Hello…I also use compact mode and would hate to see it go.I think the majority of Firefox users know about compact mode,and alot have it turned on.Instead of assuming,make an informed decision based on feedback and data.Just look at all the compact users coming out of the woodwork on reddit and plenty of other websites. I think the number of users with compact mode on and telemetry off are very high.This needs to be taken into account.Assuming people don’t use it because it’s hard to find does not justify a removal of compact mode.
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I also think getting rid of compact mode would be a very bad idea. I’m not using low resolution (I’m on 100P) or high scaling but it just makes more sense to allow for more scaling. I probably don’t show up as part of the “engagement” for this feature as I have all the Firefox data collection boxes unchecked in options.
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I run web applications for other people, many of whom use low-resolution laptops. Taking away Firefox’s compact mode would yet another user-hostile change from Mozilla. Please don’t.
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I am here to just say “me too”. I use compact mode and does not want it to be removed.
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I really hope they didn’t do this.
Do you know Mozilla? despite your browser being slower than the competitor I still use it because of its customization, but if you don’t care about us and go ahead with this, then maybe I should just give up on you too.
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Stop destroying your browser Mozilla
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I’ve been using compact mode for several years (at least 7 now?), It’s the first thing I used to do on a fresh install before we had Firefox sync.
I’ve used Firefox on a variety of monitor resolutions over the years: 1366x768, 1920x1080, 2560x1440. Compact mode has been part of the common denominator of the config on all of these. It’s something I recommend all new users try as well.
I would be really disappointed to see this option go, since it is a vital part of an aesthetic that gives me bacchi my screen’s real estate, so I can focus on the content I’m reading/watching instead of being distracted by a rather large tabline.
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Compact mode is one of my favourite features of Firefox. I would be very disappointed if it was removed. Please don’t do this!
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Gonna quote what I posted on the reddit discussion regarding this:
I use three computers, two desktops (Well, one laptop docked to an external screen) and one laptop.
I use compact mode on all three systems.
The two desktop systems run 2560x1440 panels at 100% scaling, with the Windows taskbar set to autohide, giving me a truly colossal viewport for web content.
The laptop uses a 15.4" panel at 1920x1080, also with Windows set to autohide the taskbar and scaling at 100% (it was a bit weird at first, but I’m used to it now). I like the tremendous viewport that this gives me and would hate to see Firefox decrease this by taking away the compact mode. Hell, I’ve used the compact mode w/ the taskbar set to autohide on all the systems I can remember, even my first laptop which ran at 1440x900.
I have been a diehard user of Firefox since Phoenix’s early days, and I used the Mozilla Suite before that, Firefox’s recent changes are making me reconsider staying with Firefox.
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Oh no, don’t do it! This post [ https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1693028#c7 ] shows how much space Chromium / FF Quantum / FF Proton toolbars take up. I’ve been running Edge as a backup browser and I’ve got to say, one key thing that puts me off is how big Edge’s toolbar is. So if FF Proton is even bigger than that, that would really push me over the Edge.
Don’t do it! Given the size of Chromium-based browsers’ market share, Mozilla really needs to listen to its loyal users’ strong feelings on compact density.
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Please listen to your users. Don’t make baseless decisions off of poorly collected telemetry while ignoring context. The default will always be the most used option. There are no users asking for bigger toolbars and the removal of compact mode. In fact, they are begging for the opposite!
What’s the point of higher resolution and larger screens if we just make everything bigger? I didn’t get large high res displays to look at big bubbly UIs. I got them to fit more content.
I like to have four windows of Firefox open at a time in a 2x2 grid. At 1440p on a 27" monitor, that means compact mode is using about 3cm of space on my screen. Cutting that down more might allow for more practical use of three windows stacked on top of each other. Currently we’re on 62 pixels for the compact toolbar. The proposed change would push the minimum size to 92. That is a 50% increase in size that users do not want. This would seriously hurt the usability of my current workflow.
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I use compact mode on a 1920x1200 screen. I really don’t want more real estate taken up by the tab and tool bars.
Just an idea, but what if instead of three discrete options, there was a way to scale the density across a range?
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I couldn’t imagine using Firefox without compact. I have always used it as long as I can remember. As Firefox destroys more and more customization and usability with every update, it makes me sadder and sadder.
A large share of laptops out there are still super short, like that accursed 1366x768 resolution.
And, no, Moz, saying that people can fix it in custom CSS is not a solution.
I also wouldn’t trust telemetry or experiments for anything. Who even has those enabled?
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100% agree. Everything in Compact mode is perfectly comfortable for me – subtracting pixels from the viewport, just in order to add them unnecessarily to the browser chrome, is a sacrifice that gains me nothing in return.
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I posted some thoughts about how Firefox could continue to support the compact mode in Proton - would love to see the community’s thoughts.
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[…] would love to see the community’s thoughts.
Thanks for the great read. I already saw that post over on Reddit and very much appreciated it.
How does this work? What is the transparency on this process.
It looks like no matter how many comments or arguments we get towards preserving compact mode. The dev team is making an unilateral decision regardless.
I could understand that they claim that the UI design process is not by votes or popularity, but I wish they would come out and explain so. I saw someone on Bugzilla suggest they do an AMA to answer to the users about their choices so we can understand.
So far, the original reasoning for removing compact mode has been widely counter argued against with solid ideas, and Firefox position is still “shrug, we’re still gonna”
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That’s at least the position of the ominous Product Management. Which we peasants only get to communicate with by proxy of the poor devs who catch all the flack for the decisions of those out of touch with the user base.
Sorry for the rant.
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+1 for keeping “Compact mode”. I don’t need that much waste of space which can actually be used for something useful - the actual content of the web page. I’m with a 1920x1080 display and the “Compact” mode.
Furthermore, what exactly is the gain from removing a height/width option??
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It’s done: As you can see here on Bugzilla, the compact mode will ultimately not be removed for now but hidden behind a pref and labeled as “not supported”.
As Dão Gottwald pointed out it is fairly cheap to maintain because the density infrastructure needs to be kept for touch density anyways. So I fail to see how it’s hard to support compact density or why support for it needs to be dropped.
In fact, this just seems like a move to appease all those users who voiced their concerns but in the end, probably based on a declining amount of compact users due to it being hidden behind a pref, the feature will be axed as unsupported and unused.
Well played, Mozilla. Time to change browsers then.