allow higher level customization in mobile menus

[polty]

Currently using mobile ver.147 (not updating) for menu and bookmarks manager reasons. Used a friend's phone to check in on ver.153.

I DO NOT want to turn to Brave as my browser, but I am going to use it for some note-taking here.

FF, the biggest thing you can do as developers is allow users to choose what they do/do not want cluttering up the menus. This would really help keep people who do not want to go to chromium browsers, especially after ver.148/Nova's implementation of its clunky UI.

Here are some options that need to be considered:

1) The vertical, right-justified menu was the best thing ever.

Take a page from Brave's book -- keep that look. It is friendlier to disabled people firstly, and just looks so much better. It's simple and smooth and all it has to do is start from the top or bottom, depending on preference.

2) Let us choose what shows up in the menus/toolbars.
The current bottom-stuck menu looks like a bunch of widgets and frankly, it's ordered ridiculously. There are things hidden behind a 'more' sub-menu, which is just inefficient and clunky.

Brave allows for slightly different options for new tab menu vs. webpage menu, but you get to choose what you see/use in both. It's the same for homepage AND toolbar. Just streamline it, please, for user sanity.

[L - bottom right-justified new page menu; R - top right-justified webpage actions. Brave browser.]

3) Bookmarks manager/editor

This is just efficiency. Ver.153's editor still has the carrots on the 'editing' function, a time-consuming process (I get lost just trying it out). Brave instead uses the bookmarks method that 153 has now: you hit 'edit', then click the folders (folder > subfolder or whatever). No constant carroting until you forget where you were putting the page. Putting things under hidden menus just gets old really fast.

I won't be updating the app until at least some better customization is implemented, and if it gets worse, I won't be sticking with FF for much longer. It's time the devs listened to people who just want to choose how their browser acts.

[Jon]

Thanks for submitting an idea to the Mozilla Connect community! Your idea is now open to votes (aka kudos) and comments.

[3duardo]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share such detailed feedback. We really appreciate the time and thought you put into writing it all out and sharing examples. 

We’re currently exploring new ideas around customization across several parts of Firefox, including the menu, and a lot of what you described lines up with the direction we’re already heading.

About Bookmarks specifically, we’ll definitely share your thoughts with the team. We are going to be working on some improvements for that feature soon, so feedback like yours is incredibly helpful as we continue refining it.

One thing I’d love to mention is that we don’t really think of design as something that’s ever “finished.” Instead, we have a long-term vision that we keep building toward by shipping incremental improvements over time. Every release is another opportunity to learn from community feedback, usability testing, accessibility research, and engineering insights. That’s why the experience keeps evolving, we’re always looking for ways to make it better for everyone.

We’re also constantly inviting members of the Mozilla Connect community to join meetups in cities around the world, as well as remote research sessions where we chat about browsing habits, workflows, ideas, pain points, and future improvements. Those conversations have a huge impact on the decisions we make, so if you ever get the chance to participate, we’d love to hear from you there as well.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

[hi_bye]

+1 to more customization for all menus! 

[polty]

@3duardo 

First, it is refreshing to hear from the people who are iterating on these issues at Firefox. Thank you for responding, especially when it feels like suddenly the developers as a whole are avoiding the very real people using their product and finding it lacking.

Second, I would love to be able to get into a room and discuss these things seriously. I have not ever heard of such meetings (in my area at the very least), but it would be nice to point out where I feel the browser could be improved. I am but a single user, but that experience on this browser's operation still matters.

I personally have almost 3000 bookmarks saved over a decade, and a lot of the time accessed on mobile. The current iteration of how they operate (ver.153) just isn't accessible enough since this new UI update. The largest obstacle to this is the mobile editor AND the menu redesign.

Third, there are plenty of things about Firefox (desktop and mobile) that I do not know about and so do not use--that doesn't mean it's all bad. I love Firefox's valuing of privacy and extensions and ad-/AI-blockers and all the other features I value most on a modern browser. I also understand that as a competitive company, Firefox must constantly iterate new ideas over time. You are correct--nothing is ever 'final', especially in the current climate of advancing technologies.

That being said, I do believe that the recent non-acknowledgement towards an over-abundance of users who are not impressed with the overwhelming changes of the mobile UI is an issue. I have staked out the ideas/discussions arena in the Connect sphere these last few months. I have seen many who want the ability to stay with this browser, and feel they cannot because the developers are simply ignoring them. I have seen Beta-version users speaking on how backwards this UI functions, even before it's rollout. I have seen people jump ship because these changes do not seem like they were properly, systematically involved in enough user-base testing before being permanently implemented.

And when those issues were voiced, the next update was quickly shoved through and got rid of the ability to keep the UI that was so loved and functional. Over the 10 years that I have been using this browser, this is the first time Firefox has so blatantly made mobile optimization its last concern.

I want Firefox to thrive against the Google/chromium-based stranglehold on the Internet right now. Please, continue to iterate and improve the overall function of a browser that has made its main staying points user friendliness and user privacy. I want this to be the browser I still tell people to use for all those reasons and more. But right now, form over functionality seems to be in conflict on the developer side. And it is certainly noticed by users.

To address all of those issues, the simplest way to start is for a higher level of customization across the board. If that takes time, it takes time. At the very least, the user-base needs to be more obviously kept in the loop about such iteration coming down the line; not when it has already been implemented and would be intensive and/or impossible to change.

Thank you for responding. If it is one thing yourself or anyone can take back to the 'editing room', it is that users want to love this browser--we just want more control over how it functions.