New in Firefox Labs (Nightly and Beta to start!): Productivity Widgets - Lists & Timer

[AmberMeryman]

Neu in den Firefox Labs: Produktivitäts-Widgets – Listen &

Fokus-Timer & Novidade no Firefox Labs: Widgets de Produtividade – Listas & Temporizador de Foco

Note: As of August 20, the features are only available in Labs in Nightly & Beta. They will be available in Release with 143.

Hi! I’m Amber from the Firefox team. We’re testing a new idea: simple, built-in productivity widgets on your New Tab page. They’ll be there on every new tab to keep you on-task, or on a break. This early experiment includes:

•  Lists - jot down your reminders, errands, or a packing list
•  Timer - track your study session, deep work research, or quiet break time

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

Here's a short demo

Feedback is welcome to inform our next steps! Would you like to see more widgets? Which ones? Sync for optional backup? Drop your thoughts below.
- Amber & the Firefox team

Hallo! Ich bin Amber vom Firefox-Team. Wir probieren gerade eine neue Idee aus: Unkomplizierte, integrierte Produktivitäts-Widgets direkt auf der neuen Tab Seite. Sie erscheinen auf jedem neuen Tab: Ob beim Konzentrieren oder beim Abschalten. Dieses Experiment umfasst:

•   Listen – Aufgaben, Ideen oder Besorgungen notieren
•  Fokus-Timer – Arbeitszeit oder Pausen einfach im Blick behalten

Alles bleibt ausschließlich auf Ihrem Gerät, wird nicht mit Mozilla geteilt und lässt sich jederzeit ganz einfach ein- oder ausschalten. 

Ihr Feedback hilft uns, die nächsten Schritte zu planen!
Möchten Sie weitere Widgets sehen? Wenn ja, welche? Vielleicht ein optionales Backup mit Firefox Sync? Teilen Sie uns Ihre Gedanken unten mit.
– Amber & das Firefox-Team

[AmberMeryman]

Oi! Eu sou a Amber, da equipe do Firefox. Estamos testando uma nova ideia: widgets de produtividade simples e integrados na sua página de nova aba. Eles vão aparecer em toda nova aba para te ajudar a manter o foco — ou aproveitar uma pausa. Este experimento inicial inclui:

 Listas – anote lembretes, tarefas ou uma lista de viagem

  Temporizador de Foco – acompanhe sessões de estudo, trabalho focado ou momentos de descanso

E tudo fica local, nunca é compartilhado com a Mozilla, e é fácil de ativar e desativar. 

Seu feedback é muito bem-vindo para ajudar a definir nossos próximos passos!
 Você gostaria de ver mais widgets? Quais? Sincronização como opção de backup? Deixe suas ideias aqui embaixo.
– Amber & a equipe do Firefox

[myspace]

Yes to more widgets (calendar, notes, clock). It would also be cool to be able to move them around on the page via drag and drop, so users can set it up the way they want. 

[AmberMeryman]

Thank you for the feedback, and for the examples of widgets. We do hope to allow repositioning around the page next year, once we have even more widgets in place. 🙂 

[Kvin]

Hi, this is a good direction!
Will there be widgets such as RSS, clock, calendar, quotes, and others?
Also, will it be possible to move widgets and change their size, blur widgets, and have a separate page in a new tab for widgets? Similar to Vivaldi
Thank you

[AmberMeryman]

Thank you for the feedback, and for the examples of widgets listed!

We do hope to allow repositioning around and different size options next year. I'm not sure what you mean by "blur widgets" -- can you explain?

Thanks again!

- Amber

[Kvin]

Hi, thank you for improving the widgets.
By blurring, I mean that widgets could be blurred, for example, like in Vivaldi. It looks nice and is not so distracting. It would be good to have an option to blur widgets.
Also, are there any plans to add widgets to the mobile version?
And to synchronize widgets.

[Pseudoryx]

Yes to both more widgets and more customizations. I am especially interested to see theming or transparency options for them. 

[singhh9596]

It's great to see how Firefox is slowly but steadily evolving into a more modern browser. I'd love to see more customizable widgets related to the stock market maybe, do whatever just make sure they can sync across devices. I don't want to have to set everything up again on my other device

[AmberMeryman]

Thanks for the feedback @singhh9596!  The financial markets are one of the areas we are investigating currently - would you want to select or input specific symbols, or follow the general trends? Your input is appreciated! 

Thanks,

Amber

[Vincent]

Neat! It would be helpful if the timer widget notified me when it hits 0:00 (ideally both visual and with sound, though being able to toggle either off, and notifying me regardless of whether I have a new tab open).

As for widgets, I'd really love a quick scratch pad, a regular text box is fine, that remembers what I wrote there, and possibly even syncs it. Would be helpful if e.g. I receive a phone call, and just quickly want to press Ctrl+T as I answer it so I can take some notes.

[AmberMeryman]

The Timer widget will use your OS notifications to notify you with a sound and notification popup! Be sure to update to the latest, and ensure your OS notifications are enabled for the channel of Firefox you're using (I didn't have this enabled initially myself).

And thank you for the Notes suggestion - this is also in our list to investigate!

[Vincent]

Oh neat, the current version said "Notifications are off" underneath the timer, and I could turn it on in the menu that appears on hover (I imagine I hadn't seen that menu before). Didn't play a sound, but the notification did appear!

[Heath]

For me, clock, weather and an inspiring quote would be nice.

[myspace]

Agreed, quotes would be nice! 

[Anonymous]

Hi, I don't have one. is it only selectively available by a specific location?

[AmberMeryman]

It should be available in all locations via Labs, I believe.

Are you on Nightly or Beta, and have you updated to the latest and/or restarted the browser? Sometimes that is needed to get the latest Firefox Labs info. 

Let us know!

[OM]

Just discovered this new lab experiment, thanks!

Task list is quite useful. Notes would be welcome as well (similarly to Firefox notes?)

However, I would not store anything crucial there without proper sync with Firefox account. 
The lack of sync makes widgets used to store data (lists, notes,...) useless to me.

On the contrary to display only widgets, like meteo, or quotes.

[AmberMeryman]

Thank you for the feedback, and for the suggestions (Notes, quotes).

We are hoping to include Sync of new tab information in a later release - we agree it would make Lists and notes much more useful! In the meantime, we have a "Copy list to clipboard" feature for those that want a back-up. 

Thanks again!

[Tawn]

I'm on Nightly 145a1 and the widgets appear much larger on my new tab page whereas in the demo they appear to be shorter (at least until interacted with). Is there any way to shrink them down like that? I wouldn't use them frequently, but it would be nice to leave them on the page if they could be smaller/less visually distracting from my frequently used pinned items. Glad to see the coloring was toned down a bit in the recent Fx update.

[Tawn]

Just realized the items in task list don't survive a browser restart, making them useless to me.

[henriqueffc83]

I liked the widgets, although the task list doesn't persist after closing the browser, which would be very useful. I'd also like widgets for notes and RSS feeds. RSS feeds would be nice to be able to choose the source, either by adding one directly or using a service like FreshRSS. Another interesting widget would be a news panel about Firefox, showcasing upcoming features, or the ability to link to Mozilla services like the one we're using (Connect). I miss being able to view news or learn about the browser more easily.