestions above https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/12065#issuecomment-672196671 , and make the home screen customisable as for Firefox desktop.

[BrendaEM]

(I referred here)
Removing the ability to use stored bookmarks is a terrible design defect:
1.) Saved Bookmarks were 2 clicks before Firefox mobile was gutted. Typing is neither quicker, nor easier than using a bookmark.
2.) To blur the line between invoking a search and a using a known safe bookmark sets a bad internet browser use example. A known safe bookmark is not equal to an untested search result.
3.) To continually use a commercial search engine withers the openness of the internet.

Like many people, I was appalled at the last release of Firefox Mobile. I have used and enjoyed using it, since Fennec was still in beta, and the last release was by far the worst browser release I have ever seen in my life. People say time and time again: no one wants change for the sake of change. Please heed that advice. I would rather see a massive fork of the likes of OpenOffice/Libreoffice than to see another release such as the last one.

[davidmegginson]

I've decided to make the leap and try to live with all the usability problems in Fenix, because I do most of my online activities through mobile web sites rather than apps. That means the browser's security is very important to me, and if I stick with v68, I won't be getting fixes for any future exploits or other security issues.

So I'm taking a gamble that the Mozilla team will eventually restore at least most of the functionality that they took away from us with Fenix. Don't let me down, folks, and drive me back to Chrome. :(

One nice new feature I noticed is that Fenix (at least v80) preserves bookmark order, which v68 did not. That means that if I go to mobile bookmarks in my desktop browser and drag things around, I see that same bookmark order in Android now. So at least there's one concrete improvement over v68.

[violasong]

Hi all!

Seeking feedback on the following MVP design, meant for the next engineering sprint.

• This includes the Fennec concept of Bookmarks/History as homescreen tabs that can be swiped to for easy access
• History tab will now have entry points into Synced and Downloads, so the whole library will be accessible from the homescreen
• This moves the top sites down to where they are reachable by thumb. Thanks to u/Behave_or_else for the inspiration.
• The goal is adding easy access to library while still keeping the homescreen looking clean and approachable.
• This mockup is not yet fully polished, so if you notice a little blurriness on some icons etc, not to worry. For the next few work days, I'll be refining and iterating these mockups based on feedback and user testing.
• The most helpful kinds of feedback: risks and edge cases I might not have considered, ways in which this design might be more difficult to use than the current Fenix, and small improvement ideas that could fit into our very tight timeframe for this release :).

[TheRealOsas]

My only problem is the location of the private browsing icon. Pls move it somewhere else.

[ghost]

It would be so much better if we were able to customise the home screen. As I don't have history, top sites or collections, and use bookmarks.

If you made it customisable, one could have the search bar plus bookmarks as the home screen.

Forcing users to have collections and top sites isn't what Firefox historically has been about. It's been letting users customise the experience, obtain add-ons that are readily available or to be able to create ones own together with access to about:config that the developers wish to keep, so we can't switch off features that we don't want.

[BrendaEM]

No, I don't want anything on the "home screen." I want my bookmarks just where they were.
You people really ruined a good web browser--so bad it looks like sabotage. The result is a shameful unusable mess that surly could not have been tested by anyone with any knowledge of user interface design.

[terr72]

@violasong I'd suggest an option to make the bookmarks tab as default startup screen and returning point when closing or opening a new tab. Just like it was in FF68. Then I'm fine with that mockup.

[cadeyrn]

@violasong

It's definitively a big improvement!

• My most important feedback is to relocate the private mode icon. It feels distracting to me to have icons on the left _and_ on the right of the address bar. Especially since it means that the address bar will move once you open a tab. If it has to be integrated in the address bar please move it to the right (left of the tab counter). It also has the advantage to be easier accessible with one hand.
• You said "This mockup is not yet fully polished" so maybe it's too early for this kind of feedback but I still write it to make sure you will keep it in mind: With collections there is not much empty space between the last collection and the toolbar. It feels cluttered. But around the logo there is a lot of empty space that could be reduced. I suggest to have as much space below the collections as on the screen without the collections below the top pages.
• In the third screen it looks a bit strange to have "Synced tabs", "Downloads" and "Recently closed" aligned this way, especially since I don't see anything similar elsewhere in the application. And it will probably not work in languages with larger strings like German. I suggest to have either only one item per row or to solve it with icons only.
• Still in the third screen: I am not sure if I would expect downloads in the history. Maybe you could make it a fourth tab? And if you implement the previous suggestion to have only one item per row then we don't need more space as in the current mockup if downloads will be moved to its own tab.
• It should be possible to disable every tab (almost, there has to be at least one enabled tab, I guess). So if a user doesn't use bookmarks at all the user shouldn't be forced to have a bookmarks tab.
• If the user always wants to start with bookmarks it should be possible for the user to start with it. I don't think a dedicated option for defining the default tab is needed though. It should be enough to remember the last opened tab.
• Please make sure that in the new homescreen you can't scroll down anymore as in the current version of Firefox if there is no reason to scroll because there is only empty space.

[klint]

Thanks a lot @violasong, this looks very promising indeed.

A couple of remarks in addition to @cadeyrn's comments that I fully agree with:

• what would be the swiping zone to switch tabs? the blue one or the green one? I would prefer the green one, extended from the bar up to the first element met above it. The blue one feels too far in one hand mode, especially with collections. Actually, the blue one AND the green one would be perfect on the home page, but the blue one is not available in the other tabs, isn't it? Or, is it?

• maybe a stupid idea, but why not having yet another tab for private navigation, instead of the button in the navigation bar? Unless the other tabs must also be available in private mode, of course (I can't recall how it was in Fennec)

[Alighierian]

That design certainly looks like a promising step in the right direction, @violasong.
Combined with the customization functionality to show or hide any of those tabs as desired, similar to Fennec's customizable home screen, would make this a nice and useable base experience again. One that would allow people to (de)clutter their screen in the way that works for them.

The main desirable items that came to my mind regarding design and interface:

• In Fennec, the address bar/search window didn't actually start to display search results until you started typing, instead, it would show your customized home screen. This made utilizing an exiting tab for something new very easy.

• A clean separation between searching bookmarks and searching the web. Preferably by having them visually separate, either by swipeable tab or two separate sections. Three if it includes history search. Occasionally I try using it in the current form but continuously end up annoyed by the clutter: it seems to search the web, history, and bookmarks all at the same time, with only minor indicators of what your bookmarks are in the resulting list.

• Tab selection as found in Fennec and the desktop browser, with a toggle to turn it on and off, as it does take up screen real estate not everybody's device might have comfortable room for. Despite that downside, I found it really useful, even on my phone, and it was my primary mode of switching tabs, making new ones, and deleting old ones.

• When in an active tab, the new additions to the settings menu should appear below the default options, instead of shoving those down, as shown here. This would be a serious improvement in navigating the menu, as you can get used to fixed locations for options, instead of having to figure out where they are every time you open the menu.

[FenixRevival]

@violasong As someone who has been vocable about this regression, I must say I'm really please by your solution.
Most of my feedback are already said by @Alighierian I'll just had something: when we press new tab, this should also appear. We should be able to select a bookmark/history/whatever without making 3 clicks like we're doing right now.

My only concern now and is __when__ this will land on Fenix Nightly. You have the secret settings aspect, I think it's worth making it here, so that only people who really want to test it will activate it.

[madb1lly]

Hello @violasong,
It's great to see some progress being made on this, thanks 👏

Things I like:

• Top sites accessible by thumb
• Bookmarks and history quickly accessible
• Synced tabs and recently closed tabs in history

Things I think could be improved:

• Moving top sites down low but leaving the switcher between the libraries up high doesn't make sense to me; if we're trying to make things usable one-handed then the switcher should be lower down too
• Collections appear to be missing at first glance, it's not obvious that the screen needs to be scrolled to show them
• Why not add collections to the library switcher as well?
• Should the location of the top sites, switcher etc depend on the location of the address bar? Ultimately, if you can make it all configurable that gives people the choice to mix and match how they like
• Downloads could have it's own tab in the switcher, although I agree with you that it is technically history
• Currently open tabs could be another tab in the switcher?
• I agree that the location of the private browsing icon is not where I was expecting to find it at all (it's now at the opposite corner!)

What about further optional additions to the homepage like:

• Recently used bookmarks
• Recent browsing history
• Pages saved in Pocket
• Mozilla, Firefox or Pocket highlights?

I also see that there is a change to the top sites icons from square to round, is this an indicator of a future change?

I presume the colour shading in the last pic is just to indicate areas and nothing else.

Cheers 🙂

Edited because my "wild idea" is actually what you were thinking of doing anyway! 😆 I really should pay more attention when reading...

[davidmegginson]

Hi all!

Seeking feedback on the following MVP design, meant for the next engineering sprint.

* This includes the Fennec concept of Bookmarks/History as homescreen tabs that can be swiped to for easy access

* History tab will now have entry points into Synced and Downloads, so the whole library will be accessible from the homescreen

* This moves the top sites down to where they are reachable by thumb. Thanks to u/Behave_or_else for the [inspiration](https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/islbb9/added_some_flair_to_firefox_for_android_and_some/).

* The goal is adding easy access to library while still keeping the homescreen looking clean and approachable.

* This mockup is not yet fully polished, so if you notice a little blurriness on some icons etc, not to worry. For the next few work days, I'll be refining and iterating these mockups based on feedback and user testing.

* The most helpful kinds of feedback: risks and edge cases I might not have considered, ways in which this design might be more difficult to use than the current Fenix, and small improvement ideas that could fit into our very tight timeframe for this release :).

Thank you for sharing that, @violasong. I'm not sure I understand the design just from the wireframes, so I have two questions for clarification:

1. Will I be able to designate "Bookmarks" as my default home page, so that whenever I open a new tab, I will see the "Bookmarks" page (2nd in your mockup)?
2. When I tap on a bookmark to open a link, then choose the back button, will I return to that bookmarks page?

[violasong]

Addressing a few ideas that have come up often:

I do have designs created for showing the homescreen when the address bar is focused. I need to discuss this more with the team but hopefully it could be in a later sprint.

The logo at the top with lots of space around it - this is to preserve a blank/minimal look for the default use case. For the majority of users, I want to avoid the homescreen looking like a control panel or dashboard where every bit of space is taken up. However, the homescreen should adapt to fit more things as needed, such as in the Collections example (to clarify, this is the state in which the user has 1 or more Collectons added) or via potential customizability in the future.

One change I've made already is moving the private window button to end of the top tabs.

Will be doing formal user testing today!

[violasong]

Latest mockups:

[klint]

Thank you, @violasong . Even better than before.
One question about swiping, from what I understand:

• swiping on the green zone takes you to the current active webpage tab, right?
• swiping on the blue zone takes you to the Bookmark or private browsing tab (depending on the direction)
  My question: once on the bookmarks or private browsing tab, can the user go on swiping at the same spot as on the home screen to go to the history tab? And same question once on the history tab, in a circular manner?

[Matth7878]

Vertical alignment feels weird. There is far more space above Firefox logo than below. It especially unsettling with collections where there is a big white space at top in detriment of how many collections fit at bottom.
I really don't like your choice about how to display Firefox logo. It's really too prominent yet it's something that's only aesthetic and have no use.

Anyway thanks for your work.

[kleinph]

Looks great, but two notes:

• will _Synced Tabs_ and _Downloads_ still be available in the history tab as in the first mockups?
• Please make the sections in the history list ("Last 24 Hours", ...) collapsible.

[terr72]

@violasong Just a tiny improval request about the bookmarks mockup: the "add folder" entry typically isn't used on a regular basis, hence it might be better positioned at the end of the list or as icon-only to the right of the Bookmarks header text. Otherwise it constantly eats up screen space as full entry on the top.

[FenixRevival]

@violasong well that's very good! I can't wait to test it, it's really a huge improvement!! For the "delete history" I hope it has a confirmation popup. It's too easy to miss tap and delete history. Cheers.
Any ETA for landing on Nightly?

[atulsnjena]

Hey I was wondering if there is a way to search within the history page cuz I couldn't find any way to search within the history page.

[violasong]

Latest version

[dglttr]

@violasong Thank you very much for keeping everybody up to date here! One really sees the improvements with every new version :)
Some additional questions on the new designs:

• When I tap the "expand" button ∨ on top sites, is this remembered the next time I open the home screen (i. e. "top sites expanded/collapsed")?
• What do I do if I want to open a bookmark or a history app _in private mode_? Do I have to swipe left (thereby exiting private mode) and tap the 3-dot-menu next to the entries and select "open in private tab"? This is not intuitive and not a consistent workflow IMO.
• Suggestion for the new folder icon in the bookmarks section: This layout is not used anywhere else in the app and also is not so discoverable IMO. How about adding a floating action button? This would serve the purpose and clearly indicate that there is an action there.

[klint]

Thanks again
But again, I am a bit worried about the zone to swipe between homescreen tabs in cycle. This zone should be reachable with the finger (on bottom url bar mode), and present on all tabs at the same location. I don't think this is the case now (bookmarks entries have their own swiping).
So here is a nasty suggestion 😊: could the 4 tab icons be moved from the top to just above the address bar, and this would be the swiping zone?

[JoGarWeb]

Taking advantage of the change, why not the downloads tab?

[mobd]

It's looking great! I'm just wondering about swiping on the toolbar to access a tab, would it work both ways as suggested in #13809? Ie swiping left/right from the homescreen would open the first/last tab in the tab tray, and swiping left/right from the last/first tab would go to the homescreen again. Or is it only the first use case?

[madb1lly]

Hi @violasong,

Thank you for sharing the evolution of your design, that's definitely in the spirit of open 😃

It's not clear to me how swiping between the homepage tabs will work on the history, bookmarks and private browsing tabs.

Please can you add synced tabs back into the history tab? This is an important part of "history" which I tend to use reasonably often.

Downloads are now accessed by the menu like currently?

Cheers 🙂

[cadeyrn]

Please can you add synced tabs back into the history tab? This is an important part of "history" which I tend to use reasonably often.

Why? Synced tab will already be integrated in the tabs tray. I don't see how it belongs to the history.

[klint]

Please can you add synced tabs back into the history tab? This is an important part of "history" which I tend to use reasonably often.

Why? Synced tab will already be integrated in the tabs tray. I don't see how it belongs to the history.

Maybe not in the history, maybe it could deserve its own homescreen tab, but the current location is not very useful to me, as you have to scroll down all open tabs (and the list can be long) before reaching the sync tabs in tab tray...

And by the way, I'm dreaming of the tab tray as yet another homescreen tab as well (in addition to the tray view), all homescreen tabs being easily swipable in loop (but wait, that's Fennec again 😋, only site tabs are in list not on grid...although that could be user configurable )

[terr72]

@violasong Thank you for minimizing "Add folder" to icon-only. It would be great if you could also consider an option in the settings to hide the folder "Desktop Bookmarks" for people who don't use Sync at all. That would free up screen space as well.

[cadeyrn]

but the current location is not very useful to me, as you have to scroll down all open tabs (and the list can be long) before reaching the sync tabs in tab tray...

This is not the final position. The synced tabs will be a third tab in the tabs tray, see #14117 and https://app.abstract.com/share/c6bd0c2f-8384-44f3-ba59-4946d8cea469?collectionLayerId=ec285dbe-88bf-41cc-a531-49aad233b5ae&mode=design for the design.

[klint]

Thanks @cadeyrn I was getting confused between homescreen tabs and tab trays "header tabs" (the word "tab" in "tab tray" is confusing as well 😉)

[gurmeetim]

Nice and better than previous.I want to say For top sites First press v button then scrolling.Why not only scrolling to access all sites.Give accessibility setting of top sites.1)Fully expanded like in 3rd image 2)on the bottom like first image(with v Button)
Give not limit for ading top sites.As most of the user not happy with current limited16 sites.

[cadeyrn]

Why not only scrolling to access all sites.

How should this work with collections below the top sites?

---

I noticed that the "Firefox Browser" logo was replaced with the "Firefox" logo in the latest mockup. To be honest I really like the "Firefox browser" logo. It uses more horizontal space and therefore looks less like wasted space. But I guess there was a reason to change it. Does it confuse some people or do you feel it's needless to call it "Browser" in the logo?

The height of the logo also increased a bit. Not much but it's not necessary. People know that they're using Firefox anyway, a smaller logo would be sufficient. Maybe you increased the height to compensate the smaller width due to the change of the logo? 😜

[gurmeetim]

Why not only scrolling to access all sites.

How should this work with collections below the top sites?

I noticed that the "Firefox Browser" logo was replaced with the "Firefox" logo in the latest mockup. To be honest I really like the "Firefox browser" logo. It uses more horizontal space and therefore looks less like wasted space. But I guess there was a reason to change it. Does it confuse some people or do you feel it's needless to call it "Browser" in the logo?

The height of the logo also increased a bit. Not much but it's not necessary. People know that they're using Firefox anyway, a smaller logo would be sufficient. Maybe you increased the height to compensate the smaller width due to the change of the logo? 😜

How should this work with collections below the top sites?

Good point.Collectìons r always below the top sites.By scrolling they r still accessible.This could be optional and benefited users who uses top sites more than collection.

[madb1lly]

Please can you add synced tabs back into the history tab? This is an important part of "history" which I tend to use reasonably often.

Why? Synced tab will already be integrated in the tabs tray. I don't see how it belongs to the history.

Would have been more respectful 😉 to just say there is a future plan to make synced tabs available in the main tabs tray. I was thinking about this new homescreen in isolation and without considering any other promises for future as-yet-not-implemented features.

Cheers 🙂

[delxg]

Hi @violasong, thanks for sharing these.

I never use top sites or collections because these do not sync across my laptop, tablet and phone. In the old Firefox I could configure the home screen to show only bookmarks and history, defaulting to bookmarks.

Will this be possible in the new design?

[cadeyrn]

Would have been more respectful 😉 to just say there is a future plan to make synced tabs available in the main tabs tray.

How is asking a question, explaining a future plan and commenting that I don't think that synced tabs belong to the history not respectful? Sorry, I don't understand how your comment can fit as an answer to my comment. There was nothing disrespectful and no violation of the CPG at all. And if you look at my other comments, you will see that they are all constructive and solution oriented. 🤔

[black7375]

@violasong

It's really cool!!

• Easy to operate with one hand
• Home, Bookmark, and History access are available, as Fennec
• Also easy to switch to Private Mode.

There are some things I would like to improve.
Assume various web pages as one application.

This proposal is https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/12065#issuecomment-697009117 's home tab part improvement plan,
Not to get rid of Bookmark and History tab!!

---

Like a launcher

The first list is the same as Launcher's Home or Dock.

You should be able to keep the same items unless you modify them.
Users remember their location.

Except for the basic items, it should not be added automatically like the app drawer.
In fact, I'm not happy with Desktop Firefox either.

Samsung Internet's Quick access is a best practice.

• Quick access's Home:
  
  
  
  • Large Icon: The icons are large and easy to identify.
  
  
  • New Item: Just press the button and enter the URL.
  
  
  • Plus: When adding items, be sure to refer to bookmarks and history as well.
  
  
  • Plus: A folder in a bookmark and a direct link are possible. (Reddit: berlihingen's comment)
  
  
  • Summary: Can be add URLs, Bookmarks(Item, Folder), and History.
  
  
• Quick access - Pressed
  
  
  
  • Only Arrange: When only dragging is performed, the edit screen is not converted after the arrange operation.
  
  
  • Edit Screen
  
  
  • Like the launcher's home screen, it can be deleted and renamed.
  
  
  • Can select all of items.
  
  
  • Plus: Shouldn't display + icons
  
  

You only need to display those that have already been pinned, so you don't need a pin icon and it can be neat.
I'll call it Pinned below.

Highlights

It has expanded the above.

Now, you can ask:
How can I display my top visit history?

The answer is simple.
Create a space that lists the items you expect to visit frequently.

You can place the number of visits, the date of visit, etc. according to the ranking algorithm.
I hope the bookmarks have a higher priority than the history.
You can also consider how to recommend domains.

F&A: What is the layout of Pinned, Collections, and Highlights?
Just follow Fennec's method.

• Order: Place Pinned, Collections, Highlights in order.
• Replace: Put Collections instead of Pocket
• Domains to Icon(1 Line): Information can be delivered by displaying only the favicon && domain name.
• Pages to List: It's hard to notice without information like title or link.

In Private Mode

It would be nice to have a useful dashboard while using private mode.

I think Fennec and Opera are good examples.

• No tabs: Show message
• New tab: Display Home Screen

[Imold]

@violasong

* **Order:** Place `Pinned`, `Collections`, `Highlights` in order.

You for got about bookmarks, their the only thing that maters to me.

[black7375]

I don't know if I understood exactly, but let me just tell you...

Bookmarks are like installed apps.
Surprisingly, there are many people who do not organize their bookmarks and just add them.
They need pinned and recommended features that are easy to use.

• Order: Place Pinned, Collections, Highlights in order.

A suggestion for the layout inside page Home.
Tabs Bookmark and History are independent.

It would be a good idea to create and manage a Pinned folder in bookmarks.

[ghost]

If I am unable to have as my home page bookmarks, then the home page is useless for me as I don't keep history, collections, highlights, or top sites. At the moment it's a blank page with just the search bar. Having bookmarks with the search bar as my home page would make it useful!

[Imold]

I don't know if I understood exactly, but let me just tell you...

Bookmarks are like installed apps.
Surprisingly, there are many people who do not organize their bookmarks and just add them.
They need pinned and recommended features that are easy to use.

• Order: Place Pinned, Collections, Highlights in order.

A suggestion for the layout inside page Home.
Tabs Bookmark and History are independent.

It would be a good idea to create and manage a Pinned folder in bookmarks.

Bookmarks are not like installed apps, a web browser is not an android launcher. A browser should work like a browser. Do you even use firefox sync? The whole point is that my bookmarks sync with my desktop browser, my phone is for when I don't have my PC.

[black7375]

I only supplemented Home from https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/12065#issuecomment-697009117
So you can use even Bookmark and History.

There is already a bookmark page with a search bar in the original.

[ghost]

I only supplemented B from #12065 (comment)
So you can use even Bookmark and History.

There is already a bookmark page with a search bar in the original.

Unfortunately the new Fenix version has removed this, and such, the new Remix version is severely flawed for my use. I would have kept the old version, except Mozilla didn't give me a choice.

[black7375]

1. Bookmark
   > Bookmarks are not like installed apps, a web browser is not an android launcher. A browser should work like a browser.

Yes. I know it's different.
However, I think that a menu that does not change is indispensable in order to quickly access the items you want from many lists.

It's different from the app, so we also need Highlights based on the Bookmark(High weight) and History(Low weight).
This is a dynamic.

1. Sync
   > Do you even use fire fox sync? The whole point is that my bookmarks sync with my desktop browser, my phone is for when I don't have my PC.

If all are pinned and synced with Topsites on the desktop, I don't think there is a big problem.

[black7375]

Unfortunately the new Fenix version has removed this, and such, the new Remix version is severely flawed for my use. I would have kept the old version, except Mozilla didn't give me a choice.

I agree very much.
I wondered why there were no Bookmark and History tabs.

My suggestion is just a way to make Home tab better.
The two tabs mentioned earlier must be put and are priority.

I think I misunderstood because the text is not clear.
I'll fix it for expansion.

[Imold]

If all are pinned and synced with Topsites on the desktop, I don't think there is a big problem.

Except I don't have/use Topsites on the desktop, just bookmarks. I use Quick Dial for my home/newtab page. Topsites won't work as a substitute for bookmarks

[ghost]

I don't have top sites on the desktop and use Sync. I order my bookmarks menus on the desktop and the Fenix version shows that order. As I use a tablet most of the time, I need my browser to have the right user experience. At the moment the Fenix experience is less than adequate. It's got potential, but I am not sure how long it will take until the experience becomes good.

@violasong - please consider letting the content of the home page be user customisable. Such as it only having what was in the previous version of bookmarks and search

[black7375]

Currently, mobile Topsties and Bookmark are separated from Desktop.
Then wouldn't it be okay if Pinned(Topsites) is also separated?

In my opinion, Pinned is the same as DockBar that only selected important elements from Bookmark.
It's not a substitute, it's a representative of them.

[klint]

You lost me 😊. But I still don't get why users are reluctant to using site shortcuts organized on Android's launcher pages and groups. Why repeating in a browser what the launcher does far better? I'd prefer more browser specific features.

[black7375]

You lost me 😊. And I still don't get why you don't want to use site shortcuts organized on launcher pages and groups. Why repeating in a browser what the launcher does far better? I'd prefer more browser specific features.

You mean the Android launcher?
Pinned is available by simply entering a new tab.

Launcher shortcut refers to the entry point when you turn on the browser, and it is inconvenient to run again after that.

[Imold]

You lost me 😊. But I still don't get why users are reluctant to using site shortcuts organized on launcher pages and groups. Why repeating in a browser what the launcher does far better? I'd prefer more browser specific features.

I'm not reluctant I just have no use for it. Bookmarks on the other hand are more useful and sync with my desktop. Synchronization between PC and mobile is the most important thing, and only bookmarks can make my workflow work.

[black7375]

I'm not reluctant I just have no use for it. Bookmarks on the other hand are more useful and sync with my desktop. Synchronization between PC and mobile is the most important thing, and only bookmarks can make my workflow work.

According to Reddit's suggestion, there is talk about making the bookmark folder also available for reference.
You can easily access even nested bookmarks.

What do you think?

[JohannVII]

@vesta0

We couldn't just start with the old design because we actually built the new Firefox from scratch. My goal for creating this user story was to make the Firefox home screen as useful as possible and AFAIC that could very possibly result in rebuilding parts of the old Firefox homescreen that users loved and found useful, without making it too cluttered which users certainly didn't like. Our UX team is investigating this.

To be clear, you couldn't start with the old CODE; you very much could have started with the old DESIGN. Yes, you would be building new code to replicate that design, but the layout, options, etc. are all already right there in Fennec. Including the option to completely disable features if one didn't like them and found them to be clutter, which is now NOT possible in Fenix (Collections, for example, even when disabled from display on the only place they're actually viewable and usable, the home screen, show up in places like the tab manager's "Save to collections" button, which I would like to disable because I don't need tab collection management and do use bookmarks as a more robust way - tagging, editing display name, editing URL, etc. - to save pages I wish to visit again).

@violasong

Hi all! I've started working on the UX for this bug. Here's the plan:

Milestone 1

* Research: Review existing feedback, research, and discuss with Mobile and Desktop UX (underway)

* Create MVP design (rough wireframes in progress)

* Make fast iterations based on feedback, user testing

* Release

Milestone 2

* Wait for [this bug](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/14866) to collect telemetry data

* Create survey and run through user testing

* Launch survey to a sample of release users

* Create MVP 2 design

* Iterate based on feedback

* Release

I appreciate your responses and willingness to take feedback to heart!

I do see something concerning about the plan you posted. You know that your privacy-focused users - the user base Mozilla has been specifically marketing to for a while now - disable call-home features like telemetry collection (and invasive push functions like experiments and surveys), right? If you're basing your decision-making primarily on data gained from directly monitoring user action, you're actively restricting your data set to users to whom you're not primarily trying to cater. That actually explains a lot of the design decisions and backlash with Fenix - you (not you personally, the collective "you" of the development team) actively excluded your primary target user base from consideration. This wouldn't be as big of a problem if it excluded a random sampling of users, but because it excludes a specific subset that are going to have similar habits to each other, you're badly biasing your data with the collection method.

This entire approach is wrong for Mozilla; it works for Google or Microsoft because they're INTENTIONALLY trying to exploit users who are willing to trade privacy and security for something that "just works" and alienate everyone else (because those users are not exploitable in the way that drives the company's revenues, so it's more valuable to not have to support them at all by prompting them to self-select out of using the software; it's the same thing that e-mail scammers do - it's not worth wasting time with suspicious, savvy users, which is why so many scam e-mails INTENTIONALLY use misspellings, absurd claims, etc., so they can focus on people who have shown themselves to be people who will ignore red flags for scams and respond), so unless Mozilla is changing its mission, using data mining/harvesting to drive design decisions is actively counterproductive. As @xobs notes, you're also missing data from people who LEFT Firefox over the UI changes and feature regressions introduced with Fenix or who have stayed on Fennec (which I'm doing as my primary mobile browser while testing UX on the Fenix beta, as I plan to switch over primary browsers once it's acceptable to me), while retaining existing/former Firefox users should be a major consideration if Mozilla is hoping to expand the user base.

That out of the way, the posted mock-up looks MUCH better to me. It does invoke a pervasive UI problem that has shown up in a number of cases related to the address bar location customization: related interface elements don't move with the bar.

Here, the icons for the different sections/pages/tabs of the Home view should move to the bottom with the bar (or to the top for a top bar setting) so they are accessible without traversing the screen (especially important for one-handed operation on larger devices, which was the point of allowing a bottom bar in the first place). The tab manager shade has some similar problems - it's designed exclusively around a bottom-bar assumption, so it pulls up from the bottom (not a functional problem, but visually incongruous if the bar is at the top) and puts the new tab button at the bottom (which is a functional problem, as people with a top bar position can't quickly and conveniently tap twice to open a new tab as in Fennec; the solution offered by one of the top Fenix UI design apologists in Reddit has been to note that long-pressing the tab manager button brings up a context menu from which a new tab can be opened, which is not intuitive, as things that look like buttons don't usually have associated context menus, and still takes longer than opening a new tab in Fennec because of the time delay on a long-press). Interface elements should be positioned based on the address bar position selection throughout the application; the current approach will leave new users searching for the location of controls on every new interface element (because there isn't a consistent location for them) and will still leave experienced users moving their fingers around more than necessary or being unable to use one-handed control because the controls aren't grouped together in all cases (or only are for one address bar position option).

@klint

You lost me blush. But I still don't get why users are reluctant to using site shortcuts organized on Android's launcher pages and groups. Why repeating in a browser what the launcher does far better? I'd prefer more browser specific features.

Because some users wish to maintain separation between locally-installed applications and websites, even as many developers are trying to collapse the distinction entirely (first with apps shifting to primarily online data storage, then with the PWA model, whether it's accessing a website-as-application through a bundled Webkit/Chromium distribution as a separate app or through a full web browser like Firefox). I have many, many objections to the PWA model along multiple axes of consideration (much more than would be appropriate to elaborate here), so even as I recognize that it's the direction application development is heading right now, I don't have to be happy about that or support it (ditto for perpetual development hell i.e. SaaS, which is interrelated with websites-as-applications).

[klint]

@JohannVII I was not talking about PWA, merely about good old site shortcuts. The only feature I miss in that area is the ability to create a simple shortcut when the site is also available as PWA.

[kleinph]

I think the discussion goes a bit out of hand here.

I really like the latest mockups of @violasong and I think it solves most of the criticized points:

• showing top sites on home screen is already optional in Nightly
• collections are not shown if you don't have any
• the last active tab is remembered, so if you leave with bookmarks open it will start on bookmarks tab

For me only two things are missing:

• access to _Synced tabs_ and _Downloads_ in the history tab, like it was in the first mockup
• collapsible headings in the history tab for better overview (this will surely get issues opened if it's not done in the first implementation)

So maybe we should wait for the first implementation to arrive in Nightly.

[klint]

@Imold

I'm not reluctant I just have no use for it. Bookmarks on the other hand are more useful and sync with my desktop.
Synchronization between PC and mobile is the most important thing, and only bookmarks can make my workflow work.

Page shortcuts on the Android launcher and bookmarking/sync are not excluding eachother, on the contrary. It's just a couple of clicks more to bookmark a page after adding the shortcut. And not something I do 50 times a day, so I don't care about those extra clicks (but apparently, people are whining about extra clicks A LOT!! :P). Anyway, we should have the possibility to do both: add any page to the launcher and use bookmarks, so that everyone's happy.

@black7375

You mean the Android launcher?

yes I do. In my own experience, the Android launcher offers unmatched capabilities to organize my top sites/most accessed bookmarks. And it is even a click less to launch them :)

[davidmegginson]

@Imold
yes I do. In my own experience, the Android launcher offers unmatched capabilities to organize my top sites/most accessed bookmarks. And it is even a click less to launch them :)

Unfortunately, that triggers another issue: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/15495

[Imold]

@klint

Page shortcuts on the Android launcher and bookmarking/sync are not excluding eachother, on the contrary. It's just a couple of clicks more to bookmark a page after adding the shortcut. And not something I do 50 times a day, so I don't care about those extra clicks (but apparently, people are whining about extra clicks A LOT!! :P). Anyway, we should have the possibility to do both: add any page to the launcher and use bookmarks, so that everyone's happy.

😕? I guess there was some confusion on what was being talked about.
I thought we were talking about Top Sites and Collections on the Firefox home/newtab page, not page shortcuts on the Android home screen.

[black7375]

@kleinph

access to Synced tabs and Downloads in the history tab, like it was in the first mockup

Wouldn't it be better to approach Synced Tabs by pressing Tab Menu?
It seems to be consistent.

• General tab
• Private tab
• Synced tab
• Closed tab

The following is an example of the screenshots of Vivaldi & Opera.

[klint]

I thought we were talking about Top Sites and Collections on the Firefox home/newtab page, not page shortcuts on the Android home screen.

Sure, that was only a side discussion. Main topic here is to bring a newer and richer experience on the Fenix homescreen for everybody, including those who use bookmarks, history and top sites, and those who don't (like me...as URL suggestions based on history and bookmarks, plus Android shortcuts as top sites are largely enough for my "workflow").

[violasong]

Hi all, I've been taking a step back from my previous homescreen "MVP" to explore more concepts. These aren't standalone proposals, but rather different examples to help guide our discussions. Are there any other concepts I should mock up?

Figma source - feel free to fork

[mobd]

Some of these look very promising! Is the idea of the mockups having open tabs there that the home screen would replace the tab tray or supplement it? The first makes the most sense to me but in the designs it seems like these are meant as a quick shortcut for when a user opens the app

[ghost]

@violasong Can you please mock up the old home screen that had the awesome bar and bookmarks. Anything with top sites and collections is useless to me. I have removed all top sites, recommended sites and collections. So if others do the same, and it appears many do, it's an important use case that has been missed

[andreicristianpetcu]

My usual workflow is open new tab, click on pinned site so anything that shows pinned sites is fine. Currently I long press tab counter just to bypass the search with the search engines. My search workflow starts from the home screen widget or from the current tab, not from the new tab. I tried using colections but it's a hard sell. Being able to see some of the opened tabs is a nice to have on the new tab button. I like 32 quite a lot. Not that aestetic but quite functional.

[black7375]

@violasong

What about the following?
Suppose you scroll a little bit to see Highlights content.

This is a result of reflecting my previous feedback.

---

+.
Android-41's awesomebar looks good.

[klint]

@black7375

I really like your mockups. as well as @violasong 's ones with the "homescreen tabs bar" at the bottom, always visible in any of the homescreen tabs (as the URL bar), at finger's reach above the URL bar and swipable

IMHO, it keeps the goods things of Fenix (tabs in a list rather than screenshots, that I find useless, and Top Sites) and adds the good things of Fennec (easy navigation in history and bookmarks) and it would give choice to the user by remembering the last used homescreen tab when going back to the homescreen (or restarting Fenix)...

I suppose that the CNN site and below are the last opened tabs (also available with the full list in the tab tray).

Question: how would all this be available in Private browsing mode?

[Neikon]

here is my concept. It is homescreen, tabs, search and some behaviors

Some examples pictures, more in link
https://www.figma.com/file/Z5zFMS4ClKq1bx4WyXeR8n/Firefox-for-Android-homescreen-personas-public-Copy?node-id=0%3A1

[madb1lly]

Hi @violasong,
Wow that's a lot of options! Frankly so many I've got confused about which part of the screen is doing what... 😆

What I like:

• Option to have the awesomescreen popup with the keyboard!
• Option to show current tabs on homescreen (personally I think I use the current tabs tray more)
• Option to show the tabs tray with mainly thumbnails and minimal text (like Fennec compact tabs)
• Option to show have the homescreen switcher at the bottom
• I think the homescreen switcher looks neater with icons rather than text, and I prefer the bigger icons to the small ones as I can still easily tap if I'm finding swiping not working for some reason
• Power-user option - everything available from the homescreen!
• Recent highlights expanding sections looks good, but I'm not sure how much I'd use it (I don't use these sections much on desktop); would these be ranked according to recently/frequently used, and replace that function in the top sites favicon grid?
• Pinned top sites being near the bottom of the screen, easy access by thumb
• Density option

What I don't like as much:

• Keyboard open by default on the homescreen - I think I will close it more often than use it
• Private browsing being part of the homescreen switcher but tabs tray not being part of the homescreen switcher - both are lists of tabs, so either they are both homescreen options or we can switch between them in the tabs tray, I think it's inconsistent to only have private browsing available from the homescreen switcher.
• I don't think I'll use recent searches
• Pinned top sites screenshots, I don't think that'll be much use to me (and anyway, if you show a thumbnail then is that the current content? Does that mean Fenix accesses the site without us asking it to?)
• I don't use Instagram so don't know what that's about

What I would like to see:

• Collections being another option on the homescreen switcher.
• (off-topic, but relevant) Collections be swappable like tab groups, unlike the current workflow where we they aren't removed from the current tabs tray when saved and when opened they are added to the current tabs tray rather than replacing them (and saving the old ones). If Collections were easily swappable I'd use them a lot more, like I use simple tab groups on desktop.
• (also off topic, less relevant!) Collections need to be synced

Cheers 🙂

[black7375]

@Klint
Thank you for your positive feedback.

As it was written in the previous description,

Motive
The current top site configuration is very confusing.

• Google, Wikipedia given by default
• Add to Topsites (Manual, appearing as a pin)
• Recommended sites based on your browsing history

Reason

• Users remember the location of their favorites.
  It's confusing if it's provided dynamically.
• History-based recommended sites are difficult for users to recognize with just the icons.
  The title should appear like a tab.

Result

• Existing Topsite areas(call Pinned) are manually configured.
• Dynamically recommended links appear in a list below the Collection. (Rank Algorithm)
  
  
  
  • number/date of visits (Often / Recently)
  
  
  • Bookmarks have a higher priority
  
  

with Private browsing mode

• No tabs: Show message
• New tab: Display Home Screen (No display private tab)
  This does not violate your current experience and can be useful.

[terr72]

On August 29th I posted my concern that this topic would unfold as an elaborated UX design discussion.
5 weeks later this has developed into a mockup & feature suggestion frenzy.
The focus should be on re-implementing lost basic functionality, like bookmarks as default page.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but check the comments in the Play Store to see what's important to work on.

[black7375]

@terr72

The focus should be on re-implementing lost basic functionality, like bookmarks as default page.

General users, not power users, do not change the settings very well, and it is difficult to organize.

Therefore, I decided that the importance of the first page(Default is Home) that will be displayed by default when a new tab or address bar is clicked is very high.

If you inform us about the basic functions you think, smooth communication will be possible.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but check the comments in the Play Store to see what's important to work on.

Could you please list some of the reviews that you think are also important?

Specific examples help you understand your intentions.

[terr72]

@black7375

My post wasn't targeted and meant as criticism about your suggestions specifically.

General users, not power users, do not change the settings very well, and it is difficult to organize.

In FF68 the default was bookmarks as start and returning page.
This was changed without any need and choice to configure it back - up to the present day.
Fixing this by introducing a setting for it wouldn't be rocket science.

Just load the reviews and do a in-page search for _bookmark_, it's a constant recurring theme. There are even reports by users who think that their bookmarks are lost due to this fundamental design change.

Don't get me wrong: I'd be totally fine with this brainstorming for a next-gen UX experience with all bells and whistles combined with fancy algorithms if the app rating would be as good as 5 weeks ago, but it's at 3.9.

[black7375]

@terr72
I didn't write to fight or attack too.
I wanted to get feedback and supplement it.

I have received feedback from other concept mockups I posted before and modified them.
I thought it would be possible to fully reflect suggestions related to bookmarks and basic enhancements in the current state.

I also like the Fennec, so I would like to port the existing advantages.
(Customize home, Compact tabs, Tab queue ..etc)

if you select representative reviews (about 3~4?), it would be much more helpful for understanding intent!!

[klint]

@terr72 Please let's not start yet another discussion like this :). Everybody in this thread is perfectly aware about the reviews in Google Play, no doubt about that. In my opinion, the goal is not to provide a solution in a hurry to get 0.2 points back to the note, than later change the UI again from scratch to complete the features. That won't work.
IMHO, the way things are handled by @violasong is the right one. Let's help her design and build a path to a consistent solution that will please old users frustrated by the change, old users more open to it and new users.

[Imold]

@klint

@terr72 Please let's not start yet another discussion like this :). Everybody in this thread is perfectly aware about the reviews in Google Play, no doubt about that. In my opinion, the goal is not to provide a solution in a hurry to get 0.2 points back to the note, than later change the UI again from scratch to complete the features. That won't work.
IMHO, the way things are handled by @violasong is the right one. Let's help her design and build a path to a consistent solution that will please old users frustrated by the change, old users more open to it and new users.

I disagree, we just need to get the necessary feature of bookmarks on the homepage implemented asap.
A interim fix is preferable to using an out of date browser.
I can't update from version 68 until this is fixed. We can worry about polishing the UI after functionality has been restored.

[FenixRevival]

I kind of agree with @lmold the issue has been raised since the first draft of Fenix. We're in a regression compared to Legacy Firefox in the browsing aspect.

It doesn't mean it should be rushed and put some halfworked solution, but I trust Mozilla team to make something. That's the whole point of Nightly. We don't have to push the change to beta and prod. Some of us are using Nightly for that.

A first landing, optional via secret settings, would be a good step. I'd just like to remind that this is not uncommon for Firefox, if you were to look at Desktop Nightly you'll see that this kind of thing happen. Think of the megabar, it was in about:config first then pushed in Nightly, and it did change often in a big noticeable way.

Anyway, I think we're getting out of the initial discussion. But I wish some will be more kind to the issue raised by others. We're all here to make Firefox better, but you should also keep in mind some people were deeply touched by the way Fenix landed. I've yet to jump because of that, but I'm more than willing to jump to Nightly, as I do for all Firefox release, as long as this issue is corrected.

[terr72]

@klint I'm not really worried about the note in the Play Store, but it's a strong indicator for the silent user majority voting with their feet. For one who votes/comments badly there, there are hundreds who simply can't stand the broken workflow any longer, move to another browser and won't check back even if Firefox comes with the ultimate polished and never-seen-before UX in another 6 weeks.

Again, I'm not saying what @violasong does is bad, quite the opposite.
It's just that FF would need easy-to-implement fixes for the time being, like a checkbox in the settings for "Set bookmarks as home screen". This would have avoided and still would avoid so many bad reviews and lost users.

[klint]

@terr72 The silent majority is rather those who like Fenix as it is now or who can wait with the current implementation.
On the contrary, the people you are mentioning have raised their voice quite loudly in their ratings, haven't they? ;)
The second won't come back if the only change is the bookmark being reached with one or 2 clicks less, given the anger they have shown.
But again, the Mozilla team and contributors are quite aware of all that. And must be bored with such a debate opening here again and again :P.
Let's wait for their wise decision... and it if happens to be the introduction of a setting as you are requesting, well, let it be, I'll be happy with it. And if not, the same :)

[davidmegginson]

@terr72 Please let's not start yet another discussion like this :). Everybody in this thread is perfectly aware about the reviews in Google Play, no doubt about that. In my opinion, the goal is not to provide a solution in a hurry to get 0.2 points back to the note, than later change the UI again from scratch to complete the features. That won't work.
IMHO, the way things are handled by @violasong is the right one. Let's help her design and build a path to a consistent solution that will please old users frustrated by the change, old users more open to it and new users.

You're right about the way forward now, but it's also a good reminder to all of us (not just those working for the Mozilla Foundation) that users are never happy when they perceive features taken away with no notice or justification. Developers fully understand that a fresh rewrite means some features will disappear (either for a while, or forever), but from the users' PoV, it's the same product with the same name — "we did a rewrite" doesn't resonate with them.

Product management requires a whole different skillset than design, coding, or user testing. I think the Mozilla Foundation stumbled here, but as I've had similar stumbles with products I've worked on, I won't throw the first stone. We're all learning.

[davidmegginson]

Hi all, I've been taking a step back from my previous homescreen "MVP" to explore more concepts. These aren't standalone proposals, but rather different examples to help guide our discussions. Are there any other concepts I should mock up?

Figma source - feel free to fork

Thanks, @violasong — as far as I understand, none of those wireframes shows bookmarks. Are you leaving that design for later? (It's the only one I'd use.)

[yoasif]

Finally got around to reviewing this -

There is way too much to try to delve into in each wireframe, so I'm going to try to summarize my thoughts.

• There seems to be some conflation in these wireframes between the home screen and the screen that appears when you tap on the address bar. Perhaps that is intended - it makes sense to want to be consistent

What does this mean, though?

• In Fennec, if someone customized their home page, they would basically lose easy access to the default Firefox home screen, unless they used the menu items to access bookmarks or history, or manually navigated to about:home.

Are we talking about what appears when you tap on the address bar, or the home page itself (which may be disabled if a user sets an alternate home page)?

I'm going to assume that we are talking about something that can do both, but that to me seems that we'd want to prioritize some way of getting to this new UI without needing to open a new tab (which is the easiest way to currently get to the home page UI while in an open tab).

• the home screen content in a new tray feels like it would conflict with the existing tab tray, and while I don't dislike the idea of somehow combining it, to me it creates a conflict around what I would expect to see when I open the tray. Am I going to get my tabs, or am I going to get my bookmarks?

• the bottom panel is unappealing to me due to the existing UI elements of "scan" and "search engine" (not pictured in the wires) - the whole area starts to feel congested.

• the iOS style version feels like it would be hard to make it reflect my prior state - it feels like I'd be locked into Top Sites by default, and would necessitate a tap to get to other areas of the home UI every time I opened the home UI

• expanding sections look nice in a wireframe, but I think would have similar problems to the iOS style - we are locked into Top Sites at the top and require taps to expand sections

• I like the idea of an Edge style "density" setting for home; I think this would be a great way to bring back Pocket.

I worked up some ideas - they aren't necessarily replacements for the mockups we have so far, but I had some ideas I wanted to explore and share.

The wireframes show:

• navigation without text. I loved the text that I saw in the wires shared, but I had trouble making it look good with the icons (wnated to integrate both), and I was also aware of German (long words).

• explicit customize action to arrange or remove sections, or to control density (as in one of the prior mockups)

• an idea around folders in top sites that could eliminate or lessen the questions around unlimited top sites - slap a big of folders and be able to open additional items from folders (like how some people are using collections today)

• an idea around a pet peeve of mine regarding collections - collections can be live and present (not archival), can have tabs within them moved from one to another, and restoring state won't be a surprise, but a natural consequence of collections acting more like windows than saved collections of tabs.

Figma.

[klint]

Thank you @yoasif

I think your proposals could gather the best of 2 worlds (Fenix and Fennec), provided the following topics are taken into account as well:

• The current tab tray must remain with tabs as a list (with expanded titles), for better information density (and differentiation with the home screen)

• As the home screen action bar is now set at the top, there must also be a swiping area in the BOTTOM part of the screen to navigate between those home screen tabs with one hand (without extending the thumb). Could the horizontal swiping on the URL bar be used for that when used in the home screen (but the keyboard should not be open by default on the home screen, then)?

• The last used home screen tab should be remembered by the application and displayed when the application restart or when going back to the home screen (acting as a "default" homescreen as @cadeyrn proposed it)

• About the collection as a "scrollable" horizontal shelf: this concept as implemented today does not work well with one hand for Top Sites actually. Many "horizontal" gestures are not recorded correctly as they end up a bit downwards while holding the phone in the hand and swiping with the thumb of that hand (I think a bug is opened for that)

[madb1lly]

Hi @yoasif,

I really like your suggestions for customisation UI, collections/tabs UI and top sites UI. I think you and I share the same thoughts about using collections like tab groups on desktop (I imagine like the STG extension), and I really hope that the Fenix team finally implement this and help Fenix realise it's potential.

Cheers 🙂

[liuche]

This will probably be a v2, but here's a request for better one-handed usage (which is probably out of scope for these mocks at least, but worthwhile to think about).

[violasong]

Hi all, update on me: I had to take a step back from this because of learning about new factors that need to be researched and analyzed. We're having a lot of discussions around balancing priorities right now.

Thanks @yoasif and everyone for the great feedback! I hope to have more info to share soon.

[BrendaEM]

Hi all, update on me: I had to take a step back from this because of learning about new factors that need to be researched and analyzed. We're having a lot of discussions around balancing priorities right now.

Thanks @yoasif and everyone for the great feedback! I hope to have more info to share soon.

What?! Mozilla ruined a decent web browser. So many users are disappointed that Mozilla admitted it in the last release.
Had it occurred to test any of the ideas on users before throwing it over the wall?
Wouldn't it be best to restore Firefox Mobile's functionality--before heading off into experimental-land?
It seems that Mozilla is trying to frost a cake that collapsed in the oven.

And who ever wants to type an address--when they could just tap scroll tap. Unless your search criteria is over one letter, choosing a saved bookmark is much quicker and easier than typing it.
Did it ever occur to anyone, that we might not want a screen filled with the product of the analytics you have been doing on Firefox mobile users?

[terr72]

We're having a lot of discussions around balancing priorities right now.

That's exactly what the browser needs now.

[anotherus3r]

What?! Mozilla ruined a decent web browser. So many users are disappointed that Mozilla admitted it in the last release.

@BrendaEM and many more, including me, are happy with the functionality and speed improvements over the old Firefox, which started to show its age as it was slow and not really nice to look at.

Had it occurred to test any of the ideas on users before throwing it over the wall?

Fenix had been available to users for testing since July 2019, if I remember correctly. First as Firefox Preview, then it merged in Nightly, then Beta and finally release. The devs have been listening to user feedback from the start.

[BrendaEM]

No, I don't think that whomever sic. designed the last few versions of Firefox Mobile really cares about the needs of users.
When did the users ask to remove the ability to call up their bookmarks with a few taps?
When exactly did user comment that they wanted to type out the name of bookmarks to use them?
When did the users ask for their web-browsing history to placed on the homepage as "Top Sites?"

[BrendaEM]

In fact, this thread, was merged from I started that had nothing to do with anything on the home-screen. Mozilla doesn't care about what I want because I am only a user.

I don't want anything on the home screen. At home, I use a blank screen because no page loads faster than a blank page. As a user, then--I decide what my next action will be.

In the case of Firefox Mobile, I usually used a small subset of bookmarks, because I have found that they were unmanageable on Firefox Mobile. I would have liked the ability to use my bookmarks from their folders--just like Firefox desktop.

Additionally, the blurring of lines between a search function and a bookmark is bad internet practice. I have tested my bookmarks, and within reason, they are safe. If I land a search, it is considered to be untrusted. So, even by emulating Apple's insecure design to use a common search/URL/URI/ bar, it likely caused an increased number of infected PC computers, because the users doesn't even known what they are clicking on. You are treating the internet like a DMZ.

[orionlee]

Irrespective of the specifics, it'd be great if users can have (at most) 1-tap access to bookmark and history from new tab UI (i.e., no worse than old Firefox Android). Right now it requires 2 taps.

[Matth7878]

It would also be nice to access element on home from tabs in less than 4 taps :

• going to tab tray
• tapping + button
• tapping screen to dismiss focus on search bar and keyboard
• finally tapping something on home

Even accessing top sites are really painful right now...

[delxg]

If anybody is interested I've been trying out Vivaldi mobile. It has a speed dial like Opera of old and seems to meet my needs. It cannot sync bookmarks with Firefox, but the desktop app is pretty good too.

I don't like reinforcing the browser monocultule, but Fenix has been a pretty painful regression for me :-(

Hopefully Mozilla can sort things out soon.

[gurmeetim]

Is there any plan to include tab bar.It will be good.

[anotherus3r]

Is there any plan to include tab bar.It will be good.

Yeah, that would be really useful on big tablet.

See #14921, too.

[violasong]

It would also be nice to access element on home from tabs in less than 4 taps :

* going to tab  tray

* tapping + button

* tapping screen to dismiss focus on search bar and keyboard

* finally tapping something on home

Even accessing top sites are really painful right now...

Thanks for raising this issue. @brampitoyo and I have been looking into this and testing a version that doesn't have the scrim which obscures the top sites (as a partial solution to this general issue). I'll file a separate bug for this.

I've also been thinking a lot about the experience of being able to access top sites from the keyboard view on an existing website, and will file a separate issue for that.

[Matth7878]

@violasong actually the need is to easily access to home and not just have some shortcuts to top sites.

IMHO resolution is quite simple and there is no need to think a lot about it :

• when going to home from tabs tray do not popup keyboard. Or let it be an option
• and/or just make double tap possible on tab tray icon (aka tab counter) in navigation bar to open a new tab.
  I already opened issue #15025 about it but I have been answered that as when you tap tab tray button in navigation bar it opens tab tray and have plus button in the same spot so there is no need... Even though it's not true as it's not double tap but one tap then one more on another button. For this "solution" to work you have tap reaaaalllly slow and that it's not working with navigation bar at top. (Mine is at bottom)

[gurmeetim]

It would also be nice to access element on home from tabs in less than 4 taps :

* going to tab  tray

* tapping + button

* tapping screen to dismiss focus on search bar and keyboard

* finally tapping something on home

Even accessing top sites are really painful right now...

Thanks for raising this issue. @brampitoyo and I have been looking into this and testing a version that doesn't have the scrim which obscures the top sites (as a partial solution to this general issue). I'll file a separate bug for this.

I've also been thinking a lot about the experience of being able to access top sites from the keyboard view on an existing website, and will file a separate issue for that.

Some updated before when i long press tab button it show context menu with new tab and press it let me to blank tab without opening keyboard. Now its automatic open kayboard.I think the previous behavior was more user friendly and noone has demand the keyboard open for this

[terr72]

1½ months have passed with no progress on the most commented issue in this tracker: bringing back bookmarks to the homescreen. Instead efforts seem to have shifted towards a secondary area - not sure why.

[kleinph]

1½ months have passed with no progress on the most commented issue in this tracker: bringing back bookmarks to the homescreen. Instead efforts seem to have shifted towards a secondary area - not sure why.

I am a bit disappointed that the latest mockups by @violasong were not implemented and the issue has rather turned into a show-your-own-mockups thread. This seems to have stalled the development.

I had hoped that the mockups will be implemented and improved from there on.

PS: unfortunately this comment doesn't add much to bring the issue forward, but I somehow wanted to say this and see if someone else thinks the same.

[violasong]

Hey all, I understand the disappointment with the delays on this issue. I still think this task is extremely important, and everyone's mockups and ideas submitted to this thread are much appreciated. However, in late October as I mentioned, I had to step away from this issue and work on user research for new priorities our team had received.

Meanwhile, the work that I was able hand off to engineering was mostly related to the address bar and the aforementioned keyboard fix, because these are more straightforward changes.

Last month, I was assigned to long-term planning and strategy for the rest of the year. I wrote a short update about this on Twitter yesterday, and if I have any further updates, you'll be able to find them there.

I try to work in the open as much as I can (e.g. on reddit), but this kind of thing—user research and strategy—is very tricky to discuss openly, unfortunately. Please bear with us till there's more to share.

[BrendaEM]

I cannot believe that users still can't use their bookmarks.
What is the matter with you people?

The way forward is backward, when you really messed up!

[gerdwagner]

I agree with the complaints about no progress on the bookmarks issue.

I rolled back my installations to version 68.11.0 (loosing all my former bookmarks) and have been checking my Firefox Nightly test installation for a long time now being disappointed each time.

[terr72]

I had to step away from this issue and work on user research for new priorities our team had received.

I know, this isn't your fault @violasong, it was simply assigned to you, but to me this sounds like thinking about painting the house in a fresh color while people can only climb inside thru the windows because someone walled up the entry door during the previous renovation.