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zazaraka | 6 years ago

I want to use Firefox on my phone, but it's UI is just so confusing - specifically the tab switching flow. When you try to switch tabs, the whole screen is replaced, the typically white background is replaced with a dark background, and the tabs are shown as tiny rectangles. And a very fast animation which makes my head spin. Why don't they just copy the tab switching from mobile Chrome?

They also have a new version of mobile Firefox, which will replace the current one at some point in the future. It's called Firefox Preview. I tried it, tab switching is acceptable, but now they moved the URL bar to the bottom of the screen. Why????? So I've uninstalled it and I'm back to Chrome.

Nobody is going to switch from Chrome to Firefox if the UI is radically different.

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onion2k|6 years ago

Nobody is going to switch from Chrome to Firefox if the UI is radically different.

You could easily make the argument that no one is going to switch from Chrome if Firefox is very similar too because there'd be no good reason to.

Guessing what users will do is a waste of time. You have to do experiments and actually measure it.

pygy_|6 years ago

Anecdata:

I switched back almost 10 years ago (because Google creeps me out), and the UI differences made it much harder.

I ended up tweaking firefox with extensions to make it look and behave like Chrome as much as possible, then gradually turned it back to the default UI. It made the switch far more pleasant.

Causality1|6 years ago

Frankly I would, and do. I use mobile Firefox for its features like adblocking extensions and reader mode but it's always a less pleasant experience than mobile Chrome because it's less snappy and intuitive.

checktheorder|6 years ago

>Nobody is going to switch from Chrome to Firefox if the UI is radically different.

I've actually had a lot of success getting non-techie Android users I know to switch to Firefox when they found out that it has proper adblocking available via Ublock Origin. They're usually quite willing to learn a new UI if it means that they no longer have to deal with advertising infestations.

lukebitts|6 years ago

> Nobody is going to switch from Chrome to Firefox if the UI is radically different.

I did. I care a lot more about supporting Mozilla than I care about UI though

zazaraka|6 years ago

How many Chrome users use it because they care about supporting Google

gen3|6 years ago

I personally like the url bar at the bottom of the screen because its easier to reach. I can understand how this being configurable would be important though.

Izkata|6 years ago

> but now they moved the URL bar to the bottom of the screen. Why?????

Because on a phone, your thumbs are already down there. No need to stretch to reach the URL bar. I can see users switching to Firefox because of that convenience.