Hi there,

I don't think I understand what you mean by sideways view option. Are you referring to the new tray menu (see Explore the Firefox for iOS menu) from the recent UI redesign in Firefox for iOS?

Hiya! sorry Im not sure what the official term is, but its how some apps can be rotated on mobile platforms, when you hold your phone sideways/landscape, the address bar only takes the top of the screen, even if bottom is chosen in settings.

Aha! Thanks for clarifying. I can easily reproduce this, so I filed a bug report here.

Thanks again for reporting this issue.

Hi there,

I was told that this is by design. Here's a verbatim comment from our team:

This decision was made as a UX change because it is difficult to use the address bar when set to the bottom with one hand, so it is considered more convenient to position it at the top.

Thank you for getting back to me, I really appreciate it!

That is a completely understandable consideration, thumbs do get a bit awkward tapping it at the bottom! I do find it jarring at the top as there is a small extra bar above the address bar, presumably for status info just like normal, but it appears to be an empty area when in rotated/sideways mode.

If this is also a UX design choice that can't be avoided, it's absolutely fine, but it does mean the bar hangs down further than both Chrome and Safari, making the relative aspect ratio of the remaining screen worse. If the bar hid itself a bit faster that'd also work nicely, but in my experience its a bit sluggish, especially as any site you wish to view in the sideways/rotated mode is usually one you're not going to be scrolling as far in.

Nothing but love to the UX team and yourselves for putting up with people asking and complaining about changes all day long! x