Reverse the direction that Fenix adds new tabs from

[ghost]

• A user on Reddit is asking this feature;

Currently Fenix adds new tabs to the top but chance it so that it adds the new tabs one after the other in a downwards direction like how Chrome does it.

Now if you ask me which one I prefer I don't know. I have been using Fenix since it launched from early last year and I haven't had any problems navigating through tabs. Perhaps a switch to change the direction could be added to satisfy the both types of users and since tab navigation is one of the central features of a browser this should be a customisable behaviour.

┆Issue is synchronized with this Jira Task

[tukusejssirs]

I wish the new tabs would be added the same way as on the desktop FF:

1. when opening a new tab (empty one, about:blank), it would append it to the bottom of the list;
2. when opening a tab with Open link in new tab, it should be open right after (below) the tab I am currently on; if multiple links are open this way (without changing the currently open tab), they should be appended to each other (i.e. current_tab, first_new_tab, second_new_tab, third_new_tab, …, nth_new_tab, following by the other, already open tabs).

The current behaviours drives me nuts as it changes the order I am used to and that makes sense (to me).

[liuche]

Copying over a comment from another user issue. This is maybe something we can consider -- but I can't remember, did we already decide to do it in this direction for a reason?

What is the growth opportunity you want to see solved?
Avoid long thumb travel across the screen by reversing the tab list when using bottom navigation bar.

Why?
The new navigation bar and buttons are at the bottom of the screen. This is to easy navigation with phone getting bigger and avoid long thumb travel across the screen. But when opening the tab menu in Fenix the latest opened tabs are at the top of the screen. Those latest opened tabs have an high probability to be the destination of the user. Thus, reversing the tag lost order will easy access to more recents tabs as the user will already has touch the bottom of the screen to open the tab menu.

[Dunexus]

See #12861 and #12108 (comment)

[apbitner]

@topotropic is currently looking into the way we sort various items within the app

[yoasif]

Like the rest of you, I have been using the new direction since it was changed.

Unfortunately, I have found myself accidentally closing the tab tray while trying to navigate to newer tabs. I commented about it in #14911 (comment) and also filed a bug #14476.

The biggest issue here is that even if a user has many tabs open, they are most often going to be accessing new tabs, not older ones. We implicitly recognize this from features like #4118.

Unfortunately, even in the default bottom navigation toolbar configuration, we make it harder to access the newer tabs -- if we were optimizing for "reachability", the newest tabs would be closest to the bottom, not in the middle or top of the screen.

If we assume that most of the time people are accessing newer tabs, we also lower the chance of users accidentally closing the tab tray when accessing the tab that they were looking for, because of the infinite depth of the bottom of the screen - users will never overshoot the newest tab, closing the tab tray.

Additionally, this results in weird gestures like #13172 because of attempts at internal consistency.

Thankfully, the good news here is that because Fennec used this order, the oldest to newest (from top of display to bottom) is already preferred by existing Firefox users, and because this order also prioritizes recency in reachability and error prevention, it should also satisfy users preferring the bottom navigation toolbar layout.

[avently]

Actually reversing the sorting will fix sooo many issues related to a bottomsheet. I vote for this too. It would prevent me from interacting with tabs top-to-bottom swipe which is counter-intuitive in the case of tabs

[LinAGKar]

For me, tabs opened with "open in new tab" being in reverse order compared to other tabs is the biggest annoyances. But it would be preferable to switch top-to-bottom order as well, and to get back the ability to manually reorder tabs. Currently, holding on tabs just highlights them for this "collections" thing I don't use, rather than letting you move them.

[andreicristianpetcu]

@LinAGKar I stopped using swipe to switch tabs since I never know if a tab is on the right or on the left.

[JohannVII]

I agree entirely the default positioning for new tabs should be a configurable option as noted, and that tabs should be reorderable.

On a related note, is there an existing issue to turn the tab manager shade into a full-screen pane like it was in Fennec, or should I start a new one? That would resolve all current accidental closure swiping issues (which I've also found to be a big problem, especially given the tab ordering logic) and prevent any introduced by misreading swipes when one is trying to reorder tabs (if we get that back), while the visual positioning of the tab list could still be set to populate from the bottom with a bottom address bar, whatever the ordering logic is, so if only one or two tabs were open, they would still be close to the address bar. I don't see the utility in leaving part of the current page visible with a shade design, because the point of going to the tab manager is to do something other than interact with the current page - save a tab, open a new tab, switch tabs, etc. - while there is utility in NOT having a shade design.

[Poopooracoocoo]

#11376 (comment):

1. when opening a new tab (empty one, about:blank), it would append it to the bottom of the list;

#12774

[topotropic]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

Makes sense to update the tab order to the following:

1. when opening a new tab (empty one, about:blank), it would append it to the bottom of the list;

2. when opening a tab with Open link in new tab, it should be open right after (below) the tab I am currently on; if multiple links are open this way (without changing the currently open tab), they should be appended to each other (i.e. current_tab, first_new_tab, second_new_tab, third_new_tab, …, nth_new_tab, following by the other, already open tabs).

[codrut-topliceanu]

@vesta0 @topotropic is the 2nd part of this issue still desired :

when opening a tab with Open link in new tab, it should be open right after (below) the tab I am currently on; if multiple links are open this way (without changing the currently open tab), they should be appended to each other (i.e. current_tab, first_new_tab, second_new_tab, third_new_tab, …, nth_new_tab, following by the other, already open tabs).

If so would it be okay for me to move it to a separate issue so that we can close this one?

[tukusejssirs]

I still want this issue to be fixed; it does not matter if I follow this issue or a different one.

BTW, even reopening recently closed tabs needs some care: currently, they are always placed on top (as the first tab), while in the desktop Firefox they keep their original place. For now, I’d be happy even for placing these tabs at the bottom.

[Dunexus]

@tukusejssirs Keeping the position of tabs when reopening is covered by #10986

[crisalis2]

Yes, please, don't forget the second part of the issue. Current behavior makes no sense. This is something that greatly affects user experience. Fenix is great but this unfixed detail is very annoying.

[crisalis2]

Point 2 will be fixed in AC by this issue -> and its PR.

Any news on point 2? The linked issue and PR are closed. I don't understand what's the state of this issue.

[madb1lly]

Hi @crisalis2,
I think it's working as described in point 2 now isn't it?
Cheers 🙂

[crisalis2]

I think it's working as described in point 2 now isn't it?

No, in the latest Nightly the order is still current_tab, nth_new_tab, …, third_new_tab, second_new_tab, first_new_tab. Note this is about new tabs that are created with the "Open link in new tab" option.

[madb1lly]

Ah yes you're right, the order is the opposite to how it works on desktop.
Cheers 🙂

[re-hub]

In addition, user opens a few tabs through "open in new tab". The first opened tab is loaded first but it is last in tabs. The last opened tab is immediately to the right via swipe left but it is still loading. A horrible UX emerges

[crisalis2]

2. when opening a tab with Open link in new tab, it should be open right after (below) the tab I am currently on; if multiple links are open this way (without changing the currently open tab), they should be appended to each other (i.e. current_tab, first_new_tab, second_new_tab, third_new_tab, …, nth_new_tab, following by the other, already open tabs).

Point 2 will be fixed in AC by this issue -> and its PR.

Correction: point 2 will no longer be fixed at the moment. See this comment

@codrut-topliceanu

So now the migration to BrowsterStore is apparently completed according to https://mozac.org/2021/07/05/whats-next.html or mozilla-mobile/android-components#10436

Does this mean point 2 can finally be fixed?

Thanks.

[codrut-topliceanu]

@crisalis2 Hey, I'm not sure as I have not been asked to proceed. I'll tag this with needs-UX to get clarifications.

So UX question : #11376 (comment) ?

[ris58h]

What can we do to finally fix the issue?
We have mozilla-mobile/android-components#8838 that could fix it.

[stale]

See: #17373 This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[ris58h]

3 years gone and it's still not fixed. We have the PR guys. Just merge it please!

[crisalis2]

I also eagerly want this to be fixed...

This issue is such a mistery. It was supposed to be almost fixed 2 years ago. Then nothing happened. Two years later still nothing. Quoting myself from two years ago, I still don't understand what's the state of this issue.

The current behavior makes no sense... This issue should be of the highest priority... I don't understand how any dev who actually personally uses Firefox on a daily basis isn't bothered by this problem.

Now we can even manually reorder tabs (a very nice feature recently added for which I'm very thankful), which had to be much more complex than this...

Please fix this issue, it has to be possible and it is necessary.

[boek]

Moved to bugzilla: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1812926

Change performed by the Move to Bugzilla add-on.