Browser redesign in Sailfish 4.2 feedback thread

Design
#20

Discoverability of that there are more options below the bottom just isn’t there

Back to UX. This is just bad imho. Even after reading this thread and seeing screenshots of the two menu (normal and open) it took me some time to understand the functionality (but maybe I’m just stupid :crazy_face:)

As for closing the menu, I think tapping outside is ok but oftentimes too far away for how I’m holding the phone. Swipe down to close the menu would be such great addition and integrate well with both pull up to expand as well as swipe down to close the keyboard.

The new tab view is a bit too screen real estate hungry, even if it works on my Xperia, since its form factor handles it. And I’d still prefer pulleys over toolbars with buttons.

Small eye sore for me is that the back button (on the normal toolbar) and the forward button (on the menu toolbar) are misaligned. Also the alignment/grouping of the menu items is looking strange/off.

Overall I think the rework is ok.

1 Like
#21

Don’t people reload tabs anymore? I do it all the time.

#22

Written out functionalities are very much better than icons!!

#23

Written out functionalities are very much better than icons!!

It depends, but in this case I agree, because there were several actions with non-obvious icons.

1 Like
#24

let’s agree to disagree. PDF with a down arrow as in 4.1 was enough for me to understand it would save the website as PDF.

1 Like
#25

I made a PR to bring back the close button here: https://github.com/sailfishos/sailfish-browser/pull/905

It seems like at first the close button not being interactive was a mistake. All the functionality to close the tab was still there, the toolbar was just set to disabled by the animator and the menu was covering it. It wasn’t a “close menu” button. For the next Sailfish release the button will then be removed, because it isn’t clickable. My PR reverts that and makes it interactive.

Now some bad news, seems like the pullymenu in the tabpage will now also get duplicated by a popupmenu with a “close all tabs” action… Which makes the browser move even further away from Sailfish design guidelines. D:

4 Likes
Browser tab cannot be closed from address bar
#26

That’s great news :slight_smile:
Let’s hope that can be brought on as a bugfix of 4.2, and that we get to keep it.

#27

Bugfix for 4.2 is unlikely, since the change would need to be much bigger and that seems to conflict with the Silica Background component on 4.2 (the shader doesn’t render).

#28

Overall I would say the new browser UI is an improvement over the previous one. The filtering of bookmarks while searching is really nice, as well as the improved history view and the new options in the settings. The browser engine finally being aware of the keyboard and making sure that elements anchored to the bottom of the viewport is also a great addition! The landscape layout in the tabs overview page is also neat.

The popup menu is way better than the enormous expanding toolbar in previous versions in my opinion. I believe the discoverability issue of the extra menu items could be simply fixed by showing 6.5 menu items by default instead of 7. It may not look perfect, but I’d say it’s an easy, practical solution.

I would suggest in the tab overview screen to remove the back and the new tab buttons. These are already redundant by the back swipe and pulley menu. I would also suggest to either move the private browsing buttons to the bottom or to put it back in the pulley menu, as they are impossible to use with one hand on the Xperia 10 II. Lastly I would consider to increase the size of the close buttons. I feel like they are a bit to small to reliably hit.

7 Likes
#30

I wonder why are the plus and back buttons exist anyways because they are redundant to the standard functionality (pulley menu for new and swipe page back)

4 Likes
#31

I’m assuming the Android converts need buttons and Jolla is bad at designing UX hints for the users to pick up the Sailfish way of UX.

1 Like
#32

I dusted off the old XA2 today just to check out the update … I could nit-pick about the specifics, but I have to say the browser ui is definitely a much needed improvement, so can’t complain … Now we just need a web engine update. I would like to have a tab-switch gesture. Maybe I’ll open a feature request …

2 Likes
#33

I second every single word in @ahappyhuman 's post. Hope Jolla will notice it.

I’d add that tab closing button should be made accessible also to left handed people (or add a gesture to swype away tabs).

As @attah said it is easy to get stuck in private mode - but also normal mode: if you switch when there are no tabs open and change your mind, again the tab dialog cannot be dismissed. The same happens if you open the browser and your starting home page is none: you HAVE to open some website in normal mode before being free to switch.

Also, it would a be nice touch if we got the option to save our bookmarks as ‘always open in private mode’. A relevant feature in a privacy concerned OS where users don’t like to keep some cookies.

Oh, and little OT: it would be nice if ‘clear private data’ in settings remembered my choices, so many times I cleared all my bookmarks by accident.

Anyway, big thanks Jolla for taking care of the Browser UI, that definetely needed some love.

7 Likes
#34

“The new tab view” opens the tabs in an order that you see the oldest tab first.
I would like to see the latest tab immediately instead!
(and then scrolling to the older ones in whatever direction)
(otherwise there’s this unnecessary scrolling every time)

12 Likes
#35

What do you mean by “oldest” and “latest”? When I open the new tab view it’s focused on the current open tab.

#36

An option to open a link in a private tab is still mising.

#37

for me, it’s the same as @lumen - it always opens at the top of the list, showing older tabs first, and you have to scroll to find your recent tabs - not good.

7 Likes
#38

That certainly is a bug and not intentional. Interesting that it only happens for some people. I suggest you file a bug and describe your hardware in more detail. Maybe there is something in common between the different people experiencing it.

#39

I find the tabs in the view way too big. I think 2 in a row would make more sense. So halve the width of the tabs in the tab view. The order within a row should then be from left to right.

2 Likes
#40

If you turn the phone into landscape there are three rows.