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New home button

  • 8 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 37 views
  • Last reply by Kiki

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I realize that this may seem trivial, but, while I don’t mind the idea of a home button being accessible on the toolbar, surely it could have been placed in a less inconvenient place. Every time I go to refresh the page I end up on my home page instead. On my desktop, I purposely have the page forward, page back and page refresh separated from my home button. And my home button and bookmark button separated from everything else so as to not inadvertently click on those buttons when I meant to click something else or vice versa. So, while having a home button on the toolbar may seem like a nifty, handy idea, not so if it costs moving the page refresh button from it’s more common placement to an obscure part of the header bar where you are more likely to end up on that pinned tab page or in reader view when trying to refresh. Please put the page refresh back where it was.

I realize that this may seem trivial, but, while I don’t mind the idea of a home button being accessible on the toolbar, surely it could have been placed in a less inconvenient place. Every time I go to refresh the page I end up on my home page instead. On my desktop, I purposely have the page forward, page back and page refresh separated from my home button. And my home button and bookmark button separated from everything else so as to not inadvertently click on those buttons when I meant to click something else or vice versa. So, while having a home button on the toolbar may seem like a nifty, handy idea, not so if it costs moving the page refresh button from it’s more common placement to an obscure part of the header bar where you are more likely to end up on that pinned tab page or in reader view when trying to refresh. Please put the page refresh back where it was.

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Glad that you found the update now. I should've been clearer that we don't have any plan to put the refresh button back to its initial position. But we did introduced pull to refresh functionality on 38.0 to remedy the change. Honestly, I'm on the same boat as I rarely use the home button, but the pull to refresh functionality actually make it easier to refresh a page now than it used to be. I suggest trying it and see if it works well with your work flow.

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All Replies (8)

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Hi Ipsears63,

Sorry about the change. The team is taking the feedback seriously and add the pull to refresh functionality in version 38.0. Try to update your app and let me know if you have other feedback.

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Thank you Kiki for your reply, and look forward to updating to version 38.0, whenever it gets through Apple’s scrutiny. I am in hopes that it will also fix the crash issue, that is very frustrating. Whenever there is more than one tab open FF crashes every time you touch the tab button. Sometimes don’t even need to do that, it will crash on it’s own. According to the bug report on GitHub, there has been a patch and the report is closed, but haven’t seen it on this side either. Any ETA on 38.0 being released? Again, thank you for your time.

BTW, thank you for putting the Protections Settings toggle back to the shield drop down so that individual pages can be temporarily turned off without affecting other tabs, and can be done without going into settings. That was similar to moving the refresh button, maybe good in theory but not so much in the real world application. So, thank everyone involved in reverting that change(:

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We started releasing 38.0 couple days ago. However, release on mobile usually done gradually, so please keep an eye on it.

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Hi Kiki, found the update, had to go to the App Store download page, it wasn’t where they usually post the updates. Didn’t think to go there again, as I was just there yesterday doing an uninstall-reinstall to see if that helped (no). Well…. They seemed to do a very good job at fixing the crash issue (most important), but putting the refresh button back with the page forward/page back buttons must have been put on the back burner as the home button is still in it’s place. Which, BTW, the place where they moved the refresh button to would be a better place for the home button (by the reader view button). Neither would be used as much as the refresh button and should make for a relatively simple fix. Have to admit that I am a little biased, rarely do I ever use the home button. Instead, when the home page is needed I open a new tab and close any tab I am no longer using. And do the same when ending a browser session. Always close any open tab and open a fresh private page, then go to settings and clear any leftover data. The refresh button, on the other hand, is used quite often when my ad blocker or VPN (also with built in anti-malware and ad blocker) breaks a page. But, they may just have wanted to get the crashing fix out there and worry about the button placement afterwards and I would have to agree with those priorities. FF often comes out with a second update a few days after another. Once again, I thank you for your time, but will have to wait a little longer before I can tap the “solved” button.

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Glad that you found the update now. I should've been clearer that we don't have any plan to put the refresh button back to its initial position. But we did introduced pull to refresh functionality on 38.0 to remedy the change. Honestly, I'm on the same boat as I rarely use the home button, but the pull to refresh functionality actually make it easier to refresh a page now than it used to be. I suggest trying it and see if it works well with your work flow.

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Hi Kiki, wanted to have a day to see how the update works. Now keep in mind that I am self taught in both computer hardware and software, and kinda an old guy. Also very new to touch screens and the mobile platform. I found, in some circumstances, as you said, easy functionality. Although I also came across many pages that the pull to refresh did not work at all. Mostly streaming sites, if refreshing was needed for pixelization, etc. But it is much less annoying than the swipe page back, which constantly goes back a page whenever I am trying to side scroll. And feel that, as handy as the touch format is, there are already so many functions that work with the same or similar gestures that it’s ease is also it’s failing point. Therefor, at this point (and I may just need more time to accustom myself to the new feature), my preference is still to have the refresh button put back where it was. If they really want to keep the (less used) home button on the toolbar, it could easily swap positions with the new placement of the (more often used) refresh button, on the URL bar. Actually, what I would have found more useful would have been a bookmark button instead. And/or, with more difficulty I’m sure, make the upper and lower toolbars and drop downs customizable as the desktop version is. That way anyone can have what they want, where they want it (with some limitations, of course), as well as being able to choose, in settings, which functions they wish to use and be able to toggle off those they don’t (ie., swipe page forward/back, opening an additional home page every time you open the browser or having recent bookmarks blatantly there for the world to see first thing upon opening your bookmarks (I mean, come on, at least put them into a folder that can be shown or not, as many of them may be private!). Apologies, I can get wordy. For the record, my privacy concerns are not part of any trend, more, in part why I taught myself not only to build my own computer, but revised most all of the software that the OS I designed runs on. Would not have an Apple phone if it hadn’t been a gift to be able to communicate with my brother that I care for. He has been legally blind since age three (one of four of his optic nerves is functional), and lost all his hearing a few years ago. Once it is out of warranty, this puppy will be jail broken and set up to duel boot my Linux system and Apple will be locked up in the basement, where it belongs. Point being, people need more choices, not less. And fewer people trying to control everyone else, believing they know what is best for the others. You know, I can no longer log into my Firefox account with my password manager, cannot even paste my username into the text box. That is just one example of the industry’s trend towards greater security, when it is really using it as an excuse to dig their claws in a little deeper so as to not loose their control. If greater security was the real intent, then they would allow for users to use their own security measures as opposed to being forced to disable that personal security in order to get through the corporate “security” so they can still tag, follow and spy.

Sorry Kiki, doesn’t take much for me to get off topic, although it is not really off topic at all. Just that, when adding new functionality, keep in mind that all users won’t be as quick to adapt. And many would at least appreciate the chance to choose what works best for them. If you made it this far, I applaud you, and thank you very much for the time (more than you intended, I bet!) you have spent. And as it looks like this is as good as it will be for now, i will mark this solved. Thank you
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Sorry Kiki, doesn’t take much for me to get off topic, although it is not really off topic at all. Just that, when adding new functionality, keep in mind that all users won’t be as quick to adapt. And many would at least appreciate the chance to choose what works best for them. If you made it this far, I applaud you, and thank you very much for the time (more than you intended, I bet!) you have spent. And as it looks like this is as good as it will be for now, i will mark this solved. Thank you

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lpsears63 said

Just that, when adding new functionality, keep in mind that all users won’t be as quick to adapt. And many would at least appreciate the chance to choose what works best for them.

Absolutely. Thanks for your feedback!