Feedback on New Tab experimentation with Widgets!

[AmberMeryman]

Hi, Firefox Product Manager here 👋 

Firefox Desktop New Tab is continuing our experimentation with simple, built-in utility widgets on your New Tab page and we'd love your feedback! They’ll be there on every new tab to keep you on-task, help plan your day, or remind you to take a break.

This new experiment includes:

• Lists - jot down your reminders, errands, or a packing list
• Timer - track your study session, deep work research, or quiet break time
• Weather - the expanded weather widget provides 5 hours of forecast so you can plan your day

And everything stays local, is never shared with Mozilla, and it’s easy to turn on and off.

What do you think? What else would you like to see?

[plwt]

(I would like to see a weather widget come back.  Waited for ages for it to land and then it went away. 😞 )

I do like the layout in the screenshot to have them in the middle on the new tab page.  One I would find very useful would be a simple notepad.  I have fond memories of Firefox Notes and while a widget may not have the complexity of syncing to a mobile app, just having a simple notepad would come in very useful.

[AmberMeryman]

Thank you for the notepad suggestion!  Would you prefer a single scratchpad, or separate notes?

About the Weather widget - we did have a glitch recently, but it should be available globally now. Does it return after a restart? 

Thanks again,

Amber

[plwt]

Hi Amber, no, it has not returned on restart.

A single scratchpad would be amazing.  I would much rather that then anything more complex.

Another idea - Instead of news headlines, how about a basic RSS feed?

[JasJourno]

Likewise, so went settings > about > update

Popped up on restart. 

[AwayTAE]

I feel like this is a good change, but like PLWT said, a weather widget would be useful. However I don't plan to use this feature much, or at all. I do see value in this though, I can see people liking it.

[AmberMeryman]

Are there any widgets you'd like to see that you would use here? 

[sunilkumarrs123]

Thanks for sharing this information

[MarkHendo]

I would love to be able to set the timer myself. Also, why does it say "Play"?

[AmberMeryman]

You actually can change the amount of time for both Focus & Break. (You may have to click in the time set and then "delete" the existing ones to add.)

"Play" - it's intended to be like "Start" but we've removed that word in an upcoming design update. Good eye. 😉 

[Pokemander]

I would LOVE to see tab volume managment. It is the most useful thing ever, however there are not many/no extensions that offer this while being fully trustworthy. So I would love to see this get added natively if possible.

[AmberMeryman]

Thank you for the suggestion - adding to the list!

[Banksiabird]

A calendar where I can list birthdays and see a reminder in time to post parcels interstate.  That would keep me being a favourite auntie!  

[AmberMeryman]

Would you want a calendar to integrate with an existing one, such as Google Calendar or Outlook?

[TechHorse]

---

@AmberMeryman wrote:

Would you want a calendar to integrate with an existing one, such as Google Calendar or Outlook?

---

I'm nott the original poster, but I would like for any calendar to support the importing and exporting of iCalendar Files (.ics files).

This is, I gather, a standard file format for saving calendar information, and I have .ics files from other calendars that I could then import into the widget.

Also useful would be options to just display an event in the widget, or to have Firefox additionally give a pop-up notification (such as the ones that you get when a website asks to access your location). i.e. ones that don't close until you select an option such as 'remind me later' or 'got it' etc.)

[Vegemite]

A news widget which you can choose the source would be really cool. Maybe blank from the get go with common options to select from? Then only displaying the headlines with links for compactness.

[AmberMeryman]

Thank you for the suggestion - adding to the list! 

[cosmiccherry]

i like this widget change, it does look a little bit messy and id like it to be customisable, mabye putting certain extension customisations there like the themes would be nice

[AmberMeryman]

Thank you for the reply! Are you thinking customisations like size and placement, or colors?

[MaxM]

Yes pls size and placement. Just give the new/empty tab a grid layout. Make current and future features as move able and sizeable objects. Simply like on android mobile phone operation system.

[braver]

while the improvements to the home page are making it better every time, i still would like to be able to set the new tab to a custom url as I know quite a few ppl who like to make their own homepage still and its only an option for new windows and not new tabs

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

A similar idea https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/set-an-alternative-home-page-when-opening-a-new-tab/idi-p/4358

[AmberMeryman]

Thank you for the feedback! I am not sure why they are different, either. I'll see what I can find out. 🙂

[cofdblackops]

I love the Task List. Can it be synced to my mobile? I'd use it as my default shopping list. I'd like to work on the same list from whichever device is closest to me at the time 🙂 

[plwt]

That is what I used to use Firefox Notes for - you could enter text into the sidebar and then sync it with a dedicated Fx Notes mobile app.

(I could draft emails and documents on my phone when I had no signal and then end them when I was back home.)

[vermale]

is there a way to rearrange the layout so the widgets are first, i have 3 rows of shortcuts and i have to scroll to get to my widgets

[onetwothreefour]

Make them smaller off to the side right now it looks odd having the shortcuts and search-bar up so high (or just give the option to resize and move them.)

[SuperVegi]

It would be great to have the option to maximise the widgets, so that they fill the size of the window. I love the timer and use Pomodoro often for work, but the small widget version of this timer gets lost with everything else on the page. Being able to enlarge it so only the timer is visible would be perfect.

[plwt]

A slightly random idea and I appreciate that this would be complex, but how about having the ability to make or customise your own widgets through add-ons?

There would need to be some kind of template to help parameterise it a little, but it could allow people to have (for example) the latest sports ball scores, weather reports for other locales, local news feeds and to share those customisations for others to use.

"Oh look, someone had made a widget that has a live webcam feed of red pandas, saves me from making one."

[TechHorse]

Hello, I'd be interested in a widget that displays simple at-a-glance statistical information about active downloads.

It would Literally just say something like:
In progress: 11
Failed: 1
Paused: 0
Completed: 5
Total download speed: 500 kbs

Preferably with the display of each statistic individually toggleable. And possibly also a button for each stat so that if you pressed, for example, the 'Failed' button then you would be taken to the first failed download within the downloads library list.

Note, I wouldn't want lists of the names of the files themselves or any other more detailed info, as that would be clutter and interfere with my purpose for using such a widget. Here I just want at-a-glance information about the numbers. (but by all means add options for displaying file lists and other details, for anyone who wants that)

To explain my intended usage.

Let's say that I want to download a number of files from a server that only allows 6 concurrent downloads per user. Then I will want to periodically check to see how many of the 6 are still downloading, or if any have failed and need attention.

Obviously I can press ctrl+j at any time to open the downloads library, but I'll then have to parse through a potentially large list of files to count how many are still in progress, checking each of the others for failure etc.

Whereas with the statistical widget I could quickly see that 3 downloads are still in progress and 0 have failed. I can decide that I need take no action at the moment.

Or I might look at the total speed in the widget and see that the 3 files are only using half of my bandwidth. Maybe those are just slow files. I might then start another 3, check the widget and be happy that the 6 are now using the full download bandwidth.

Alternatively, if I see that 1 download has failed then I know that I need to open the library and restart it. (and this is where a button to go to the first item in that category would be useful)

However if 0 downloads are in progress and 0 have failed, then I know that it's time to start the next group of 6.

So that's the suggestion, thanks for reading.

[Hiccup_H]

It would be great if you could delete all completed tasks, maybe a bin icon instead of the three dot icon because that is all it does anyway

[zroxlol]

it would be great if Mozilla didn't see fit to jam AI down peoples throats like all the techbros do and like Google is asking them to do.. I get why, but can you buck the trend instead of giving in ? golly

I know this isn't the right place to post this and idc

[MaxM]

First of all thanks for creating and keeping up an in general amazing browser which many of us trust with our day-to-day life. 

But pls do not waste your resources on half solutions. Pls when you do something go full in. E.g. when you develop a notebook feature, pls put your standard on existing solutions like OneNote. And before I got shot by many, of course, with privacy in mind.

Long story short if you can't go for an competitive solution rather think about smart integration possibilities, like displaying OneNote with an widget on the new tab. So said, I would be very happy if you would develop a privacy respecting competitive notebook solution (including multi device sync, sharing function, mobile solution, etc.). Or a privacy respecting To Do alternative. 

[zeeraffe]

love the timer ! would be exponentially more useful if the widget could float over whatever tab you are on to keep an eye on it while i work.

[plwt]

Just a quick note to say that with 149, the weather widget has returned.  Thank you so much to the contributors that helped make this happen.

[K4rru]

I clicked in the three dots weather widget and clicked on "simpler view" and the weather widget dissapeared. Can't bring it back even tho i searched everywhere.

[santire]

hey i have just open a new tab and the widgets popped up. it may be that its something new to my home page but i personally dont quite like it. it occupies a lot of the tab page and it does not look right. what i did like was the previous wheather icon that was in the corner (that was just perfect), so now that i think if the widgets were like in the sides of the page so it does not interfere with the web shortcuts could work. 

however what i like personally is to have a simple and clean homepage so this new feature its not for me but i understand that a lot of users will find it usefull and i appreciate that has an option to turn off. 

the problem i have is that now the wheather icon can be used only in the middle of the screen wich i hate so if you can may be add an option to use the old one (small one in the corner) it would be perfect

and if you could add more options of customization for this new widgets (like the place, size and style) it would be an exccelent move.

that was my oppinon sorry if my english was bad its not my first lenguage.

[Maiiipu]

AMAZING!! Thats the type of easy/simple idea that makes our lifes better. Thank u guys!!!

[plwt]

What about a single feed RSS feed reader?

[diogodiogo2]

Cool idea, but personally I don't really find it that useful for now. I think adding a way to get more widgets, in a similar way to how you currently download extensions and themes, maybe through the mozilla addons website, would get it a lot more use. Also, enabling them to be freely moved through the screen and pinned wherever you want, as well as optionally removing the padding and X button, would make it look nicer.
Thank you.