Feedback on Firefox Android Menu Redesign

[to1]

I appreciate the ongoing efforts to enhance the Firefox experience on Android. However, I have some feedback regarding the new menu redesign and tab overview (Firefox Nightly Android 143.0a1) that I believe could improve usability and overall user satisfaction.

Menu
- Animation Concerns: The animation when opening the menu feels excessive and could be streamlined for a more efficient user experience. For my personal experience I don't like animation, as they take too much time.
- Screen Space Usage: The new menu occupies too much screen space, which detracts from the browsing experience. A more compact design would be beneficial.
- Button Placement: The back, forward, share, and refresh buttons are less accessible in their current positions. I suggest relocating them to the bottom of the screen for easier access. I use the address bar at the bottom and the 3 buttons were located at the bottom before.
- Button order: Additionally, maintaining the order of these buttons is crucial, with the refresh button ideally positioned on the right.
- Side-by-Side Layout: I appreciate that history, bookmarks, downloads, and passwords are now displayed side by side rather than stacked. This change saves space and enhances usability.
- Desktop Version Button: The option to switch to the desktop version should be represented as a button rather than text for better visibility and accessibility.
- More Section: Currently, accessing functions in the hidden "more" section requires an additional click. I would prefer the option to swipe to the top to open this section, as was possible before.

Tab Overview Design
- Screen Coverage: The tab overview currently blocks the entire screen. A collapsible design similar to previous versions would be more user-friendly. Additionally, allowing users to swipe down to close the tab overview or click on the blurred website in the background would enhance navigation.
- Tab Order and Icons: I recommend changing the order of regular and private tabs, placing regular tabs to the left and private tabs in the middle. Using icons instead of text for regular, private, and synced tabs would improve clarity and usability. Implementing a swipe gesture to switch (to left and right) between regular and private tabs could further enhance the experience.
- Swipe Distance: The current swipe distance required to close an open tab in list view is excessive. Reducing this distance would make closing tabs more intuitive and efficient.
- Private mode icon missing: On new tabs there was a private mode icon in the top left corner, which allows to quickly enable and disable the private mode for the current tab.

Thank you for considering my feedback. I believe these adjustments could significantly enhance the user experience of the new menu on Android. I look forward to seeing how the product evolves and hope my suggestions contribute positively to future updates.

[Shug]

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- Button Placement: The back, forward, share, and refresh buttons are less accessible in their current positions. I suggest relocating them to the bottom of the screen for easier access. I use the address bar at the bottom and the 3 buttons were located at the bottom before.

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+ this.

I also use address bar at the bottom and it being on top makes it way harder than it should be to quickly refresh or share tab.

[ra_shoe]

Ugh, the redesign is terrible UX for address bar on the top or bottom. You used to be able to reload the page by basically double tapping the triple dot menu button, plus back and forward were right there. Please make an option to go back to the old menu!Otherwise I'm moving to Chrome. 

[dcam]

This, 100%.  I had to refresh this very page due to a JS error and accidentally opened the browser settings!  You have messed with people's muscle memory AND made the UI more difficult to use.  Things like that are why I moved from Chrome to Firefox!  I did not expect that from this project.  While the overall redesign may be ill-advised for the reasons given in the OP, the change to the navigation button position is what will drive me crazy and away from FF.  Please revert these changes.

[Willow]

An option to go back to the old menu should always be an option. The new one is awful and is going to be the reason I won't allow updates and probably eventually find another browser.

[Eddie-S]

I really hope they revert this change!

[Benutzer]

I agree, I understand that the new menu has more modern graphics but it makes it less user-friendly: if I have to go back or forward on the page I have to open this huge pop-up that takes up the whole screen, there has been a bug for many versions that no longer shows the translate button in the bottom bar and therefore you have to open the menu. With this new menu you have to do 1 more step because you have to expand the translate section and then you can translate. As for the tabs, on the other hand, they are very uncomfortable and have an ugly animation (non-existent), the old style was modern anyway and above all having the tabs at the bottom was easy to reach with one hand. Now instead I have to reach the top of the screen...

[Cyphermage]

My biggest gripe with the new menu layout is the removal of the "New Tab" option - it's driving me absolutely crazy.  Obviously you can still access this functionality with the "+" (new tab) button at the bottom of the tabs list, but it's a lot less convenient. 

I have the address bar at the top, so I used to be able to open new tabs with two taps in the top right corner of the screen - I now have to tap at the top to open the tabs list, and then move to the bottom of the screen to hit the "+" button. 

It's going to take ages to re-train my muscle memory - I can't tell you how many times I've opened the main menu, sighed, and had to close it again already. 

Because I have my address bar at the top, having the forward/back/reload buttons at the top of the menu is actually an improvement for me - but I totally understand why it'd irk anyone who has it at the bottom. 

It seems like there needs to be (at least) two menu layouts available for users to choose from - one that suits users with the address bar at the top, and one that suits users with it at the bottom. 

This goes for the tabs list, too.  Why is the "+" at the bottom, when all the other buttons are at the top?  I'd much rather the "+" button was in line with the others, so I don't have to make that jump from the top of the screen (to open the tab list) down to the bottom (to open a new tab). 

I'd also like to be able to flip the direction of the tabs list, so that the newest tabs appear at the top, instead of the bottom.

Having the most commonly-used functionality clustered at the top vs the bottom of the screen is obviously about preference and general usability - but it's also about accessibility.

As several people in this thread have pointed out, they use the thumb of the hand holding the phone to interact with the screen when possible, which seems to be a pretty common preference. 

But for some people, it's the only option. Disability limits some people to a single hand.  Others need to use their phones while one hand is occupied - by a baby, tool, mobility aid, or whatever else.

I'm in the opposite camp.  I have small hands and neuropathic weakness on top of that, so I can only use a relatively small, light phone - and even then, I can't use it single-handed.  My poor grip strength means that I need fingers on three sides of the phone for it to be secure - thumb against the left side, two fingers against the right side, and the bottom edge resting against my curled ring finger to prevent it slipping down. 

I use my right index finger to interact with the screen, which means that I don't have any reach limitations, unlike thumb users.  But I prefer interacting with the top two-thirds of the screen, because it means my awkward hands are less likely to bang into each other.  

So again: top vs bottom UI on mobile is about accessibility, as well as just preference.  Firefox already takes this into account with the flexibility of the address bar placement - it just needs to be taken a step further and have the menus follow suit. 

My small screen size means that I do appreciate the compactness of the new menu, as a result of placing some buttons side by side, and hiding some options behind the "... More". 

I no longer have to scroll down to reach the "Settings" option, which makes my life easier.  Most people probably adjust their settings rarely, if ever - but I often tweak the default font size.

On the other hand, I now have to tap twice to get to "Translate", which I also use on a semi-regular basis, because it's hidden behind the "... More".  Still, tapping is easier than scrolling, so it's a net win overall. 

Finally, like OP, I prefer menus to appear instantly, rather than having to wait for opening animations - so it'd be cool if this was a toggle option, too. 

[Losthope]

Hi, I made this discussion to talk about the new UI.

Feel free to voice opinions or feedback.

Now then, from my point of view the UI is horrible. It has reorganized everything and made many things awkward to reach, or impossible to reach one handed.

I do not understand, why this new UI change is by default, and can not be turned off...

[mirzam]

I'm willing to give this UI a chance. But I'm a bottom URL bar user, and so I want the navigation buttons to be at the bottom as well. It used to be very easy to refresh the page, now it is a much bigger movement.

[saltedpork]

TL;DR new visuals good, extension sub-menu is awesome, new menu impossible to use one-handed with smaller hands, consider inverting the entire menu when user has bottom url enabled (or make it an option?), swap positions of refresh and share, compact option that removes padding and text would be very welcome

Didn't realize I had a wall of text until I was done typing, sorry

I'm a fan of the new visual style and I like the new extension drop-down menu. Unfortunately, the changes also significantly reduced the usability of the menu, especially when using the phone in one hand

I have my URL bar at the bottom and as a person with relatively small hands, the changes to the position of shortcuts and the size of the new menu options makes it really difficult to use with one hand. The relocation of the refresh button in particular is pretty egregious, which used to be directly over the menu button and allowed you to effectively double-tap the menu button to refresh

I'd like to suggest inverting the entire menu when the user has bottom URL bar selected - putting the navigation shortcuts at the bottom and the settings at the top of the menu, further away from where your thumb would be. I think that would be a good middle ground between respecting the work that's been done and keeping the menu usable

I've seen users on other sites suggest swapping the positions of the Refresh and Share shortcuts. I would love to see this, as refreshing a site is a much more common than sharing something. I think this would also compliment the other suggested change, maintaining the same relative position of shortcuts between the old UI and the new

Lastly, maybe consider a compact mode if possible? I know what the icons mean, having a setting that removes the supplemental text on the shortcuts and shrinks the entire menu (pulled down and to the right, doesn't stretch across the entire screen) would be very welcome