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Firefox 57 Will Hide Search Bar and Use a Uni-Bar Approach, Like Chrome (bleepingcomputer.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bleeping Computer: Mozilla will drop an iconic section of its UI -- the search bar -- and will use one singular input bar atop the browser, similar to the approach of most Chromium browsers. This change will go live in Firefox 57, scheduled for release on November 14, and will be part of Photon -- the codename used to describe Firefox's new user interface (UI) -- also scheduled for a public release in v57. Mozilla engineers aren't removing the search bar altogether, but Firefox will hide this UI element by default. Users can still re-enable it by going to "Preferences -> Search -> Search Bar" and choosing the second option. The current Firefox search bar is redundant since most of its features can be performed by the URL address bar.

38 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. End of Firefox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Unless Firefox 57 does something better than Chrome why use Firefox?

    1. Re:End of Firefox by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

      It should be renamed. How about Firefaux, or maybe Chlone?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:End of Firefox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What is it with Mozilla ?
      They keep pissing around with Firefox, removing and changing stuff people use and like about the browser, whilst continually wasting resources adding "features" nobody wants (Pocket, Hello etc).
      And all the time this is going on Firefox market share keeps falling, yet those in charge at Mozilla fail to see the correlation.

      It's almost as if Mozilla hold meetings where they ask "How can we alienate our userbase even more with the next release?"

    3. Re:End of Firefox by coastwalker · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If they think I am going to use a search field which might take me to a random website instead of searching for a URL or IP address they can Fcuk off. Morons. They can also give me back 8 add-ons that they are about to disable. Maybe I should give Chrome a whirl seeing as it is supposed to render so much faster and I won't have any special reason to use Firefox any longer? What is it with cretinous designers who introduce new stuff (good) whilst removing all the good stuff that I already use (bad)?

      --
      Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
    4. Re:End of Firefox by greenfruitsalad · · Score: 3, Interesting

      if they really crave a UI change, they should integrate "Tree Style Tab" functionality into firefox.

      i only have 3 remaining reasons for using firefox:
      * tree style tab extension (not gonna work in new version; all replacements are a joke compared to this extension)
      * privacy (the amount of addons to help me with this and the mindset of mozilla foundation are unmatched elsewhere. mozilla have repeatedly demonstrated they care about privacy and openness of the interwebs. i simply don't trust chrome/chromium)
      * being able to disable search in the address bar (so that i can type git/plex/etc.. and go to a server on my LAN)

      ALL 3 of these reasons will have gone when current firefox ESR loses support next year. f**k them.

    5. Re:End of Firefox by sasparillascott · · Score: 2

      I often ponder whether tthe end goal is to get to a point where they can drop in the Chromium engine so they could cut those development costs and that the decision was made a while ago as market-share was plummeting. Then this would all make sense...otherwise it makes no sense. Vivaldi has a search bar for crying out loud.

    6. Re:End of Firefox by theweatherelectric · · Score: 2

      tree style tab extension

      Tree Style Tab will work with Firefox 57.

      privacy

      NoScript, Ghostery, uBlock Origin, etc. work with Firefox 57. So don't worry, be happy.

    7. Re:End of Firefox by jenningsthecat · · Score: 3, Informative

      Maybe I should give Chrome a whirl seeing as it is supposed to render so much faster and I won't have any special reason to use Firefox any longer?

      Maybe you should give Pale Moon a whirl, and re-live the experience of Firefox from the days when the UI was sensible and most of your add-ons still worked. It probably won't render as fast as Chrome, but hey, at least your FF add-ons will still work, and you won't be fully embracing the evil that is Google.

      --
      'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    8. Re:End of Firefox by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      Still not as good as Le Edge.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    9. Re:End of Firefox by jarkus4 · · Score: 2

      I dropped Pale Moon recently after something like 2 years of use. The problem is stuff just stops working. Its often not even really browsers fault, but simply no website developers care about it at all. I have 2 sites that I visit semi regularly that straight blocked it (slack and my local electricity provider) and many sites have some minor (or even major if they use some more obscure functionalities) glitches. The straw that broke the camels back for me was user script that I needed and that simply refused to work on Pale Moon.

    10. Re:End of Firefox by Blue+Stone · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Transcript of the last brainstorming meeting at Firefox HQ:

      "Hey you guys, have you noticed how everyone's stopped using Firefox and started using Chrome?

      Maybe if we make our browser exactly the same as Chrome some people might use it?

      What's that? You think that would provide even less of an incentive to use Firefox?

      Ha! Good one! Carry on everyone!"

      Running Firefox into the ground. What a fucking shame.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
    11. Re:End of Firefox by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Maybe if we make our browser exactly the same as Chrome some people might use it?

      Well I suppose we might get a few percent of existing Chrome users.

      More than we have now, then?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. ...and Firefox 58 will be by fisted · · Score: 4, Informative

    Chrome.

  3. Still leaks memory like a sieve ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... but we polished that sieve to a nice chrome finish.

  4. Please stop this madness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Stop removing features and start fixing the bugs and improving performance, Mozilla. You might still have a chance against Google if you kicked out your UX team and just started doing some basic engineering. The browser is not meant to be any playground where UI elements are moved and changed around. Browser should be an application which stays off the way and just shows the web pages efficiently. But of course according to UX people, eg. the search bar is a distracting element which is way too hard for their stupid users to understand so it must be removed. Surprisingly the Pocket, reader mode and other useless buttons are there to stay just in case somebody clicks them by mistake.

    1. Re:Please stop this madness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      UX people are cancer. They are to engineers what interior decorators are to architects.

    2. Re:Please stop this madness by thegarbz · · Score: 2, Informative

      Stop removing features and start fixing the bugs and improving performance

      Funny that's exactly what they are doing. Part of the reason of switching to webextensions is to get a massive performance boost while at the same time limiting the damage that plugins cause such as lockups and memory leaks.

      Browser should be an application which stays off the way and just shows the web pages efficiently.

      Disagree. A browser should be a window manager, a download manager, a bookmark manager, a privacy manager and have a usable UI while achieving all of the above.

    3. Re:Please stop this madness by Solandri · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The browser is not meant to be any playground where UI elements are moved and changed around.

      On the contrary, the only reason I still use Firefox part of the time is because way back around version 2 or 3 (back when it had the configurable drag and drop UI), I took some time to configure it to my liking. When I upgraded computers, I used Firefox's built-in backup utility to backup bookmarks but didn't uncheck any options. That's when I accidentally discovered that it also backed up my UI configuration as well.

      For about a decade now, I've been restoring this backup and it's been mostly successful at undoing many of the pointless UI changes Mozilla has been making to turn FF into a clone of Chrome. Being able to remove or change around UI elements is exactly what browsers need - so long as it's the user who is in control of these changes. Not some faceless designer who decides which changes to make and forces it onto all users.

    4. Re:Please stop this madness by DavidRawling · · Score: 2

      But the bigger issue here is that maybe a unified bar is better. Most browsers have adopted this UI, and from a usability point of view it does seem to be better. URL detection is pretty reliable, it saves space, it makes it easier to find stuff because the search results include your browsing history and URL entry history without sending any of that information to a 3rd party... It's what most people want.

      I'm not sure all of that is true. In my experience (alert, alert, anecdote ahead!), URL detection is hopelessly bad, by default sending LAN IP addresses and hostnames to your favourite search engine or even going to an Internet site with the same 2nd level domain name as an internal server unless you preface it with http:/// first. In UI terms, the consolidation hardly saves space, since the URL bar just ends up taking the same space as the search box would have taken anyway; and if you think the browser isn't sending your entries "accidentally or otherwise" to 3rd parties, I suggest you read the Firefox or Chrome "EULAs" with a more cynical viewpoint. Consider for example the integration of Pocket to Firefox and the attempts to force uptake, or Chrome's "log in to Google and we'll sync all your tabs all the time" feature.

      I won't deny it seems to be what most people want, but then I'd argue most don't really know what they should want anyway.

    5. Re:Please stop this madness by ConaxConax · · Score: 2

      Sigh. According to TFA, you can still have your search bar if you want it. There is an option to have a unified bar or two separate bars.

      This is what Mozilla always do! They take a feature and change it to 'off by default but optional', and then remove the option to enable it and later declare it the sole purview of mods. And then make the mods obsolete and non-functional.

      How many times now have they done this now?

  5. Re:Firefox will use $crap, Like Chrome Template. by slaker · · Score: 4, Informative

    Migrating to Palemoon takes about 90 seconds. There's a tool to copy over your profile and you'll probably wind up switching over to Adblock Latitude. Sometimes you'll have to hunt up an old version of an Addon but it's really not a big deal.

    --
    -- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
  6. Oh, oh, oh! by Cthefuture · · Score: 2

    Just give us a browser that doesn't spy on us and is stable. This was the Firefox mantra 14 years ago and before that they cared about user control.

    What the actual fuck has happened to software?! These last few decades have shown that they don't care about performance, privacy, or anything but the bottom line for their own profits. Fuck that! And fuck you too!

    --
    The ratio of people to cake is too big
  7. I Thought Firefox was Open NOT Just Open Source by bigal123 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I keep hearing about things Mozilla is doing that is upsetting much of is key Firefox User base (I was an early early adopter and back then a friend of the "tree"). At one point Mozilla was an open company that listened and talked to its key users. Now they can say they are open source all they want, but that does not mean they are open to other ideas. Not even sure they are even open to the ides that made them popular.

    As a long time Firefox user I want key Mozilla staff to come out and truly explain their logic and clearly answer some of the very logical and specific concerns that have been brought up. Mozilla staff (not marking) need to step up and listen and reconsider some steps. I know the search bard can be turned back on, but all in all just seems like will be getting a Chrome by Mozilla instead of Firefox by Knowledgeable Users.

    Some people won't ever go out of their way to use different web browser. They will use Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari, or whatever was on the desktop at the beginning. So the fight is really to get the people that actually make choices and have some knowledge about choices.

  8. Last straw by behrooz0az · · Score: 2

    This is it. With every shitty update I kept using firefox because 'FOSS'. Fuck 'FOSS' if it wants to be worse than internet explorer.
    I want functionality because I'm not a 90 year old grandma; I stayed with firefox because it used to respect my intelligence; it's not doing that any more.

    --
    Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion. -- Spazmania (174582)
  9. Apple chose single button mouse by ChrisMaple · · Score: 4, Funny

    Firefox is heading toward a single gesture user interface
    A raised middle finger.

    --
    Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  10. Re: Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Its useful for an area to copy text into temporarily.

  11. No, it isn't by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The current Firefox search bar is redundant since most of its features can be performed by the URL address bar.

    No, it's not redundant. The search bar/URL address bar split permits some level of privacy as what's entered on the URL bar isn't sent to a search engine, and what's placed in the search bar is, in real time.

    That's a significant difference, significant enough that it absolutely should be removed from the Slashdot summary, because the summary re-enforces the idea that getting rid of it is OK because "they're the same" when they're not.

    Mozilla just has to fuck up tabs now and I'll switch to Chrome. I cannot believe the level of contempt these idiots have for their own users - if you're trying to compete with another browser, you don't build a clone of it, especially when that means ditching every feature that makes your browser better, because the only time you can compete when building clones of rival products is on price, and Chrome is already free.

    In practice, making Firefox a clone of Chrome is giving users of Firefox the middle finger, not extending an invite to those who prefer Chrome already.

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    1. Re:No, it isn't by SIGBUS · · Score: 3, Interesting

      No, it's not redundant. The search bar/URL address bar split permits some level of privacy as what's entered on the URL bar isn't sent to a search engine, and what's placed in the search bar is, in real time.

      And that is precisely why I've stuck with Firefox and limited my use of Chrome to things specific to my Google account. When I type in a URL on my own LAN, I really *don't* to be feeding that URL into a search engine - doubly so if it's something I've made IPv6-accessible so I can bring it up on my cell phone. (Firefox on Android has a single bar for space reasons, but it at least doesn't do a search until you tell it to.)

      On the desktop, if they make it NOT do a search without asking, I'd be a lot less hostile to this, but there's so much "because fuck you, that's why" on the net these days that I'm not optimistic.

      --
      Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
    2. Re:No, it isn't by ilikejam · · Score: 2

      You can switch it off with:

      browser.urlbar.unifiedcomplete = false

      --
      C-x C-s C-x k
  12. Have you looked at Firefox's privacy policy?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    * privacy (the amount of addons to help me with this and the mindset of mozilla foundation are unmatched elsewhere. mozilla have repeatedly demonstrated they care about privacy and openness of the interwebs. i simply don't trust chrome/chromium)

    Have you ever actually looked at Firefox's privacy policy?!

    Anybody who claims that Firefox protects their privacy probably hasn't actually looked at Firefox's privacy policy.

    Below are some excerpts from the Firefox privacy policy that is dated July 31, 2017.

    Be sure to notice the type of information being collected and possibly even transmitted to third parties (including Google, some "Leanplum" company, a "mobile analytics vendor", and "certain developers"). We see terms like:

    • - "IP address"
    • - "browser version"
    • - "operating system"
    • - "locale"
    • - "language preference"
    • - "list of add-ons you have installed"
    • - "phone number"
    • - "email address"
    • - "URLs associated with the downloaded file"
    • - "hardware configuration"
    • - "commonly visited domains"
    • - "location"
    • - "the active URL"
    • - "Google advertising ID"
    • - "personal information"
    • - "key word searches"
    • - "Wi-Fi networks"
    • - "cell phone towers"

    Here are the excerpts:

    Once per day, Firefox sends the following info to Mozilla when it checks for browser updates: your Firefox version information, language preference, operating system, and version.

    Firefox contacts Mozilla once per day to check for add-on information to check for malicious add-ons. This includes, for example: browser version, OS and version, locale, total number of requests, time of last request, time of day, IP address, and the list of add-ons you have installed.

    About once per day, Firefox connects to Mozilla and provides you with new snippets, if available. Mozilla may collect how often snippets are clicked, snippet name, browser locale, and which version of Firefox you're using.

    Firefox sends Mozilla a monthly request to look up your location at a country level using your IP address.

    Some Mozilla sponsored snippets are interactive and allow you to optionally share your phone number or email address.

    This data includes, for example: device hardware, operating system, Firefox version, add-ons (count and type), timing of browser events, rendering, session restores, length of session, interaction with search access points and use of Firefox search partner codes, how old a profile is, basic information about errors and crashes, and count of pages.

    Firefox sends to this third-party information identifying the site's certificate.

    About twice per hour, Firefox downloads Google's SafeBrowsing lists to help block access to sites and downloads that are malicious or forged (Google's privacy policy is at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/).

    Firefox may send metadata, including URLs associated with the downloaded file, to the SafeBrowsing service.

    Usage statistics or "Telemetry" is a feature in Firefox that sends Mozilla usage, performance, and responsiveness statistics about user interface features, memory, and hardware configuration. Your IP address is also collected as a part of a standard web log.

    Firefox sends to Mozilla data relating to the tiles such as number of clicks, impressions, your IP address, locale information, and tile specific data (e.g., position and size of grid).

    In Firefox Beta, certain short-term Telemetry

  13. Fuck Pale Moon after the AdNauseam debacle. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Recently there was a pathetic debacle where the Pale Moon lead developer decided to blacklist the AdNauseam extension, mainly for personal ideological reasons.

    When confronted by the community, Pale Moon's users were effectively told to fuck off. When it became very clear that the Pale Moon users were not happy about this unwanted change, the discussion topic was locked, and the users were effectively told to fuck of and die.

    This is the same sort of bullshit that Firefox was pulling on its users, forcing unwanted changes on them. This is the same kind of behavior that drove many of these victims to Pale Moon to begin with.

    It should be up to users whether or not they want to use an extension like AdNauseum.

    I will never use Pale Moon again after that debacle. It's the kind of incident that can't be excused.

    1. Re:Fuck Pale Moon after the AdNauseam debacle. by rholtzjr · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is not that they blocked it, they just advised that you must specifically enable it in about:config to use a different blocking level. I have to agree, extension should be used to provide additional protection of the user of the browser. It should not be used as an attack tool just because you feel that blocking ads are not enough. What you are supporting is that if a website uses an ad server, I will punish you for using it. That is not right. Blocking ads is enough so that you do not see it. Generating false click trail data to flag the web site as an "ad click abuser" to the ad provider is wrong.

      And remember that there may be legal repercussions for retaliation type attacks. Do you want to see a one of the last decent browser out there disappear in a legal battle? International law already has this pretty much defined. The International Court of Justice supports the response of cyberattacks if they follow four elements of a lawful counter-measure. These elements include a counter-attack being directed towards those who performed the original cyber act, asking those in the wrong to discontinue the attack, a counter-attack being in proportion with the original act, and the counter-attack being reversible.

      With that in mind, what is the attack that the website has done to you that warrants a counter-attack? Presenting something you do not wish to see? DON'T GO THERE or use an ad blocker. You are punishing the wrong person in your counter attack. You may be held liable in the future.

      Me, I use an ad blocker, if the site does not function properly with it enabled, I blacklist the site as not useable. It just means I have to look a little harder to find the information I want. When and if they outlaw ad blockers, THEN I will join you in your outrage.

  14. As Long as Firefox Keeps FireFTP, I'm Hooked by C0L0PH0N · · Score: 2

    Chrome will n-e-v-e-r support an in-browser FTP capability. So I am with Firefox forever, as long as it supports such features as FireFTP! I maintain websites, and it is such an incredibly easy tool to use, no extra steps, just two clicks and I'm connected via ftp to any of my websites. I use Chrome sometimes, but Firefox is my BFF because of FireFTP!

  15. Re:If firefox is just a chrome clone by Joce640k · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There's still two reasons: NoScript and the history side panel.

    I'm sure they'll get rid of them soon.

    --
    No sig today...
  16. It's all about autocomplete by Joce640k · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yep, the autocomplete for searches should be completely separate from the autocomplete for URLs.

    Anybody who thinks differently is an idiot.

    --
    No sig today...
    1. Re:It's all about autocomplete by thegreatbob · · Score: 2

      Not an idiot, just misguided. They folks have some sort of delusion of a unified web experience, but I don't quite get what they're driving at.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  17. Firefox has contempt for their userbase by ShamblerBishop · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Going back months, I've made several attempts to get Firefox devs to put together some stats they gathered through telemetry, to tell me how many Firefox users out of the total, are running plugins that will become unusable once FF 57 is released. They will fob you off with every manageresque excuse possible, to avoid giving out this one single stat - in a way which displays clear contempt for the request, and for the general userbase of Firefox. The public need to directly engage through official Firefox communication channels, and make themselves heard, in large numbers - and demand (extremely loudly) proper public engagement and transparency - and for an actual primary voice/influence, on the future direction of Firefox (not just a secondary/tertiary "we'll consider what you say (but ignore you completely)" voice).

  18. Not viable for corporate use by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The corporate LAN I have at work has an internal DNS where every internal site is a single word like 'hr' or 'training' or 'whatever.' The URL keywords feature has to be turned off so that when I type 'hr' to get to the HR page, it doesn't search for 'hr' on the open internet or try to go to 'www.hr.com.' Didn't think this one through, did they?