04-15-2024 01:12 PM - edited 04-15-2024 01:22 PM
In the latest Nightly Blog post, our product team has announced some exciting work aimed at improving the sidebar experience in Firefox.
To quickly summarize…
We have been exploring (including listening to all your feedback and ideas here on Connect) how to best enhance the existing sidebar and strengthen productivity use cases. You may have even discovered these early concept builds in Nightly behind preferences—good catch 👀!
This is very much at an experimental prototype stage, but we are encouraged by the early positive feedback. And we look forward to engaging with you here for additional feedback once sidebar features are ready for testing.
Stay tuned and feel free to drop any questions or comments below.
04-30-2024 03:36 AM - edited 05-05-2024 06:57 AM
My view on what the future sidebar can be ( behave and look like ) :
Also to note that stuff could live in other places other than the sidebar, instead being placed on nav bar strip or even status bar ( at top, for straightforward checking and confirmation of underlying URLs for links, actions for mouse gestures and other page in progress actions like loading, downloading, extension and page specific actions and tasks progresses ) .
The status bar at top ( below other top UI like horizontal bars, including bookmark bar, if enabled ) option makes sense, because usually for text, but presumably also for all webpage content, one has the current line of text scrolled at the top of the viewport/"window" for better head and body posture and less eye and body movement from top of viewport where content is being consumed to status ( currently on bottom ) while also having the benefit of more focused workflow and less distraction .
As always, this kind of status bar is possible with JS and CSS mods, allowing placing/relocation/reordering of addons or scripts buttons to, from and within it .
Buttons or extensions/actions that make sense to have in status bar, specially the top one ( I have some/all of them already with custom JS/CSS status bar ) ignore the emoji 😞 :
Find on page at top, ( below top bars/strips and top status bar ), follows a similar logic.
On the topic of hidden top tab bar, I have nav bar mostly displaying page title and window controls , ( when it or it's address bar is not focused or hovered ) in what's called an "oneliner" on /r/FirefoxCSS community . The page title is animated to fade in, making disappear the address/search bar ( at a minimum ). When the nav bar or address/search widget are focused or hovered then the title is animated away and address bar/widget is animated in, with both animations happening simultaneously ( also simultaneously for previous case when nav bar is not focused ). I think it's cool, space and information efficient, makes use of animations instead of abrupt transitions, thereby making clear what's going on .
"Small things" like these make a difference in an user's workflow, productivity ( or stylistic ) preferences, comfort/accessibility, customizability and "wow factor" .
05-26-2024 08:14 AM - edited 05-26-2024 08:15 AM
Actually, I'm making a minor correction to the above:
Nav bar animations aren't simultaneous, they are timed to happen sequentially, if I remember correctly.
Also they have been done solely for Vivaldi as I have not ported them over to Firefox ( I have different sets of modifications on each that I didn't port to each other yet ) .
05-04-2024 11:44 AM - edited 05-05-2024 07:01 AM
Vivaldi and particularly the Arc browser have interesting sidebar layouts and features ( judging by Arc reviews, unlike Vivaldi which I have first-hand usage experience ).
While Vivaldi has straight away ( natively - without addons ) the most featureful sidebar of the four ( counting Firefox in obviously, and Edge ), like ability to see history, reading lists, bookmarks, downloads and other native organization features like tab stacks on its sidebar, Arc in my view, has one of the best browser sidebar layouts out there, so let me describe it and how Firefox can presumably do a sidebar even better than theirs:
Now, I think Arc's design can be better and Firefox can seek some inspiration from the suggested modifications, listed below :
Whatever their motivations to have address bar on sidebar, whether to maximize webpage space and/or have sidebar packed and be the UI element which draws attention ( or is supposed to ), it seems like they went a bit extreme on those components layouts .
So I make another suggestion related to the address bar ( the other is detailed on my other post in this discussion thread ), as it doesn't really occupy that much vertical space and needs not be relegated to a less prominent role in a browser's overall component layout and sizing .
The rationale for the below modification suggestions, is that the browser can proactively meet an user's needs and make clear to the person the action to be performed in a single interaction"entry point" ( to minimize user confusion by having too much choice or more cluttered UI with several input choices available ) . I have witnessed such confusion in non computer savvy people, typically from older adults . Presumably, all other users, including power users, would also appreciate this kind of straightforward interaction .
The mentioned suggestions:
Whenever an user digits alphanumeric keys or words( that way excluding among others, hotkeys and arrows) outside input controls on a webpage or menus, then address bar or search in the nav bar is faded out while being morphed ( and resized ) to a quick commands style widget fading in to center of viewport, being progressively shown/rendered from top ( where its command/ search widget is located ) to bottom, like it had an animation on its height ( maybe with a (de)materialize CSS animations effects or "Thanos snap" as seen on Telegram, when one deletes a message) . Of course, this would be enabled optionally by a setting.
In principle, the fadings ( maybe not for optional morphing and materializing effects ) should be doable and triggered by a Quick Commands launch. The trigger of Quick Commands launch by keyboard user input as described, is the tricky part it seems.
Would this feature be a resource hog and/or difficult to implement, either on user side with JS/CSS ( I haven't given it a try ) or by FF developers?
Notes on the above:
1) The user keyboard input would be passed to and shown by Quick commands on its search widget .
2) There exists a quick commands addon for FF .
3) A page load triggered by entering input followed by Enter key either on address bar or quick commands could possibly have an animation to the entire page ( or just its top ) , to make clear its connection to those components/widgets. For example, maybe those components would take part in such animation(s) by pretending to be or referring to the concept of a document printer's or typewriter mouth spewing a page out .
An user wouldn't or feel the need to know what such devices are as long as a visual and logical connection of cause and effect between involved components is established . Nor am I saying that such animations have to have any mimicking or fidelity to such devices .
What do you think about any of this ?
05-05-2024 01:36 AM
We definitely need a meeting with the UX team; hopefully, someone will respond soon.
I've suggested this here, but it seems my proposal got lost in the forum's overall flow: https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/let-s-organize-q-amp-a-session-with-ux-team/td-p/55936
Please support this suggestion on Reddit, as my account keeps getting placed in read-only mode.
I think this will resolve a lot of issues 😀
05-11-2024 09:30 AM
05-12-2024 05:14 AM
It sounds great.
05-12-2024 05:18 AM
Hello
https://blog.nightly.mozilla.org/2024/04/15/exploring-improvements-to-the-firefox-sidebar/
Apparently according to
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1bpywre/comment/kyl8vwm
about:config, searched for sidebar and set sidebar.revamp to true
Configuration Editor for Firefox
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/about-config-editor-firefox
05-21-2024 03:41 PM
Hi folks,
A few quick updates from the sidebar team:
- you might have already seen a thread on thread from the Firefox team on a variety of exciting updates we have in the works, but dropping the link here just in case,
- on the sidebar side of things, we are making progress on the vertical tabs and improvements to the history and synced tabs views that already exist in the sidebar. We're going to start sharing demos and invite the community to join testing the new feature set once it's a little less rough around the edges.
05-21-2024 06:19 PM
i would love to test the vertical sidebar out as and when you release into the nightly builds! Very excited to hear this movement after such a long time!
05-21-2024 11:36 PM
Hello
ikpjr wrote:
Weather info
For information purposes
Take a look at https://www.camp-firefox.de/forum/thema/137932-wetterangaben-firefox-startseite
Clarification : To avoid displaying my actual geolocation, i use a vpn
https://www.youtube.com/embed/4einVxdxvzQ
05-27-2024 07:03 AM
I would like to see the Bookmarks Sidebar work the same way as Manage Bookmarks. For example, Manage Bookmarks allows selecting multiple bookmarks (e.g., Shft-select or Ctrl-select), but the Bookmarks Sidebar only allows selecting one bookmark or folder at a time. I often have Manage Bookmarks and Bookmarks Sidebar open at the same time to facilitate moving bookmarks (singular or in groups) from one folder to another without having to scroll or cut & paste. This is only one example of the differences.
06-26-2024 02:43 PM
I agree with DrBolero, to the extent that he would concur with the following:
I find that having both Bookmarks Manager and the current bookmarks open at the same time can be useful. Each has strengths and weaknesses.
The ability to select multiple tabs(bookmark-creation), from open tabs selected, then drag them directly onto the sidebar.Bookmarks(at any place) is quite useful.
The ability to selectivly expand/contract sidebar.Bookmarks, is of greate advantage, in exploring the relationships among the tree of bookmarks.
The BmrksManger, might have this capability (i have not tested);
It does not show the content of bookmark heirarchy of folders in its Sidebar; but it's a limited, ie a "folder view", which is useful..
However if one is trying to find which folders hold _what_, in a logical comparison mode, then the sidebar.Bookmarks menu is, at least by me preferred.
The Manager does not have this functionality, from a single, albeit scrollable, view like the sidebar.Bookmarks allows.
I DO AGREE that the ability to select multiple bookmarks within sidebar.Bookmarks would be a very useful feature (for now it is tedious manual), But I would still allow sidebar.Bookmarks & ManageBookmarks tools, rather than trying to make one fit all needs.
06-26-2024 02:46 PM
Corrrection: RE BookmarksMgr:
It does not show //wrong, typo error
Should BE:
It does, explicitly and only show
05-31-2024 07:12 AM - edited 05-31-2024 07:15 AM
It would be awesome to be able to detach the sidebar in order to have it on any screen. This way we could have one dedicated screen for tabs management, or it would allow people using a tiling window manager like i3 to have the sidebar exactly where they want it to be on their screen.
Why would I want to put it on another screen? Because I could have a vertical screen to see all my tabs in the vertical sidebar, and my other horizontal screens to work. I tried that with Sidebery just to see how it would look, and it's actually amazing because:
Is this something that is already considered, and if it's not, is this something that could be considered in the future?
EDIT: it would be even better to be able to have several sidebars, so I could have one sidebar per profile, or per tab container, each on a dedicated screen. This would be so great for tab management.
06-04-2024 07:49 AM
Really GREAT news!!!
I have a question, however: What about the rest of Library?
Would be great to have the entire Library available on the sidebar (see: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1420403 )
Will we have that as well?
( At least let us get about:downloads on the sidebar...)
06-04-2024 10:58 AM
Consider me a bit biased, but Sidebery along with this userchrome is a really great trade-off between having an unobtrusive tab interface along with behavior a user would predict of their tabs. Other vertical tab implementations (Edge, Floorp, Vivaldi) with expanding sidebars tend to be cumbersome to use due to animation speeds and whatnot
Particularly of note here is:
- the separation of the tabs column and the pinned tabs (other sidebar apps could potentially be accessed beneath the pinned tabs)
- the (animated & fast) hovering expansion of the sidebar and its contents.
- Easily accessible tab utilities along the bottom (new tab, history, settings, bookmarks)
Thank you for considering these ux tidbits 🙂
06-06-2024 01:18 PM - edited 06-06-2024 02:54 PM
I really hope that you will add web panels (aka pinned tabs) to the sidebar and make it possible to open them without closing Tree Style Tab / Sideberry. For me now, this feature in Floorp is a killer feature. To be honest, I don't really know how to do this without a second sidebar, but it seems convenient to me to have tree-style vertical tabs on the left, and bookmarks, history, downloads and web panels on the right. I see two options:
06-21-2024 04:42 PM
Hi folks,
Thank you so much for all the thoughtful feedback and ideas.
Many of the things you are asking for are on our backlog or "wish list" (we would like to work on it, but it's not a part of the roadmap yet).
We are currently working on the foundational pieces that will pave the way for more complex functionality in the sidebar. For instance, we want to provide options for the sidebar to be displayed or expanded on hover. However, doing this without compromising performance will take some time, so we're pushing this work past the first version.
In any case, we want to share what we're working on with you and we put together a brief video showing the basics of the interaction model over here. We know that no model will perfectly fit everyone's workflow, but this current version is based on extensive user testing, quantitative data, and the feedback from the community here, SUMO, and Bugzilla we had at the time we started. We will tweak it along the way, taking your feedback into account and guided by how most folks will use it in release. We want to provide a reasonable number of customization options, but keep in mind we're a small group working on this fairly large chunk of functionality.
Couple of notes:
06-22-2024 05:50 AM
Thank you for sharing your progress! I doubt you'll listen to what I have to say, but I have a few suggestions.
1. Instead of the sidebar settings button, I expect to see a Firefox settings button like in Vivaldi or Floorp. And the sidebar settings button can be moved to the context menu.
2. I need web panels (something like pinned tabs, but opening directly in the sidebar). Moreover, these web panels should not be unloaded from memory when they are closed. Now I miss it the most after switching from Vivaldi. I see that work is underway in many areas, but I can get vertical tabs or tab grouping using Sidebery, but only you can add web panels.
3. I really want to be able to open several panels at the same time, for example Sidebery and bookmarks.
4. Will it be possible to add your own elements to the sidebar via Customize Toolbar?
06-23-2024 12:02 PM
the settings allows to open the firefox settings, but with an extra click.
I agree a right click menu is needed.
Also moving anything there, and drag-dropping in the "customize toolbar" menu, which should be made more accessible.
06-22-2024 11:24 AM
Hello! I just wanted to say that the Figma model for the sidebar looks amazing and has everything I would want from a baseline vertical tabs functionality. One thing I would hope to see is the ability to have the vertical tabs on one side, and the sidebar panel itself on the other. In the case where the vertical tabs pane is expanded and the sidebar panel (history for example) is open at the same time, it seems better that the web content be sandwiched between the two rather than both panels pushing the content all the way to one side.
Here's an example from my custom configuration:
Thanks for all your work!
06-22-2024 08:11 PM
the feature looks awesome so far, i don't really have any feedback for the vertical tabs that haven't already been mentioned, but for the sidebar itself, id like to see is the possibility to put any button on the sidebar (the way you currently can with the tab bar) and/or the option to open any website in the sidebar view (the one that certain extensions and the history can use).
Ill probably come back and give feedback once the feature lands in nightly.
06-23-2024 12:01 PM
funny enough, that website does not work on FF android or on FF Nightly on Linux. Autoplay does not work, the video is duplicate, no audio...
06-25-2024 10:29 AM - edited 06-25-2024 10:31 AM
Thank you for this update! I appreciate your community-oriented approach and the preliminary designs are looking really nice - it's good to see that you are considering native support of plugins like Sidebery and TST!
Aside from my feedback from earlier RE: the responsive collapsible sidebar - one thing I wanted to mention in response to your cross-referencing portion of the video is split tabs - Vivaldi has a great implementation of this, and Floorp has one too, which could give the engineers an idea of how this could look in practice since it is open source.
Floorp:
Floorp in particular (as im sure the community has not let you forget) is probably the best example of the sorts of UX a lot of us are looking for (aside from the sidebar expansion being so slow D:). I'd be willing to bet they'd be very open to collaborating and sharing their knowledge and even their work upstream if you find its quality acceptable.
Thanks for listening and best of luck!
06-25-2024 12:59 PM
By modifying the CSS I currently have fully hidden tabs at the top of the browser. I use sidebery to have tabs on the side. It's more convenient for me because it's easier for me to see the names of the cards, and I'm blind as a bat.
What you showed looks fine to me. I don't mind starting with basic functionality and adding new things over time.
07-04-2024 04:09 AM
Hello, I want to arrange vertical tabs on the left, and the current sidebar on the right, so that I can see on the right the history, or bookmarks panel, and have the web page more or less centerec on the screen.
In your demo I saw vertical tabs and history side by side, and I don't like it, because the web page is all on the right, not in the center of the firefox window. It's horrible to see.
06-23-2024 12:03 PM
your "spam flood" detection does not work, when I list the wished buttons (Like addons settings, overview and individual entries) but with the word "A d d o n" multiple times I cannot send it.
06-23-2024 02:27 PM
Will do,
06-26-2024 06:26 AM
I already reported a couple of bugs:
* https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1904840
* https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1904640
06-26-2024 10:46 PM
Hello
In addition, about:config, search sidebar.verticalTabs
https://www.camp-firefox.de/artikel/885-vertikale-tabs-können-in-firefox-nightly-getestet-werden
06-29-2024 09:38 AM
Very interested, Today I moved from gx to firefox, I am deeply missing the sidebar of gx where I can keep the meesege sites like Discord, whatsapp,X. Googleing it brought me here hope it's public soon
07-01-2024 03:47 AM
Thank you for allowing the tabs to be on the side.
But here are some things that you can improve
Here one tab is selected, one is in a container and one is not. Tr's easy to see the selected tab but quite hard to see which one is in the container. It should be better with a shadow or a border to each tab (and have the container color inside of that border).
I think that Floorp tab bar is a great source on inspiration, their browser sidebar is great, with the ability to open "web pannels" which are like pinned tabs in side view.
07-01-2024 04:35 AM
Hello
In addition, https://www.youtube.com/embed/_sT33xEUVDY
And of course this is a test of customisation colors with the help of userChrome.css
/* colors tabs */
.tab-text {color:red !important;}
.tabbrowser-tab[selected] .tab-content {
background-color: #33cc33 !important; }
.tabbrowser-tab:hover:not([selected]) .tab-content {
background-color: #cccc33 !important; }
.tabbrowser-tab:not([selected="true"]):not(:hover) .tab-content {
background-color: #6691D5 !important; }
.tab-close-button:hover{background-color:red !important;}
07-09-2024 02:14 AM
I can confirm that they are working on the sidebar.
They have fixed this the other day https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1904640 that I reported.
07-16-2024 01:49 PM
My first commit yup. I knew it wasn't hard to fix. And it was a really good point to start learning to contribute to firefox. Thank you for that issue.
07-12-2024 03:25 AM
What about the addition of second sidebar? It seems this idea has never been reviewed by the team.
07-12-2024 07:02 AM
let me surface it to the team to see if there are any plans
07-13-2024 12:23 PM
Will there be an option to use the old drop-down menu of the sidebar with the new features?
07-15-2024 07:24 AM
Since the latest update 128.0 (64 Bit) when using Firefox it seems to randomly activate the Windows desktop Sidebar. It seems unlikely but I fail to see what else can cause it. In the windows sidebar set-up I have the sidebar set to "off". When the problem arises, which can be a couple of times a day, the only way to restore my desktop is a hard switch off and reboot of the PC. Very annoying. Please consider whether this could be a bug in the latest Firefox edition.
Peter Marchant
08-02-2024 07:44 AM
How is the sidebar developed now, and when will the new sidebar be available? I used the nightly130 version and found that the sidebar was exactly the same as before, and it was clear that it was not finished yet. I wish I could make the sidebar look better. Sidebar practicality is important, but so is aesthetics