Version 1.0.1-a.8 causing problems with inbox.com

cmwmlw commented 1 week ago

Captchas

[X] I have read the instructions.
[X] I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates.
[X] I am not filing an enhancement request.

What happened?

With the inbox.com email platform the screen layout is vertically oriented; the left column is for folders, the center column contains the messages within the current folder, the right column is a preview of the highlighted message from the center column. With Zen versions 1.0.1-a.3, 1.0.1-a.5 and 1.0.1-a.7 there was no problem, everything worked and looked correct. After updating to 1.0.1-a.8 the left column for the folders is now gone. I have cleared the cache, deleted all the inbox.com cookies, closed and restarted the browser. The problem still exists. I even tried rebooting, but it made no difference. On FireFox 131.0.2, the most current version, inbox.com works correctly.

Reproducible?

[X] I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.

Version

1.0.1-a.8

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

Windows

Relevant log output

No response

linear[bot] commented 1 week ago

ZEN-1971 Version 1.0.1-a.8 causing problems with inbox.com

mauro-balades commented 1 week ago

Does this happen in a new, fresh profile?

cmwmlw commented 1 week ago

Not sure how this could be a a profile issue. The sequence was I loaded a7 and got the update available popup, I dismissed it because I had something to do. I spent maybe the next 2 hours using the browser, including sending and reading several emails using inbox.com. I then went to Help/About to download and install a8, restarted Zen and that's when the problem started. Basically is was working properly as a7, upgrade to a8, issue began.

mauro-balades commented 1 week ago

Yeah, but could you try if it works in a new profile? Because maybe some settings got changed that leaded to this issue

cmwmlw commented 4 days ago

A new profile doesn't have the same issue. Not even sure how something simple like a version upgrade could corrupt a profile, but it seems like it has. That's not very encouraging.

mauro-balades commented 4 days ago

Try disabling tracking protection

cmwmlw commented 3 days ago

I've used strict ETP in FireFox for years - same setting I have with Zen - and in all that time inbox.com has never lost the folders column. I actually don't think there's anything for ETP to do; it has never blocked a single tracker on that site, based upon my experience it seems they don't use any. The saga does continue though, only it veers off in a direction I didn't see coming...

When I loaded Zen last night there was an update to a10 available so I downloaded and installed that. Once the browser restarted I checked inbox.com, the folders column was still missing (this was using my original profile). I wanted to try one more time to get it back so I cleared the cache, site data and cookies. Closed the browser and when I went back in there was no difference. Frustrated, I decided to instead focus on fixing another issue I have with Zen; it seems to ignore the extension Auto Tab Discard.

I've been using this extension for years in FireFox and its derivatives, among them LibreWolf, Water Fox, Ghostery, Mercury, Floorp, Midori and others I've probably forgot. The configuration is quite elaborate - there are a number of options - so what I do is export the config json from FireFox and then import that into the other browser. It's the exact same thing I did with Zen, only this browser ignores the exceptions list. I have 4 tabs that auto-load on startup, none of which I want to hibernate. Those are listed as exceptions, any other tab I load is not and will hibernate after 30 minutes (configurable setting). With Zen ATD hibernates every tab, even the ones that are excluded. And it does so in less than the 30 minutes, it seems to be ignoring the extension entirely. Here is the sequence I used that night...

1) Upgrade to a10 2) Delete cookies, cache, site settings 3) Restart browser, problem with inbox.com still exists 4) Load FireFox, export Auto Tab Discard json, close FireFox 5) Import ATD config into Zen

While I was waiting to find out if importing the known good configuration was going to fix the hibernation issue I decided to delete the second profile I had created while troubleshooting the inbox.com problem. Sadly using the ATD config from FireFox didn't change anything, the excluded tabs were still hibernating. Frustrated by all the problems I'm having with Zen I closed the browser.

The next day I came to the conclusion it wasn't worth investing any more time with this browser so I was going to delete it, before doing so I wanted to be sure I hadn't bookmarked anything I wanted to keep so I loaded Zen one final time. Much to my surprise, I found the the folders panel was back! Just as mysteriously as it stopped working, it just as mysteriously started again. I guess it could break again at any moment, but for now it's functioning correctly.

The reason I listed the steps above was to give an indication of what I did that I hadn't done before, although I doubt it matters as I don't see how any of that could have solved the problem. Zen has its own profile folder, I don't think loading FireFox overwrote anything Zen uses and fixed the profile. For sure loading an extension config file didn't clear up a visual issue with an email website, so that's not it either. I'm at a loss to understand what just happened, but happen it did. Now if I can just figure out how to fix the ATD problem I'd be set...

zen-browser / desktop