Mozilla experiments with a combined Firefox address and search field

Martin Brinkmann
Jan 30, 2016
Firefox
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56

Mozilla runs an experiment currently in which some of the participating Firefox users see a unified address bar and search bar in the browser.

Of all the major browsers available for the Windows operating system, Mozilla Firefox is the only one that is offering an address bar and a search bar to its users by default.

Firefox users can customize the browser directly and through the use of add-ons to remove the search bar and use the address bar exclusively for searches and direct access to Internet resources.

Mozilla started to work on a unified address bar back in mid-2015. Back then, only prototypes and ideas were provided, and mockups showed how a unified address bar could deliver search and other suggestions at the same time.

Firefox unified search experiment

So-called Telemetry Experiments are used by Mozilla to test new features or changes in the Firefox web browser.

They are time-limited trials basically that are enabled for a select group of Firefox users.

telemetrie experiment suche-2

This particular experiment is enabled for 10% of all Firefox Beta users and runs until February 24.

The experiment is limited to a maximum of 14 days for individual users though, and not all of the users who have been selected to take part in the experiment see the change as some are in the control group instead.

Firefox Beta users who have been selected for the experiment will notice a new combined address and search bar in the browser if they are not in the control group.

This does not mean that the individual search bar is gone though, as it is still there and can be dragged back to its original location if that is desired.

This is done with a click on the main menu button and the selection of customize from the context menu. All that is left to do then is to drag the search bar to its original location again to get it back. Another option is to wait for the experiment to run its course, as things will be reverted to normal afterwards.

The unified search bar experiment is being tested right now, but that does not necessarily mean that Mozilla will implement it in the future. It is likely that the telemetry data will play a role in determining whether to go ahead with the implementation for all Firefox users or not. (via Sören Hentzschel)

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Mozilla experiments with a combined Firefox address and search field
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Mozilla experiments with a combined Firefox address and search field
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Mozilla runs a Firefox Beta experiment currently in which participating users see a unified address bar in the browser instead of a separate search and address bar.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. for-real-yo said on January 31, 2018 at 6:53 am
    Reply

    All I read is criticism about the decisions and some spats popping up, then people looking for support in the comments area for an article (yes because that makes sense), the internet stupid overlay is hard at work with 99.9% these comments above.

    Now has anyone taken the time to see that this is actually broken? Yes most searches will break with this new double use address/search bar turned to ON.

    In any event the old method works and is what I use daily.

    Useless move though but at least Mozilla alllows people to choose which method to use.

  2. bjm said on August 11, 2016 at 3:48 pm
    Reply

    YES, if I wanted Chrome, I’d be using Chrome.

  3. KADC said on August 2, 2016 at 8:28 am
    Reply

    The Firefox method of showing the browsing history in the address bar but going directly to the webpage without having to type the full address (i.e. you can leave off http and even www and it still goes directly to the correct page (if possible) if you don’t select a page from history is far more efficient with a separate search bar which shows search history then returns the results in a separate tab is far more efficient. No matter what your intent in Chrome, it will yield a search which replaces the current page which is frustrating to no end. The number of complaints and people looking for a solution to disable the Chrome Omnibox search function now that turning off predictive services or setting the search engine to “null” no longer works is growing daily.

    I’ve never understood why Firefox would want to emulate Chrome (or any other browser) in the first place. After all, if we wanted Chrome features, we’d be using Chrome, not Firefox.

  4. KADC said on August 2, 2016 at 8:18 am
    Reply

    What brought me to this page was searching for a method to disable the Omnibar in Chrome to make it behave like Firefox since I’m forced to use Chrome at work. Making Firefox behave more like Chrome is a step in the wrong direction. If we wanted Firefox to behave like Chrome, we’d be using Chrome in the first place.

  5. KADC said on August 2, 2016 at 8:15 am
    Reply

    I like the “current” (I locked my version of Firefox to prevent auto-updates, so current is relative) separation of the address bar and search bar. My number one annoyance at Chrome (and I’m not alone according to feedback) is Chrome’s insistence to search whatever I type rather than bringing me directly to the page like Firefox (disabling predictive services or using a default “Null” search no longer works), and when I do want a search, Chrome brings it up on the current page (!!!) rather than opening the search in a new tab.

    The way Firefox shows browser history but still goes directly to the site if you don’t choose a history page, with a separate search bar which shows search history separately, is far more efficient than the Omnibox on Chrome, and any move towards emulating Chrome on this front is yet another step backwards for Firefox development. After all, if we wanted Chrome features, we’d simply use Chrome in the first place.

  6. Lestat said on February 5, 2016 at 6:01 pm
    Reply

    https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1046166 – Another feature will go away most likely, Userchrome and Usercontent, so you will need add-ons for writing css based Firefox modifications.

  7. Anonymous said on February 2, 2016 at 2:00 am
    Reply

    The sad part of this is that the devs at Mozilla are acting like a punch drunk fighter, not quite knowing what to do next, but having some clue that change is necessary.

    No one in the software industry seems to understand that leaving things alone that work, or allowing change to be reversible, is a good thing. It is clear from the comments above that not everyone dislikes the thought of a unified bar.

    It does seem as though they might work toward some NEW thoughts however, as the next major change should be something NO OTHER browser offers. Further aping Chrome is just another way of allowing customers to say goodbye.

  8. David said on February 1, 2016 at 6:07 am
    Reply

    First will be the ‘experiment’, to show that most people won’t have a problem with the change. Which is largely correct; most people barely know what the search bar is, and likely search by first going to Google’s page, then entering the website address of where they want to go, and then click Google’s link to the website address they just entered.

    Second will be ‘changing the default’, wherein they get rid of the search bar in the default layout, but you can still pull it out if you want.

    Third will be ‘deprecation’, where they pull out telemetry statistics saying that only 0.01% of all users put the search bar back in the layout, and so it’s a “waste of resources” to keep maintaining it. But they’ll leave the backend code in place, so something like CTR could put it back.

    Fourth will be ‘obsolescence’, where they again use telemetry to prove that no one uses a feature that they’ve spent a lot of time hiding, allowing them to justify removing it entirely.

    It’s the same old tired routine they’ve used time and time again. It’s also similar in that there are known issues with the current search bar which I can almost guarantee will never be fixed, as they’ll move whoever did the quick rewrite of the original search bar to some other project, and now can’t be bothered with maintaining what they put together in the first place. Just like Tab Groups. And use the fact that it was never maintained or fixed as justification to scrap it.

  9. disustopia said on January 31, 2016 at 10:46 pm
    Reply

    When are they going to change the name of this browser to “Chrome”?

    1. Conker said on February 1, 2016 at 2:02 am
      Reply

      chromefire, firechrome, chromefox, foxchrome, silverfox,

  10. Earl said on January 31, 2016 at 3:36 pm
    Reply

    The best tools are those that do one thing–and do it very well. The “Awesome Bar” does a closed search of the places you’ve been before, some of which you’ve bookmarked. The search box works to find new places that you’ve never been before (or maybe you have but forgot about it). It does an open search–you don’t know where it’s going to lead you. On the face of it, these two things seem quite compatible and worthy of bringing together in one place. But my gut feeling is that they should remain separate. A place for everything and everything in its place. Search is not a nail, and every tool doesn’t have to be a hammer. (And I really don’t need an even longer url-bar that’ll stay mostly empty.)

  11. Gal said on January 31, 2016 at 11:28 am
    Reply

    someone is out to destroy FF. out go the plugins, and everything else that makes it so good.

  12. HopTzop said on January 31, 2016 at 10:14 am
    Reply

    You should try InstantFox addon. Type g before your search phrase and will search on google. You can add duckduckgo, bing, yahoo and other searching website and set a letter or multiple letter for them. Also works with youtube, ebay, amazon and other.

    1. betterwebleon said on February 1, 2016 at 11:19 pm
      Reply

      I’ve been using InstantFox for a long time. Unfortunately I had to erase it with the new Firefox update (version 44), because the add-on stopped working. It also had bugs (sometimes only a blank webpage would show up while using it). I guess it’s time to start using “original” Firefox keywords.

    2. Samm said on February 1, 2016 at 12:27 pm
      Reply

      You don’t need an add-on for that. Just go to Firefox Options -> Search and set up a keyword for each search engine.

      1. betterwebleon said on February 1, 2016 at 11:54 pm
        Reply

        There are two setbacks with Firefox keywords (compared to InstantFox), which many users are forced to use because of recent InstantFox malfunction:
        1. InstantFox has the option to enable “instant searching” for each individual keyword (search engine). If it is enabled, the website is being loaded in the background automatically as user types search entry into address bar. Therefore after user hits enter, the website loads faster than it does in the case of using “classic” keyword searching.
        2. The problem with Search preferences is that you cannot (quickly) set up custom keywords, because you can only install existing search engines from the browser and from Mozilla website. Which means one needs to make a set of bookmarks specifically for the purpose of using custom search engines. And of course with no “instant searching” option.

        I don’t know how these functionalities are not prioritized among Firefox developers – given the fact that searching is one of the BASIC tasks for every user. I do not need things like “Firefox Hello” as much as I need improved searching. Browser is not a conversation tool, it is (mostly) a search tool. I believe this is why many Firefox users are upset, because developers are focusing mostly on ballast features, instead of core ones.

  13. scylla said on January 31, 2016 at 12:39 am
    Reply

    Even tho I’m using Chrome more these days due to compatibility issues with Firefox on some of my regular sites, I always use Firefox for searches because I want a separate search box. I shall be distraught if FF does away with it.

    What with post-Win7 operating systems and browser “modernisation”, computers are getting less and less comfortable for me.

    1. not_black said on January 31, 2016 at 12:44 am
      Reply

      >computers are getting less and less comfortable

      True. What was once a click of a button is now 3 clicks and a gesture and some shit.

  14. Neal said on January 30, 2016 at 8:14 pm
    Reply

    Is there an about:config for this? I actually use third party addon omnibar to get this functionality and it was one of the few Chrome features that I wanted replicated in Firefox.

  15. bj m said on January 30, 2016 at 6:17 pm
    Reply

    I want the search field and the address bar to stay separate, as they are today.
    I hate Chrome Omnibar.
    I have extension Icons between address and search bar. I need One click search engines to stay where it is now. I know Chrome has market share. But, making Firefox into Chrome will lose this Firefox user.

  16. All Things Firefox said on January 30, 2016 at 5:10 pm
    Reply

    I sure hope Mozilla doesn’t remove the search box. I frequently use it to open a search in a new tab without having to open a new tab manually.

  17. betterwebleon said on January 30, 2016 at 5:08 pm
    Reply

    It is interesting how many people are still using search bar. I have disabled search bar a long time ago – as soon as I found “InstantFox Quick Search” add-on. It is much better and faster to search from the address bar using various custom keywords, which consequently makes search bar redundant. I hope Mozilla will improve the functionality of searching with keywords as well, so it will be as useful as it has been in Chrome. Because currently, one needs to make a bookmark in order to be able to search with a keyword, which doesn’t really make much sense. Besides, the “instant searching mode” should be made availabe, so while user is typing an entry in the address bar, the search results are preloaded automatically in the backround. Therefore after user hits enter, the website shows up immediately. I hope this feature will be implemented in the future as well.

    As regards “the battle” against other browsers, Mozilla is still one of the best browsers – considering all the tweaking possibilities (e.g. for improving speed and privacy, customizing UI, etc.).

    1. not_black said on January 31, 2016 at 12:41 am
      Reply

      But there’s no “search history” from the address bar, and you also have to type in the whole phrase again if you want to search for it 10 minutes later. Because I tend to search for something, then click around, eventually closing the Google search page too on the way, and I find it much more easier to just press Ctrl+K and hit Enter than figuring out where the hell my search results disappeared. I also tend to search for the same thing again from time to time, and it’s also easier if I only have to type in the first 2-3 characters and press Down and then Enter and the whole phrase is there.

      1. betterwebleon said on January 31, 2016 at 2:01 am
        Reply

        I didn’t know for Ctrl+K function, this makes search bar more useful indeed. :)
        However, there is search history available in my address bar. In fact, the phrase I am looking for is usually part of the URL or website’s title among entries in history. So in most cases address bar actually finds what I am looking for (I just type 3-5 letters in address bar and I can find the right entry almost instantly). Therefore I don’t have the need to use search bar in these cases, because the whole procedure is practicaly the same (just use Ctrl+L instead of Ctrl+K).
        And if I already (or accidentally) closed the tab, I just right-click anywhere on tab bar and re-open previously closed tab (for this functionality I am using another add-on: “Undo Close Tab Replacement”, because sadly this simple and useful functionality is not available in Firefox by default for some reason).

        I never really used search bar, so I won’t miss it. However, even if it will be removed in the future, you can always use a great add-on CTR (Classic Theme Restorer). It became a must-have anyway. I’m already using it to make the color of tab bar transparent (which applies to Windows 10), to make tabs squared and fit, to reduce the height of toolbar & bookmarks bar, to regain a history drop-down menu button and “classic” yellow bookmark star button, etc.

  18. anon said on January 30, 2016 at 3:19 pm
    Reply

    I doubt Mozilla will remove the ability to keep the two separate. They are simply looking to unify the current address bar with the current search bar, and that’s a good thing.

    1. disustopia said on January 31, 2016 at 10:49 pm
      Reply

      How is it a good thing when you can already do that now and this is just removing feature for people who actually use it?

      1. Conker said on February 1, 2016 at 1:53 am
        Reply

        it is most definitely not a good thing let me tell you, searching for something only to have to type it in again by even one letter and have to scroll through the list of many other searched and urls with the same text to find what you just searched for when all i have to do is just hit the magnifying glass button once one more time with the current search aleardy there and ii can even modify the text of a bit to get a slightly different result but on the other hand if its “unified” selecting the the current search again because i want to modify it open up a whole new useless tab of said prior search, sounds like a waste to me

  19. pd said on January 30, 2016 at 3:06 pm
    Reply

    This is a bullshit waste of time.

    Why don’t the idiots behind this browser start realizing they’ve lost the battle against Chrome and actually start to innovate so people have good reason to go back to Firefox?

    All this change would achieve is making Firefox even less different to Chrome and they’ve been following a copy Chrome policy for the last several years but it’s GOT THEM NOWHERE!

    Mozilla sacked the wrong person. Brendan Eich had the courage if his convictions. Mitchell Baker, or whoever oversaw the choice to waste huge resources on Firefox OS whilst Firefox floundered, should BE SACKED so that someone with a decent vision and courage of conviction can take over and guide the Firefox ship away from the uninspiring, pathetic game of copy cat oblivion it’s currently languishing in.

    Too much effort by too many is being butchered by too few at Mozilla.

    Get your act together! You can’t even make a mobile browser reliably plays video on the most popular platform! Instead you sell your soul to satisfy crApple’s insistence on ONE rendering engine on the rich person’s platform! Not only that but WebKit Safari is the most buggy engine in the world.

    That’s right: Mozilla’s biggest release in years is the WebShit/Safari version of Firefox!!!

    Inspired!

    What’s the justification? In short: we’re hopeless on mobile (because we can’t get share on Android) so let’s rectify that by going to crApple and kissing their rendering engine cakehole!

    Think I’m exaggerating? Ask yourself this simple question: when was the last time a Firefox release really mattered to you? If it’s not the good-for-developers/crap-for-users 6 week release cycle that causes minimal interest due to puny changes, it’s the copying of the other browsers.

    If you were excited about a release, did the changes you liked excite the whole community like releases used to?

    1. ¬¬ said on January 30, 2016 at 9:03 pm
      Reply

      +100000 you said what most (frustrated, by the way) old users think of current firefox direction. really sad. Gone are the ol’ good days when they care about innovation and most important: users. Now they just want the chrome user base but they aren’t able to realize that those users don’t give a f0ck about firefox, users that use apple, google, etc, just use it because is the treandy thing and those are popular brands, they don’t care about privacy, spyware etc, they just want to be popular and firefox and microsoft are not cool brands for most of them so they simple will not use it. so simple like that no matter how they make a copycat chrome browser it still don’t have the google brand on it

    2. Tom Hawack said on January 30, 2016 at 4:46 pm
      Reply

      When was the last time a Firefox release really mattered to me? Every release matters to me because Firefox is not only my default browser but mainly because I’ve been using for so long that I know it enough to tweak it to the last bit (or almost).
      But if it matters it is, to be frank, more by the apprehension of the worst than by enthusiasm for exciting improvements and innovations.

      I like Firefox. But is it not a human nature characteristic to sometimes mistake true love with love of our habits? I know the browser so well …
      I agree with your comment, pd, there is a Mozilla problem. The company’s development policy seems more opportunistic than innovative and globally appears erratic.

      I don’t know, I may be moving back to Pale Moon, the only alternative I see at this time. Google’s Chrome? Never say never? Not now :)

  20. Joker said on January 30, 2016 at 2:07 pm
    Reply

    With TMP, I’ve set launching a search from the searchbar to be opened in a new tab.

    How’s that going to work when the searchbar doesn’t exist anymore?

    Oh right, addons will be removed too.

    1. Doc said on January 30, 2016 at 7:06 pm
      Reply

      Tab Mix Plus -> Open Tabs from Address Bar. Any time you type a search (or a site) in the address bar, it opens a new tab.

      1. Joker said on January 31, 2016 at 10:10 am
        Reply

        That’s my point: You can’t have separate behavior anymore.

  21. Lestat said on January 30, 2016 at 1:10 pm
    Reply

    Experiment.. Maybe, but it can already be said now for sure that this feature will come and the old solution goes away. And why? Because the old solution is not what Chrome does have. Hearing this news i am really glad that i am using Vivaldi, the maintainers of that project see no reason to bow down to the lowest common denominator which is widely known as Google Chrome users.

    So, Another try for Mozilla to get all Chrome users on board? Sorry, for me being respectless now, but just one thing: *LOL*

  22. beerpatzer said on January 30, 2016 at 12:52 pm
    Reply

    I’ve been using the address bar as my search bar since forever. It never liked the separate search box because it took up the valuable space.

    1. Ray said on January 30, 2016 at 5:43 pm
      Reply

      Same here. First thing I do when I have to install a new Firefox profile is remove the search bar, so I’m actually okay with this change.

    2. Moonchild said on January 30, 2016 at 4:37 pm
      Reply

      … and you’ve always been able to remove it from your UI if you wished :)

      The problem here is that it takes yet another customization choice away.

      1. LimboSlam said on January 31, 2016 at 1:09 am
        Reply

        Yup! That’s why I choose Pale Moon! But you know the combine search bars won’t hurt me as much as I thought it would. Well simply I already use keywords for a lot of my search engines and bookmarks (websites). Plus I use this cool add-on called Mouse Gesture Suite which enables me to quickly open a New Tab, New Window, Private New Window, Blank New Tab, Duplicate Tab and Window, open links in New Window and Tab, and much more!

        So really no need for extra add-ons or functionality for me when I can get the same results done all in one add-on. Though a choice should always be available to the users.

      2. insanelyapple said on January 30, 2016 at 8:06 pm
        Reply

        I hope Palemoon won’t have such shitty ideas for future of browser UI as Mozilla does… Good luck with Goanna.

  23. Walang Alan said on January 30, 2016 at 12:35 pm
    Reply

    Would have been better to work on speed and smoothness instead of the address bar

  24. tommisgr said on January 30, 2016 at 10:49 am
    Reply

    Try
    omnibar
    Addtosearchbar
    Locationbar2

    Makes the location bar as it should be

  25. John said on January 30, 2016 at 10:48 am
    Reply

    I have different browser behavior linked to the URL bar (open next to current a new tab) and the search bar (open a new last tab) when I type and press enter there. Not really want to lose that. The “folddown” with top results I near never use, for the foldout is a shortlist with known sites, those I would already type in the URL bar manually, not in the search bar.

  26. Tom Hawack said on January 30, 2016 at 10:45 am
    Reply

    As I see it from the screenshot, with the Search engines displayed on the drop-down’s bottom-line, it could make sens, nevertheless the big advantage of having a separate Search bar is that it can keep the searched item in place for future quest with the same search engine or with another… unless the new all-in-one display provides some sort of “last search recall” button…

    I’m comparing with what we have now, that is officially the “new” Search bar and the “old” Search bar (accessible with an add-on such as ‘Classic Theme Restorer’). I’ve opted for the “new” Search bar (kept it to default that is) because you can move around search engines without changing the default one (the one used when you make an implicit search from the urlbar by typing a non-url item). From this perspective there would be a significant advantage in having an all-in-one Url/Search Bar because the default search engine would become obsolete.

    I think this feature is worth debating, I don’t see anything systematically obvious.

  27. GL1zdA said on January 30, 2016 at 10:27 am
    Reply

    Finally. It was redundant since they’ve redone the search box – now searching in either uses the default search engine.

  28. armond said on January 30, 2016 at 9:45 am
    Reply

    Oh no. Not that one please. Don’t separate search box and address bar. I use that search box a lot…:(

    1. Dave said on January 31, 2016 at 8:35 pm
      Reply

      Me too. The search bar is for people who use different search engines. I think most people who don’t like it are primarily users of just one search engine (such as Google, Bing or Yandex). Users who do like it are the ones who frequently search on a variety of services, such as specific websites that have search features, or repeating a web-wide search on different services sequentially.

      Firefox does have Keywords which allow for the latter functionality from the urlbar, but the feature isn’t well known or widely used, except by power users.

  29. Appster said on January 30, 2016 at 9:44 am
    Reply

    And there it is: The next stupid decision made by Mozilla. I want the search field and the address bar to stay separated, just like they are today. Sometimes I need to work with 2 search engines which works better when the address bar and the search field use different engines. Mozilla just keeps destroying my workflow, it is really sad.
    The Australis abomination removed the Add-On-Bar, Tabs-on-Bottom and the compact menu, it removed the ability to separate the Back/Forward-Buttons from the address bar as well as the ability to separate the bookmark star from the bookmark menu. Small icons were also dropped. In all honesty the ONLY reason for me to use Firefox these days is Classic Theme Restorer – which will hopefully abolish this stupid design, too.
    It is just another step in the Chromification of Firefox. Chrome was the first major browser to introduce the combined address bar, big surprise… Mozilla, just stop RUINING it!

    1. Jaman111 said on March 7, 2016 at 2:55 pm
      Reply

      Use keywords to search different websites from address bar: https://support.mozilla.org/no/kb/how-search-from-address-bar
      There are addons for your needs just google it.

    2. FixxeS said on February 2, 2016 at 1:58 pm
      Reply

      instead of thinking on yourself, think on the 90% of users that dont even touch the search field even 5 times a year…
      if you want to search on a specific search engine, write the link, does it cost so much? also, give a meta-search engine a try, like https://www.ixquick.com/ search engines like this one show the information from SEVERAL search engines… for example:
      you searched “manchester united”. a meta search engine will show you results from google, ask, duckduckgo, msn, etc, all on the same page.

    3. Mike J. said on February 1, 2016 at 5:05 pm
      Reply

      I recently booted PM, which had become dodgy, & am using Iron. I hate the combined search/addy bar. (Hard to change search engines, too, & where is about:config??) I end up switching to Cyberfox or Waterfox (which freezes if a plugin is opened & then closed; very annoying) for a search.

    4. LimboSlam said on January 31, 2016 at 12:34 am
      Reply

      @Appster: Builds are in the makings, please check here: https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=10847 and here: https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=10389&start=20#p75864.

      Yes download links are available.

      Hope this helps. :)

    5. Lestat said on January 30, 2016 at 1:37 pm
      Reply

      They won’t. Their goal is to make the browser 100% compatible with Chrome and simple users. It is about time to give up the illusions that Firefox is still a browser for the advanced user class.

      1. Appster said on January 31, 2016 at 6:19 am
        Reply

        @Lestat:

        I will most certainly leave Firefox once XUL is dropped, just because the UI will look like Chrome after that anyway. It would then make sense for me to leave it for a Chromium-based browser, most likely Vivaldi.
        I don’t consider Multiprocess-Browsing a bad thing as I am not short of RAM here. I am not one of the guys to open hundreds of tabs when you could just bookmark them. I have never understood why it would make sense to have them open all the time?
        Apart from that Chromium-based browsers have other shortcomings, too. Ghostery is only available in a crippled version, there is no high quality download manager, less (and badly supported) YouTube downloaders and so on… These are advantages Firefox still offers today. Of course I could switch to Vivaldi, but I would suffer from a tremendously worse quality of my web experience then. Vivaldi will never be as powerful as Firefox if they don’t establish their own Add-On ecosystem and add new APIs. In fact Vivaldi is just a reskin of Chrome, though a pretty good one. The underlying problems of limited extension capabilities still remain.
        Firefox is totally heading into this direction, regarding extensions. In the end Firefox will be a non-customizable browser with limited extension capabilities. Vivaldi indeed will be a very customizable browser also with limited extension capabilities. You see, I will use Vivaldi then, because it is better than nothing (= Firefox).
        I will switch to Firefox 45 ESR once it is available. This will be supported until February 7th, 2017. Hopefully Vivaldi will be reach its FINAL by then, because I will never use Chromefox!

      2. Lestat said on January 31, 2016 at 1:59 am
        Reply

        You can indeed say that Chrome and Chromium as barebone origin softwares suck like hell, but not something like Vivaldi or later Otter with QTWebengine, even at some point Brave when they added tons of customization features like Vivaldi.

        In the end it does not matter, at one point Mozilla will switch to multiprocess and eats tons of RAM like Chrome too and Mozilla will remove all customization from Firefox anyway. What counts are if the developers listen to their user base and the features. Chrome is missing both points and Firefox is missing both points.

        Vivaldi has that 2 points and Otter too. And there is a chance that Brave will also earn that 2 points in the future. So, it should be clear what browsers are the real bad ones. The engine does not matter, it is the surrounding which is important.

        Appster the coin has both sides. You can make out of a shit product with the right modifications a good one and out of a good one with taking away the good stuff an utterly bad one.

        I think you would also not leave Firefox even if it would go to hell. That is the difference between me and you. You can not give up hope, while i see the reality. No offense btw.

      3. Appster said on January 30, 2016 at 9:42 pm
        Reply

        I know. However, Firefox still makes use of the flexible XUL for its interface, therefore Add-Ons like Classic Theme Restorer are still possible. As long as those exist I won’t drop Firefox. Here is a list of changes I made to Firefox using CTR:
        – Add-On Bar restored
        – Tabs are back on bottom and squared
        – Back/Forward-Button separated from the address bar
        – Reload moved away from the address bar
        – bookmark star and bookmark menu are separated once again
        – Feed button in the address bar
        – deactivation of Pocket and Hello
        Things I kept in Firefox:
        – the new search field, as I can switch search engines with less clicks now
        Things I added back to Firefox:
        – a Download window such as the one that has existed up until Firefox 26 (using the Add-On “Downloads Window”)

        That is to say my Firefox looks very similar to Firefox 3.6, which I liked best UI-wise. Classic Theme Restorer is compatible with e10s so this shouldn’t be a major obstacle for my workflow. Nevertheless, I dread the day XUL is dropped. This will be the likely end of CTR and my usage of Firefox.
        Pale Moon was suggested to me numerous times, but there are two things which prevent me from using it:
        – no OS X version
        – no Media Source Extension support, therefore limited YouTube capabilities
        This leaves only Chromium-based browsers like Vivaldi, which is a pity.

      4. Koli0842 said on January 30, 2016 at 2:36 pm
        Reply

        I consider myself an advanced user, yet find the unified search – address bar superior in comfortability.. One of my most missed features from chrome, but the way you can tweak FF to your taste wins. I only need my browser to be comfortable and fast for daily use

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