Private windows would best always look like private windows

[CharlesBelov]

There is a forum post Private Windows on Firefox which was posted just under two years ago. I can't seem to be able to post a comment on it, so I'm posting a new discussion here.

On that post, Romain Testard asks "How can we make private windows simpler to use so you engage with them more?" and follows that with "What could we do to help users feel like private Windows guarantee a higher level of privacy?"

For me, part of the answer is, don't make me spend any part of my brain power wondering whether I'm in a private window or not. Let me focus on the sites I'm attempting to use privately.

I have about a dozen different Firefox profiles I use in order to have a different experience on certain websites or reduce cross-site cookie sharing. I sometimes use private browsing in those profiles, but it is not my default behavior in those profiles.

Recently, I created a profile for use with sites for which I only want to use private browsing. I discovered to my annoyance that using the private browsing only setting removes all visual indication that I'm using private browsing.

Apparently at some point in the past somebody thought removing that indication was a good idea. Quoting from a response to my bug If I have Firefox set to always use Private Browsing, I never get the private browsing disclaimer or...:

"The current behavior is that we are making the permanent private browsing mode look like a normal browsing window in order to reduce confusion. Therefore, we don't show private browsing specific things in the never remember history mode(which is permanent private browsing mode literally), including the warning message here. If we want to show the private browsing warning for the permanent private browsing mode, we will need to label all windows as private browsing windows in permanent private browsing mode. That's a design decision that we agasint."

Actually, I find the current behavior more confusing, not less. Because I spend most of my Firefox time in non-private tabs, not seeing the Private Browsing look when I expect and want to see it causes me to divert a portion of my attention to reminding myself that I actually am in private browsing. I wind up going into settings to confirm that I am in private browsing or opening the file menu to verify that I can only open a new private window. This wastes my time and distracts me from my task.

It's really important to me that private windows look like private windows. So I wound up disabling that setting and instead for that profile chose a local home page which reminds me to open a private window.

Hiding private window styling might make sense for someone who only uses private browsing, but that person is not me.

[jscher2000]

As a short term workaround, you could apply different theme to your toolsbars in that profile. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/use-themes-change-look-of-firefox

If you use Sync, to prevent your theme setting from sync'ing, make this change:

(A) In a new tab, type or paste about:config in the address bar and press Enter/Return. Click the button accepting the risk.

More info on about:config: Configuration Editor for Firefox. Please keep in mind that changes made through this back door aren't fully supported and aren't guaranteed to continue working in the future.

(B) In the search box in the page, type or paste services.sync.prefs.sync.extensions.activeThemeID and pause while the list is filtered

(C) Double-click the preference to switch the value from true to false

That's it.

[CharlesBelov]

Thank you, but it didn't work. I chose Vegging Out (Alpenglow was too busy for me) and set the sync setting you mention. I then turned on private only and restarted. I still don't get the private browsing notification.

[CharlesBelov]

Thank you for the suggestion. That said, I wouldn't trust something that was simply manually theming outside of Firefox's native code.

[CharlesBelov]

Actually, the profile that I want to be private only is for sites I want to be most secure on, so I want that profile to be as close to native as I can manage. Fooling with the appearance via external theming defeats that purpose. That's also why the current appearance raised my anxiety level when I tried to use it.

[jscher2000]

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@CharlesBelov wrote:

Actually, the profile that I want to be private only is for sites I want to be most secure on, so I want that profile to be as close to native as I can manage. Fooling with the appearance via external theming defeats that purpose. That's also why the current appearance raised my anxiety level when I tried to use it.

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You could use Alpenglow. It's built in.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

For my part, i am always under use private browsing mode
We lost the Private Navigation indication in the tabs

I remember that (illustration)
Firefox version 78 always under use private browsing mode

A trick to find out if you're in private browsing mode
Type about:cache in the address bar
Go to memory and click on List Cache Entries, where you'll find information about privateBrowsingId

An illustration https://doctolib.zendesk.com/hc/fr/articles/115000092046-Les-navigateurs-et-système-d-exploitation-c...

https://forums.mozfr.org/viewtopic.php?p=942751#p942751

Other indicator (by way of example) https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/the-home-page/idc-p/56096 to test in your profil

[CharlesBelov]

I don't want to have to do a trick. I want a constant reminder in the browser chrome that I am in private browsing mode. That way, I can focus all my attention on the task that I am trying to accomplish.

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

Other indicator

If you'd like to try https://www.soeren-hentzschel.at/firefox/firefox-120-ermoeglicht-das-zuruecksetzen-privater-sitzunge...

[CharlesBelov]

I would be using the browser in private-only for secure financial transactions and do not want to install any external add-ons.

[CharlesBelov]

I'm seeking a permanent native solution, but the issue I filed was closed as won't fix, with the suggestion that I discuss it. Mozilla Connect appears to be the best place to discuss this. Please consider discussing the original issue. I'm concerned that the discussion so far is about potential workarounds. 

Mozilla's position seems to be that it is less confusing to hide the fact that one is in private browsing mode if the user has Firefox set to only use private browsing. I am puzzled as to how Mozilla came to this conclusion.

My assertion is that not only is it more confusing for me for Firefox to hide the fact of private browsing, but that it is anxiety-inducing for me and takes my attention away for my website task. This is exacerbated because I use multiple user profiles and only one of them do I desire to set to private browsing only

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

Private Browsing - Use Firefox without saving history
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/private-browsing-use-firefox-without-history

https://web.archive.org/web/20200101000000*/https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/private-browsing-us...
https://web.archive.org/web/20200113010742/https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/private-browsing-use...
The indicator exists only on the empty tabs.

About the preference browser.privatebrowsing.resetPBM.enabled
https://www.youtube.com/embed/sJCp542jx7o
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/10/06/firefox-is-getting-a-button-to-reset-private-browsing-sessions

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The new reset option in Firefox's private browsing mode is a small change, but it is still helpful. First, by making it easier to create a new blank state session, and second, by highlighting this option to more private browsing users.
All in all, it is a welcome helper feature for Firefox's private browsing mode. Users who don't need it can turn it off in about:config.