this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2025
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Firefox

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I tried, did not like. But it’s nice to have the option. Also, it’s an actual honest-to-god new feature worthy of a new version point vs a lot of stuff where I’m like, this is how you got to version eleventy two?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Tab groups is a must have feature along with workspaces.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

they did have workspaces built-in pre quantum with the panorama feature. that's an add-on now.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Could you please share the link to that add-on you mentioned? I have been using Simple Tab Groups

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 days ago (2 children)

if you wanna test it out and its not available:

about:config ~> browser.tabs.groups.enabled ~> true

personally i find sidebery superior.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

Sidebery is the best thing to happen to web browsers since tab groups

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Looking at this I'm going to be sticking with simple tab groups myself. Using that via the sidebar seems way more efficient than this IMO.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Glad to finally hear more about tab groups!

Wait a minute... what day is it? Hmmm... not sure if I should trust, lol.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Here I'm still using the separate search box. Why wouldn't I? Plenty of screen real estate horizontally. Nice to be able to do quick math there though I suppose.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Honestly, this is just the way it should be. Searching is fundamentally different than trying to access a website.

I love trying to search for something like "node.js" but can't because it thinks it's a website...

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

I've used the separate search box for so long that I forgot it's not the default

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I might go back to separate search box too. Had it before. The best thing to me is, that search term is still there and I can simply click to do a search with different engine without retyping it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Heh, that seems exactly what the new search term persistence feature enables with the unified address bar.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Hmm not reall or does it? I mean in the address bar, if I type a word and search something, then the search terms will be replaced by the address of the site.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That's what used to happen, but with this version, if you type a word and search something, and you'll still see the search terms in the address bar. (Although you can disable it if you don't like it.)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I just got the update 137. I think there is some misunderstanding here. Lets say I open a new empty tab. Then I type in the address bar "mario" and do a search with default engine. Now the search term will be replaced with the website or search engines site address. I can change the search engine, but only before doing a search.

On the other hand, if have a separate search bar and type the word "mario", it will stay there, even after committing and opening the new pages.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Weird, and this is with the separate search bar disabled? If I type mario, then press Enter, then DuckDuckGo opens with the search, and my address bar still says mario, and I can still change the search engine.

You might want to look for this option under "Search" in the settings:

Show search terms in the address bar on results pages

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't have that option. Maybe I misunderstand here something. I am on Linux, maybe it does not work here?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

I'm on Linux as well, so that's probably not it. But I just checked the release notes, and it does say:

This feature is part of a progressive roll out.

What is a progressive roll out? Certain new Firefox features are released gradually. This means some users will see the feature before everyone does. This approach helps to get early feedback to catch bugs and improve behavior quickly, meaning more Firefox users overall have a better experience.

So hopefully you'll get it soon!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

I forgot about that feature. Good times. I'll enable it on my computer today and see how it feels.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I like most of this, but if search term persistence makes it harder for me to tweak the URL (like on mobile), it's going to be really annoying. I'll suspend judgment until I've tried it, I guess.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

In settings, the first checkbox under "Search" is "Show search terms in the address bar on results pages", so it should be relatively easy to disable if you really don't like it. I'm going to try to see if I can get used to it first though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Great news, thanks! And likewise, I'll give it a chance. Ideally I'd be able to get to the URL from the omnibar with an extra click, to get the best of both worlds.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

I'm not sure how you'd do it through clicking, but I can press Esc to close the suggestions, and then Esc again to get the original URL. So instead of my usual Ctrl+L -> Ctrl+C, it's now Ctrl+L -> Esc -> Esc -> Ctrl+C.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Hmm, what do you dislike about the behaviour on mobile? Like, do you actually need to edit the URL of your search provider? Personally, haven't run into a situation where I needed that yet...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yup - most typically to change TLD (e.g. from example.com to my own country, when I'm after local results) or as a quick way of copying the URL without unnecessary extra arguments to share elsewhere.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Ah, right, because of google.com and google.co.uk and such. The search engines I use, don't have the money for so many domain names, so it's just a UI selection. 🫠
With the address bar rework, you could register both of them as a search engine and then simply select the other one to change language/region.

Copying the URL could be problematic, yeah. I don't have the update yet, so I wouldn't know, if it's something real simple like just right-clicking the address bar. If you really do need it, then it should still be possible to browse to the search engine's webpage directly and issue your query via the search box on the webpage.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

@[email protected] was dead right in their comment here - you can escape out of the search by tapping Esc twice, at which point you're back to the URL. Panic over!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You can close a group and reopen it later.

I thought tab groups on the desktop were neat but ignorable... Until browser vendors started implementing stuff like this. Now it's basically a halfway point between an open tab and a bookmark. Excellent for organization.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

I group tabs to bookmark en masse later.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

I tried and liked :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

This makes me think that Firefox for Android nightly has in the secret settings a Tab Strip option.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Hell yes finally