[BUG] Swipe gesture changed

[bitwisebro]

I don't know if it's a bug or not.

But, previously, I had to swipe from left to right on the URL bar in order to switch lower tabs and right to left for switching to upper tabs.

But in new update it's reversed!! I think that previous gesture was good.

Fenix : Nightly 200731 06:06 (Build #22130613) AC: 53.0.20200729190533, bb7dbe3ec GV: 80.0a1-20200727095125 AS: 61.0.10

┆Issue is synchronized with this Jira Task

[cadeyrn]

It was changed in #12861.

[Glitchy-Tozier]

Sounds like a great thing to let the user decide which way to swipe in the settings. To me, the current swiping direction feels a little off, others might prefer it the current way.

[person808]

cc @topotropic Is an option something we might consider?

[opusforlife2]

I don't know about tab ordering in the tab tray, but swiping left to right for newer tabs for an LTR language just seems very odd. For an RTL language, people might have the opposite preference. Although, if desktop Firefox opens new tabs only on the right regardless of language direction, shouldn't Fenix follow the same behaviour for familiarity's sake?

[cadeyrn]

Although, if desktop Firefox opens new tabs only on the right regardless of language direction, shouldn't Fenix follow the same behaviour for familiarity's sake?

You can read #12861 for context why it was changed. The old order caused also confusion, just for other people. I think it's more important to keep consistency within the product, more than consistency with products on other platforms. If the consensus is that the order for the gesture should be changed again then it seems to me that we should talk about the order of tabs in the tabs tray. But to have a reversed order compared to the tabs tray seems like a bad idea to me - and was in fact the reason why the gesture was changed.

[opusforlife2]

From #12861:

the newest tab in tab tray would be at botton the most left tab in "swiping gesture" would be the oldest The oldest tab in tab tray would be at top the most right tab in "swiping gesture" would be the newest.

I agree with this set of behaviours. This seems the most intuitive. Chrome has it right. Regardless of top or bottom bar, new tabs should open downwards in the tab tray, and towards the right in terms of swipe direction.

[tom-james-watson]

Yeah this change really threw me off.

I'm curious as to whether Mozilla actually did any user testing on this change? Just because some users claimed about the old direction didn't meant it made sense to change it. I think, as you say, you'll now just have a new set of disgruntled users.

I did some non-scientific user testing on this when I was with a group of friends. I showed them how tabs are ordered from top to bottom in the tray (I think this goes against established UX conventions too but I don't think it's as big of a deal) and opened a new tab, showing them that it is added to the top of the list. I then asked them to swipe the bottom bar to get back to the last tab. Every single person tries to swipe from left to right.

The change seems to have been made based on https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/12861#issuecomment-663509790, but to me this makes no sense. Firstly, tabs in pretty much every single application ever made have new tabs on the right. Secondly, if we are equating to text, then surely new tabs should still be added on the right - text on the right is newer than text on the left.

I think this should be revisited, preferably with some real-world user testing on expected behaviour.

[bitwisebro]

Just imagine a note book, where we write new lines always below than that of the old, similarly the new tabs should always open below the old ones.

Again, for older pages we flip the page from LEFT to RIGHT. Similarly, we should Swipe LEFT to RIGHT for old Tabs. I'm not sure about the example of notebook is right. But it makes sense and easier to understand. Because most of the people are used to this way!!

[tom-james-watson]

does a change only make sense if the result of the test happens to match your opinion? There is not "one truth", people can prefer the one way or the other

User testing gives you data with which you can make an informed decision. It would tell you what percentage of people would expect which direction, for example. If it turns out 90% expect one of the ways then it would probably make sense to have it work in that way.

[AmyYLee]

@topotropic for feedback

[madb1lly]

Hi all,

I don't use this feature much but using it today was weird! I read through #12861 and the feedback given seems to be inconsistent with how the tab list works, plus some other things didn't make sense as pointed out in discussion here. I've put more comments on that (now closed) issue so won't repeat them here, but in summary - the current way it works doesn't make sense to me or feel right.

Cheers 🙂

[yoasif]

Was going to file this as a new bug - glad I searched for it first!

Some considerations (some have already been commented about):

• Chrome does it the opposite way that we have currently - most users who know this gesture will have used it in that product and will be confused about the opposite behavior
• I see this as akin to turning a page, and indeed I use this exact gesture on ebook apps - try Fbreader, for example. At least in LTR languages, I expect the right to left swipe action to show me the newer page

Given that other apps do the opposite of what we are doing here, is there a good reason to break user expectation here? This will break muscle memory badly and result in Firefox seemingly having mystery meat navigation.

I think this should be looked at again before 81 goes to release @liuche @vesta0.

[Siva981]

Day to day Firefox For Android user here. I am not a developer/coder. I too feel that the current setup of tab ordering and tab switching is totally off. As if it focuses only on left handed people (tab switching) and reversely wired brains (new tab being added above current tab).

Please, 1) Change both of these things to the opposite of what they are doing now

Or

2) At the least provide users the option to choose these in Settings. I mean, like how you have allowed Firefox For Android old timers like me to choose between:

a) Address Bar at Bottom

Or

b) Address Bar at Top

I have chosen it to be at the Top, and I am thankful for that option :)

[binocry]

Yeah this behavior so annoying please change like other browser ASAP!!!

[jenabaivab]

Please switch the tab swipe gesture so that the newest tab is on the right most direction. This is very unintuitive coming from different browsers or even using different browsers in between.

[klorinczi]

Please change the tab swipe gesture, so that the newest tab should be created on the right.

Also when swiping from right to the left, should switch to the newer tab. Swiping from right to the left, should bring the older tab.

[opusforlife2]

Opening new tabs to the left makes even less sense, now that you can activate Grid view for the tab tray. New tabs open to the right and downwards like any LTR layout in Grid view.

Now, swiping to the left switches to a newer tab, which is on the right in the tab tray. O_o

[marco-sanjuan]

For me, this is one of those features that makes the mobile browsing experience almost as rewarding as on a tablet or desktop.

But in all these systems, new tabs are on the right ...

Please change this so we can start using this great feature.

[madb1lly]

Hi all,

@opusforlife2 I agree that with grid view the current swipe to change tab direction is even more confusing.

The only cases I've found where newer is on the left is my email programme (FairEmail, but that's customisable I think) and RSS reader (NewsBlur).

Cheers 🙂

[opusforlife2]

@madb1lly Even there, it makes sense for something like an email app or an RSS reader because you're browsing a list of already existing items from left to right (new to old). Here, we often open new tabs from current ones, and that is an entirely different concept.

[rituraj22]

I agree with everyone here. This is the single biggest problem for me in using fenix. New tabs should open below/right similar to desktop firefox and other browsers(All chromium browsers)

[topotropic]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Based on this discussion and the decision made in this ticket https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/issues/11376#issuecomment-709505058 we should reverse the order:

• for left to right languages: oldest tab is on the left, newest on the right
• for right to left languages it is reversed: oldest tab is on the right, newest on the left

[madb1lly]

Hi @topotropic and the team at Mozilla, Thank you for reading and considering our feedback :raised_hands: Cheers :smiley:

[AndiAJ]

Hi, verified as fixed on the latest Nightly Build 201105 using the following devices: • Google Pixel 3a (Android 11) • Huawei Mate 20 Lite (Android 10) • OnePlus A3 (Android 6.0.1)

✔️ Video left to right languages: oldest tab is on the left, newest on the right

✔️ Video right to left languages: oldest tab is on the right, newest on the left

[dausruddin]

New tabs are placed at the top. Is that how it should work? Wouldn't placing them a the bottom like how they used to be would be better?

[Siva981]

New tabs are placed at the top. Is that how it should work? Wouldn't placing them a the bottom like how they used to be would be better?

I agree. New tabs at the bottom makes sense the most. Current setting is as if one starts writing or typing from the bottom of a page.

Please change this back too. Or at least, please provide an option for us under "Tab Settings", to change that on a per user basis.