Firefox for Android, UX/ergonomics - Move navigation controls to thumb area

[prawnerie]

With the latest update, the nav controls were adjusted and moved from where it once was.

Navigation controls (back, forward, refresh, etc.) should be placed closest and immediately accessible to where the thumb/finger is after pressing the menu button. With address bar placed bottom: accessing the nav requires a jump upward while Profile and Settings—which aren't a high priority—are the closest.

[Jon]

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[122]

best

[faced]

I just encountered this change and it's awful for how I use firefox. If this stays I'll need to switch browsers.

[_wojtek]

This!

I don't get the redesign altogether but if you *HAVE* to stick with it at the very least reorganise it so it's more convenient and the features used the most are ordered from bottom (closer to the thumb) to the top (further and less convenient to reach).

So at the very bottom there should be the row that's currently on top:
back/forward/reload/share

Then I would put add to bookmark/search o the page/extensions

Then I would put (actually in the top level!):
translate
reader view

and then:
history/bookmarks/downloads/passwords

and at the very top:
sync-profile
settings

so in the end it would be something like that
<sync profile>
Settings
[ history/bookmarks/downloads/passwords ]
translate
[add to bookmark/search on the page/extensions]
reader view
[back/forward/reload/share]

[Haxorzz]

yeah this is terrible. Reloading now requires me to reach over half my phone just to do that, and many functions are now nestled deep within other layers, this is terrible UX.

And not to mention foldable users, it covers the ENTIRE width of their screen, they need to roll this back

[abdeleteme]

I kinda think it looks better, but functionality is much worse now. For example, I'll often toggle a site on in DarkReader. This is now slower. And I love the "Open in App" button, which again is more hidden and much slower. I actually really admired how efficient the old design was, and I am now lamenting the loss of it.

[Morpholon]

I turned off the new menu in Nimbus and I'm spreading the good word about that. Once the option goes away I'll be looking for a new mobile browser.

The new menu is hilariously bad. Huge. Buttons everywhere. Comes up like a panel from the bottom far away from the button that activated it. More clicks needed to get to fewer options. 

It's so bad that I can't believe it got past the whiteboard stage, much less into production. It simply reeks of feature churn where the UX "designers" spend all their time changing things to look good in screenshot and product demos while ignoring what the users actually use and need.

At least for the time being I can restore the previous behavior. Who knows how long that will last. 

[thoughton]

@Morpholon how do you disable it in Nimbus? I've found the two entries for "Menu redesign" and "Menu redesign release", and inside each of those just one option called "Control". However toggling the tick next to either of those options doesn't do anything, even after restart. (In fact I just get a message saying to "Enable telemetry to send data" - do I need to do that for it to work??)

[Afzal]

Yeah this new menu is completely against any ease of use. It "looks" nice but isn't functional. Please revert or at least have a "compact" narrow version like the old menu, anchored to the menu button. 

The URL bar is also worse UX with features requiring more clicks. 

[ronxronquillo]

In the latest Nightly (as of today, 29 Aug), there is a secret menu setting that can be enabled. This setting allows to see beneath the address bar a predefined set of browser controls -- bookmark (star), share, new tab, show all tabs, and menu (three-dots). 

I hope and pray that there can be an option to customize these buttons -- the way the toolbar is customizable in desktop Firefox. 

This will enable accessing preferred controls/commands more easily.

[Morpholon]

The two options are "Android Menu Redesign" and "Android Menu Design Release". Uncheck the "Control" toggle and restart the browser. 

[thoughton]

@Morpholon still no luck with this, unticking both those options, force restarting the browser, even after opting in to the telemetry which I didn't really want to do. 

This is infuriating. I'm so close to abandoning Firefox over this mess, despite being a user since Netscape Navigator days.