New Tab/home page improvements

[KERR]

The current Firefox homepage/new tab page is quite minimal:

I think there's an opportunity to make it look better and have functionality like the other browsers do

• Include stats about blocked ads/trackers etc - Since FF is privacy focused, why not display info from about:protections front and center instead of hiding it!
•  Wallpaper (optional please!). Maybe users could set their own or FF could randomly show some
• Calendar or other widgets. Brave shows a clock (which is kinda redundant)
• Weather (if user allows location access)
• Some Firefox feeds/ticker. You could have "Did you know"s or good news stories about what Mozilla is doing/how they're helping the world. Could also advertise Mozilla VPN or T-shirts! Kodi (used to be XBMC) has one of these tickers.

Brave's new tab page below incl number of trackers/ads blocked, bandwidth and time saved:

Kodi RSS/news ticker:

Firefox's about:protections sadly not being shown off!

[mlp63]

Fire fox absolutely needs a speed dial style homepage set up, with the ability to change/customize the background image to a personal selection. Having to use 3rd party extensions to do this is not only a possible security threat, but a pain. Thanks, that's all.

[KERR]

FF could use some definite improvements to the new tab page. One thing that bugs me is the "site names" are gathered from the domain name, not the page title (which is not just inconsistent with the awesome bar, but also makes no sense since when you click them, they take you to your most common pages within that site)

^ This does not go to github.com. It goes one of my repos:

[KERR]

Show page titles instead of domains on New Tab page

Minor annoyance: the New Tab page shows frequently visited sites as tiles. I rarely use them though, as they only show the domain name (eg "youtube" or "ebay") instead of what the actual page title/link goes to.

Eg the "github" name would be acceptable if it took me to github.com (although I never actually visit github.com). It should show the page title instead, eg "README.md - Github". This would be more inline with everything else Firefox does, eg the awesome bar searching on page titles as well as URLs.

[wz88f2e]

Hello,

It would be useful and slick if we could customize exactly the number of shortcuts on the start-page, the icon style, and to be able to rearrange and re-position these shortcut-icons exactly where we would like.  The ability to create folders would be useful also.  Having the ability to customize the background or add a wallpaper of your choosing, would also be desirable.  Think it would be super cool if the Firefox start-page could have a customizable transparency effects.

I've searched through a variety of extensions, and they are either too heavy, their style isn't quite right, or lack the ability to do all of these things.  Please consider this recommendation in future editions of Firefox.

Thanks.

[Jon]

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

[Jon]

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

[MintMain21]

I desperately want Firefox to have a native RSS reader that can sync across multiple devices, and the homepage is an excellent place to implement that. (See: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/revive-livemarks-rss-subscriptions-for-modern-browser-syncing/i...).

As for the other suggestions....

Wallpapers are nice, and are already an option on Android (albeit most of them are sponsored ads for Turning Red, and the appeal of Turning Red apparently is not universal).

Widgets for a Calendar or a clock might be nice, albeit redundant since most computer OSs have both.

Weather might be nice, but there do exist extensions that offer that functionality as well.

and the Privacy Stats? Eh..... sure, but I kinda appreciate that Firefox doesn't boast about how much it "blocks" the same way Brave does.

I like the Homepage as is. In fact, I disable a lot of the stuff on it like Pocket and typically keep just the search bar. But I'm not against better options for customization.

[Anonymous]

Hi all!

In my humble opinion if these 3 features are merging: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/pins-toolbar/idi-p/4340 + https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/native-vertical-tabs-like-in-microsoft-edge/idi-p/85 + https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/native-tab-grouping-more-customizable-tab-bar/idi-p/303 - This would undoubtedly be the best New Tab / Homepage... would best improvement in Mozilla Firefox

Concept pins_toolbar+vertical_tabs+tab_grouping_more_customizable_tab_bar = new tab/homepage with improvements

1. It would be really cool to see the sites pinned to the sidebar
2. Every site I access is pinned to the sidebar as a vertical tab.
3. This would be similar to what you put here with the Kodi RSS/news ticker.
4. My previous idea was to have a horizontal slide with all the sites I access. But seeing the vertical tabs feature... would be much better. It looks like the Ubuntu menu. That's pretty cool if you're a linux user and want a close experience... it would be super worth it. Also, Edge browser has this feature.
5. In my opinion, we are all talking about the same things, but with different points of view.
6. I would like to unite these 3 different points of view for something amazing and innovative, with this concept:  pins_toolbar+vertical_tabs = new tab/homepage with improvements
7. Furthermore, this could help Mozilla Firefox Compact concept. So... Concept pins_toolbar+vertical_tabs = new tab/homepage with improvements = concept: compact tabs in New Compact Design for Mozilla Firefox - https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/new-compact-design/idi-p/165
   
8. We can make Mozilla Firefox the best browser ever

Concept Futurist in Mozilla Firefox:

part 1- For software engineers,developers: (Functional requirements), (feature-name: Pins toolbar for Mozilla Firefox):

1. Open all registered Pins.
2. Add Pins on the toolbar.
3. Option to show or not show the pin toolbar.
4. Scrolling pins.

part 2 - For designers and software engineers: (Functional requirements), (feature-name: New Compact Design for Mozilla Firefox):

user navigation:

1. Normal view: Toolbar retracted.
2. Hover over the bar - Toolbar uncovered
3. Address bar on focus (Click on tab or open a New Tab - toolbar extended)

Functional requirements:

1. Option to customize the toolbar display.
2. Note: Customizing the toolbar includes the option to show or not show the toolbar.

part 3- For Community Mozilla Firefox (result: new tab/homepage with improvements )

New Compact Design(user navigation+Functional requirements)+Compact bookmark+Native Vertical Tabs (like in Microsoft Edge)+Native Tab Grouping / More Customizable Tab bar.

 

part 4 - Why is this relevant?

1. This allows for greater productivity.
2. In addition to letting mobile users know how to use Firefox.
3. This is great for users' health, it doesn't strain the eyes.
4. Browsers like Safari and Minimal have a compact concept. However Safari and Minimal browser were still not as good as Mozilla Firefox in terms of ui/ux proposed here.
5. As I said before, if the user clicks on the tab, the toolbar appears below.

[KERR]

Forgot to mention, this idea is related to: "Show page titles instead of domains on new tab page"

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/show-page-titles-instead-of-domains-on-new-tab-page/idi-p/1116

[Anonymous]

@KERRSo... is truth ... I check out and this idea has much to do with it.

[rocketmaster]

Firefox is a great browser, I really enjoy it. It has great safety features that no other browser offers.

However, I feel Firefox could have some more customization features added. I am a firm supporter of home page background photos. It just adds an extra level of customization and personality to a browser and it should be added now or in the near future.

If I am not explaining this correctly: The default photos Google and Microsoft Edge offer to put behind their logos on the home page before you search something up.

[steel835]

You mentioned widgets and I instantly imagined something like this:

It's a very rough mockup, but the idea is that the home page is a customizable grid and there are widgets, provided by Firefox and extentions. Much like the widgets on Android. That would allow

• to save clicks to do something (for example, open one of the closed tabs or unstash tabs)
• users to have what they need on the main page (whether it's news, clock, jokes of the day, RSS or bookmarks)
• extension developers to make widgets to further increase productivity and add other actions/information related to their extension functionality

[muslim]

Disagree with this ✖️

Keep Firefox clean and simple, but highly customisable settings ✔️

I don't want any distractions on the new tab page / homepage, secondly, all those things could be achieved using an add-on.

Perhaps as a compromise, offer those in the add-ons homepage by mozilla themselves.

Although saying that, since the privacy dashboard is already available, that would be nice to have, again as a customisable option.

[Anonymous]

Disagree. I think this kind of customization is the role of extensions.

[Jon]

Let's chat about improving the Firefox new tab...

A Product Manager from our Firefox Desktop team has just kicked off a discussion here in the community about this very topic:

Let's Chat About the Firefox New Tab Page! 

Please feel free to join and share your thoughts. We look forward to hearing from you and continuing to collaborate with you all 🙌

-The Community Team