7.0.X UX/UI Feedback

[maxxcrawford]

We launched a new version of Multi-account Containers today. Please feel free to leave feedback on this issue. If you find a bug related to the new release, please file a separate issue. Thanks!

[redoPop]

My preferred way to open a new container is with control+. then use up/down arrows to select a container and press enter. The new UI adds some friction:

• Up/down arrows are no longer supported, so I had to switch to tab/shift+tab
• I have to press tab six times to cycle through the top menu before the first container is highlighted for selection
• Pressing enter on a container now opens a submenu in which I have to press tab twice again, then enter again, to open it

I'm sure it's a nice addition for some, but I'm unlikely to use the numeric shortcuts – I'm a TKL keyboard user so my touch-typing skills are iffy for the number keys 😅

[kuzi-moto]

My preferred way to open a new container is with control+. then use up/down arrows to select a container and press enter. The new UI adds some friction:

I second @redoPop. Just updated and immediately realized that up/down arrows don't work which would be a huge inconvenience as I'm using that many times a day.

On a positive note, I noticed the option to open a specific bookmark in a container, which is a huge plus.

[maxxcrawford]

@redoPop Good call out. I filed a bug for the arrow keys regression. Thanks!

[charles-m-knox]

Thank you guys for updating the multi-account containers extension, it's been a long time!

I have some direct feedback about the newest change: The "Always open in X container" option was very important. Being able to quickly see which container a page was associated with was very helpful. Now I have no idea what sites are associated with a container, from what I can tell. I consider this a significant regression.

One huge improvement that needs to be made to the multi-account containers UI: I use a container for each domain, sometimes multiple for the same domain. My list of containers is quite large. It would be extremely helpful to add a filter/search box to the multi-account containers dropdown box. It is quite difficult to scroll through a long list of containers, hoping I find the right one.

In fact, as a general rule, I should never be required to scroll through a list of containers if it's longer than, say, 10 containers. I should be able to do a quick filter on the containers that I want. Any time I'm presented with a list of all the containers, I should have option to filter quickly by typing something in.

Additionally, since the list of containers are sorted chronological by creation date, the long list of containers is even more painful to sift through. So if a quick filter text box is not something that can easily be implemented, at least add the ability to quickly sort the list of containers alphabetically with a click of a button. This should be super easy to accomplish.

[umquat]

I have a suggestion in #1783. When you click on a container name, a new tab should open in that container (as it used to be before 7.0)

As @charles-m-knox mentions, scrolling trough a long list can be burdensome; maybe filter on keystroke?

Container list could also be sortable with some kind of handle or maybe by usage (more frequently used at the top perhaps?)

Lastly, thanks a bunch for this extension!

[hr-curtissimo]

I cannot thank all of you enough for this container. It is the only way I browse the Web.

What @charles-m-knox writes:

One huge improvement that needs to be made to the multi-account containers UI: I use a container for each domain, sometimes multiple for the same domain. My list of containers is quite large. It would be extremely helpful to add a filter/search box to the multi-account containers dropdown box. It is quite difficult to scroll through a long list of containers, hoping I find the right one.

That is so me, too. I have a lot of containers. It'd be nice if I could just do Control+N, start typing the container I want, the list filters or smart-match selects or whatever, I hit Enter to open a tab in that container.

[extr3metech]

Pros: The new layout looks sleek.

Other Feedback: The keyboard navigation is not working with the new update. This is a huge productivity miss.

• Before the release I could do the following: press CTRL + ., navigate using the arrow keys to the profile and then hit ENTER and I have a webpage open in that container.

-With the current design, there is an too many keypresses to use to open a webpage in a container. Here what the new update did: CTRL + . => Opens the main menu. Then ALT/TAB (or arrow keys when it gets fixed #1785 ) to scroll to the selected container. Then hit Enter, to go inside the container's menu. Then scroll down again to select the option "Open new Tab in this container".

Entering a nested menu to open in a specific container in my opinion every time is a huge productivity miss for a keyboard user.

It would be nice to have an option to switch back the behavior to the default via a config option while keeping the new UI look. If a user needs to go to the nested menu, then a additional shortcut such as SHIFT and something else, will take inside the nested menu would be an added bonus.

Perfect Alternative suggested by @https://github.com/hr-curtissimo. Ref: https://github.com/mozilla/multi-account-containers/issues/1784#issuecomment-656938918

[extr3metech]

-It would be nice to document somwhere visible within the plugin settings itself regarding the numberpad shortcuts. Filed #1787

[morachimo]

Congrats on the release! I'm a huge fan on the extension and I've been a great advocate of it for years.

I fully agree with @umquat (see #1783). I don't know how anyone else was using the extension but the new UI has added an extra step to my daily workflow. Expected behavior should be: 1. Clic on Menu Bar Button, 2. Choose container, 3. New window opens in that container.

Sure, those extra 4 settings seem useful But why not putting those top four (4) settings on an overflow menu or only available once you're already into that container? I can expand on the idea (even graphically) if interested.

[karrakoliko]

Font spacing is broken #1786

[smerrill]

Chiming in to ask to please restore arrow key functionality. My workflow is to hit Control-. and then use the up and down arrows to select the container in question.

Thanks for the great extension and browser!

[smerrill]

In the meantime is it possible to install an older release?

[Eduardo06sp]

Absolutely digging the beautifully designed, new options! I would just love to know what Keyboard Shortcuts 1-10 mean (I figured out 1-9 is just the number row).

I'll try and dig into the revised code to see what that last one is lol

[Eduardo06sp]

Found the actual shortcuts in one of the commits: Ctrl + Shift + [1-9, or 0 on number row]

To open your first 10 containers, which is configurable in the settings!!!

Edit: I had no clue extension shortcuts were a setting in the browser You can edit them too! Add-ons manager > Gear Icon > Manage Extension Shortcuts

[extr3metech]

That is so me, too. I have a lot of containers. It'd be nice if I could just do Control+N, start typing the container I want, the list filters or smart-match selects or whatever, I hit Enter to open a tab in that container.

• I would love this as well. It would be perfect. (Similar to how to select folders/files within the ranger terminal file browser.)

[nikolaykhodov]

@smerrill

In the meantime is it possible to install an older release?

You may want to find older versions at https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/versions/ I have just downgraded to 6.2.5 with no pleasant experience: I had to uninstall the extension, install 6.2.5 and then disable automatic updates for it. Here is the outcome:

• it reset to the default configuration
• it was needed to restore custom containers (created by me/renamed default ones)
• the downgrade's also wiped some cookies: a few sessions are still active, but majority vanished.

[cptX]

The thing I realized immediately is that before the update I was clicking once on the prefered name of the container and a new tab on that container was openning right away. Now clicking on a name opens a second menu where I need to click again "Open new tab in this container" which is terribly unpractical. I don't understand why you changed that. It was so practical!! Please change it back!

[aafrasht]

I completely agree with @cptX. @maxxcrawford You need to fix this! I used to be able to open the container I want with one click, now it takes two. It is insanely inconvenient. And I don't really want to use keyword short-cuts as an alternatives. Revert to one click please!

[cabello]

Let us all be mindful that this is free open source software provided by lovely volunteers and tune the tone.

I also noticed today that up/down arrows were not working anymore, excited to see this has already been filed as an issue and people are working on.

Thank you for this amazing extension, I use it on a daily basis and I feel I have more privacy with all the extra containers I use. 🙇

[angela-d]

Also parroting @cptX comment. The extension constantly reminds me it's there by wasting my time with numerous clicks everytime I want to open a new tab.

Downgraded to the previous release and turned upgrades off on that extension. Bad design, imo.

Why was the UX change necessary? It was a very seamless experience, prior.

[noph34r]

i prefer the "old' one when i can just click and open new empty tab but now i have to click twice just to open one....

i have 10 container and those are waste of time, might as well using the old kind or have "open all container" in single click shortcut is "fine" but, single button for "open all container" is better

[tomaspapi]

The update looks much cleaner, congrats. Two pieces of feedback:

• "Always open this site in this container", "Create a new container" and "Open X container" used to take a single click (after opening the add-on icon) by checking the box on the top, hitting the + icon on the bottom right and clicking on the name of a container, respectively. All of these require now an additional click. I'd love all the features and functionalities that made that possible back. Like, it takes the same amount of clicks to edit the name of a container, or change the colour, than it takes to open one — which is a foundational, very basic and everyday use of the extension.

• For people who have many containers (i.e. one per domain), this update is extremely inconvenient. Everything requires going through your entire container list — not only opening one (as it used to be already) but also now assigning this domain to the current container, since the checking box is gone. And they are not even ordered properly so finding the correct container is terrible. The ability to order alphabetically would be awesome and having a search box would be a plus too.

I'll use this opportunity to include some general features I'd love to see in the extension as well:

• Ability to include all subdomains of a domain in a container (i.e. *.domain.com)
• Ability to add domains without having to actually go to that site (like writing it in the "Manage Container" setting)
• Ability to export configuration and settings

This is one of my favourite extensions, thanks for all the work you do.

[eefi]

I noticed on macOS that the default mapping of the numbered shortcuts to Cmd+Shift+3, Cmd+Shift+4, etc. conflicts with the macOS shortcuts for taking screenshots. I've filed #1791 to track this.

[eefi]

An idea for those who want the old simple container opening flow from up/down arrows… Can either Multi-Account Containers or Firefox itself provide a keyboard shortcut to access the long-press-on-new-tab-button containers menu? I'm referring to the menu that was made more accessible in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1606265.

If there's a keyboard shortcut to open that menu with the first container highlighted, then it can provide a place where up and down cycle through the list of containers, and Enter immediately opens a new tab with that container. (I explicitly suggest starting with the first container highlighted rather than the likely default implementation of having the "No Container" first element highlighted to start because anyone using a keyboard shortcut to access this menu would likely just use Ctrl+T/Cmd+T to open a new tab with no container.)

Then the new more complex UI in the Multi-Account Containers panel can remain for the more complex management tasks it seems designed for.

[eefi]

I have some direct feedback about the newest change: The "Always open in X container" option was very important. Being able to quickly see which container a page was associated with was very helpful. Now I have no idea what sites are associated with a container, from what I can tell. I consider this a significant regression.

@charles-m-knox I found where this is located… From the Multi-Account Containers panel, click on the Manage Containers bar on the bottom, then click your container, and finally there's a Manage SIte List… link toward the bottom of the panel.

[klaritan]

Not liking this new UI only because I have to click twice to open a new tab on a container. I know I can still click once but that requires secondary click on a smaller button.

[CaviaPorcellus]

I like the new UI, but the icon's color should probably be a lighter gray to match Firefox's default icons. I'm using the default Firefox theme in Ubuntu.

[maxxcrawford]

@charles-m-knox Great idea. I filed an issue for that feature, as you described. #1796

[maxxcrawford]

@aibaraiduas Issue filed! Thanks!

[charles-m-knox]

@charles-m-knox Great idea. I filed an issue for that feature, as you described. #1796

Thank you @maxxcrawford , you're doing a great job, thank you for putting the work in on this extension. It's really a game changer.

[maxxcrawford]

Thank you everyone who commented on this thread for the feedback! We're going to continue to watch this thread (and the other incoming issues) as we get our new patch/release ready. 🦊

[ca1f]

I like the new UI/UX so far, it would be helpful though if the small box opened via the Ctrl + . shortcut would also show the number associated with the given container so that I don't need to recall it from memory.

[mestuddtc]

I find the new UI horrible. I have my tabs set up, so the only action I ever take is to open a new tab. This has gone from click, move to large target directly beneath, click, to click, move over junk to much smaller, further away target which is harder to hit, click, reorient myself to find the open action, move back up to another small target, click. It takes three? times as long, which is quite aggravating for something I do possibly hundreds of times a day.

[ZingBlue]

The "Reopen This Site In" button, only shows up on the main page but not on any container's pages. I'll make a PR to fix this if that's good.

[glandium]

I'm not a fan of the increased number of clicks when opening a new tab. The reduction in font size makes the menu have empty white space at the bottom when there aren't many containers (which is true with the default set of containers). But more importantly, I don't agree that the menu should have a different font size than other menus in Firefox. The "manage containers" menu item doesn't react like others. The cursor changes when hovering it but it's not highlighted in any way, which is inconsistent. Something that was true before 7.0: "Reopen This Site in..." doesn't sound to me like it's going to open a new tab and leave the current one open. Especially when combined with the fact that it has the same icon as the "reload" button. I wish it were able to reopen in place, but AFAIK, Firefox doesn't support switching containers on an existing tab (and restoring the previous container when hitting back ; I wish it were able to, that would make this so much more slick IMHO).

[michft-v]

The submenu option doesn't work for me and is an additional step (degradation of UI experience). I use Multi container to primarily have multiple tabs (and thus cookies) from the same site open at the same time in different containers (AWS SAML). The submenu step to always open in a particulat container doesn't work with this workflow. I would like to have the link either sub-menu open to have a default action form the main menu. The arrow opening a new menu breaks the UI for me.

[JaggB]

Personally I also find the new UI horrible, as someone that constantly using about 6 different containers for multiple admin accounts via saved via cookies, it now takes forever opening new containers (ie way too many clicks). For myself, I like the simplicity of the old UI, all I want to do open a new container/tab without doing anything fancy. I'm also finding the font size slightly smaller.

[groovecoder]

Thanks everyone for feedback and understanding as we make bug-fixes to our first major UI release in about 2 years. :)

I've merged #1798 to fix keyboard arrow navigation in the panels. (Thanks @kendallcorner !!)

@maxxcrawford and I are also going to work on reverting the first panel main click behavior back to "Open a new tab in this container" by default, and make clicking the right chevron the click that will open the "manage this container" panel.

[ZingBlue]

What is the stance on creating issues/PRs here? Can I open a PR describing changes to the UX which were made and if the changes are good, will the PR be accepted? (I'm kinda new to committing to open source projects, I thought this would be a good start).

[hackel]

Note that another way to open a new tab in a specific container that's built-in to Firefox is to just use the File -> New Container Tab menu. Press Alt + f, b, then you can use your arrow keys to move up/down, or press the first letter of the container you want. No need to reinvent the wheel when it's already built-in!

[jtagcat]

You can no longer undo always-open-in. This fundamentally counteracts the add-on's core functionality (multi-accounts), as if you try to open an account in a container other than the one, what it has been marked to always open in, it forces you to use the container. Using temporary containers automatic mode (if no container, then get a container) it makes it impossible to use a site with multiple accounts without resetting add-on data, as far as I know of.

Always open in should be replaced / complicated with something like 'if no container, then open in this container'. Keeping temporary containers in mind, 'if no container, or temporary container, open in this container' (it can be achieved the STG way: user has to give STG the temporary container prefix, but imo temporary containers should be part of multi-account-containers anyway).

[audreytoskin]

Note that another way to open a new tab in a specific container that's built-in to Firefox is to just use the File -> New Container Tab menu. Press Alt + f, b, then you can use your arrow keys to move up/down, or press the first letter of the container you want.

Yeah, this is much closer to my ideal workflow for Multi-Account Containers. If you could do this from the extension panel (Ctrl+. → [first letter of container name] → Enter, to open a new tab), then it would be even faster. Not as fast as Ctrl+Shift+1, but much easier to remember than arbitrarily assigned numbers. (Numbered shortcuts are also not a perfect solution if you have more than 10 containers.)

I think it's okay for less frequently used actions, like assigning a site to a domain, or hiding all tabs in a given container, to be put away in submenus requiring an extra click or extra keyboard input... because they're not used as often. But I'm opening and closing tabs all day long, and reorganizing the UI the way version 7.0 does makes that most important action less convenient.

[audreytoskin]

I will acknowledge one improvement about the redesign: With the old UI, managing the container itself required opening the submenu by clicking the little arrow next to the container name, and that button was a pretty small target for mouse users. With the new design, all the buttons are the same size, and I can appreciate that.

...It's just that the current solution means that every action is hidden away in a submenu, which seems silly to me 😝

[AdKiller]

Using built in Windows High Contrast theme, the text on multi account container's menu is not visible.

[groovecoder]

7.0.1 was just published on AMO, with fixes for keyboard arrow navigation, and reverting the main panel item click to open a new tab. Continuing to look thru the comments on this issue and the other issues to prioritize more clean-ups.

Based on the overall feedback, the most likely next improvement is keyboard shortcuts (and/or a fuzzy-finder type search instead?)

[charles-m-knox]

7.0.1 was just published on AMO, with fixes for keyboard arrow navigation, and reverting the main panel item click to open a new tab. Continuing to look thru the comments on this issue and the other issues to prioritize more clean-ups.

Based on the overall feedback, the most likely next improvement is keyboard shortcuts (and/or a fuzzy-finder type search instead?)

@groovecoder Yes, definitely implementing a fuzzy-finder search box would be the biggest improvement. Thank you for your work on this project!

[umquat]

7.0.1 is great, thanks a bunch!

minions_clapping.gif :)

[hackel]

As @terrycloth mentioned, the chevron is a very small click target to access the container submenu. It would be nice not only if this icon was a little bit larger, but provided some kind of visual feedback on hover.

I still feel this behaviour is very counter-intuitive and doesn't follow the rest of Firefox's UI design language, e.g. the bookmarks menu and others that have a right chevron. In every other case it indicates to the user that the entire menu item is clickable to access the submenu. I would never have guessed that the chevron had a different function if I hadn't read it here.

One possible solution would be to have a hard separation between the menu item and the chevron "button", similar to to a Bootstrap input group, where only the respective area is highlighted on hover.

Just want to add that in general I'm very happy with the 7.0 changes, great job!

[brisad]

I just noticed that the keyboard shortcuts for the Firefox Profiler stopped working. I wasn't able to find the place to remap the keys in the UI by myself, until I found this feedback thread and in particular https://github.com/mozilla/multi-account-containers/issues/1784#issuecomment-657001633. I filed https://github.com/mozilla/multi-account-containers/issues/1814 for the conflict.

Thanks for this great addon!

[smerrill]

Thanks very much for the 7.0.1 update, and for this tool. The restoration of the arrow key navigation is great and the new Ctrl-Shift-${NUM} shortcuts let me select my most used two tabs (Home and Work) with even fewer keystrokes.