If you use Compact UI in the Firefox browser, prepare for some drastic changes in the upcoming updates. According to a post on Bugzilla – a website where Mozilla tracks bugs and Firefox changes – the organization plans to ditch Compact UI. The change should arrive with the upcoming Proton redesign, which is partially available in Firefox’s preview builds.
The Compact UI option allows you to reduce the UI size in favor of web content. Currently, Firefox and Vivaldi are the only browsers that offers customizable UI size. Other pipular browsers, such as Chrome or Edge, use fixed UI size that changes depending on the system DPI scale. You can change Firefox’s UI size in the toolbar customization settings.
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Mozilla says they had to make “difficult scope decisions” to retain simplicity and accessibility in their browser. According to the statistic from Mozilla, the Compact UI option is “hard to discover,” which reduces the adoption rate and creates low engagement (“only” 31.7% of all the users run Firefox with Compact UI.) Instead of moving the option to a more visible space, the developers decided to ditch it altogether.
The upcoming Proton redesign will focus on creating design defaults that suit most users. While most users will have nothing against this change, it may be inconvenient for those with smaller screens and lower resolutions. In fact, a post on Bugzilla already has a lot of comments from frustrated users.
If developers do not change their minds, future Firefox updates will automatically move Compact UI users to the “Normal” option. You can read more about this change in a post on Bugzilla website. It is also worth mentioning that this is not the only major design change in Firefox. The Proton redesign will significantly change the main menu and other UI elements. You can already enable the Proton main menu and additional bits of UI, such as context menus and a new tab page.
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Oh, so it’s “only” a third of users who don’t want to waste their space. It’s unbelieveable how out of touch and patronizing these people are.
Almost 1/3 of all Firefox users use Compact UI and it is considered a low adoption rate? Sounds more like a fairly good adoption rate and is obviously a rather important feature. Guess Mozilla joins the “why bother listing to the customers” team…
I think I may try Vivaldi sometime soon mostly because of the articles written here on Winaero about how tweakable it is.
Awesome, always fantastic when a company decides to remove/drastically overhaul something because an option was hard to find instead of making the option easier to find.
/sarcasm