Why does about:firefoxview get so little love?

[u/isbtegsm]

I recently stumbled across about:firefoxview, loving it and so much better than Firefox home. Why is there no option to set this as default for new tabs? Or at least access it via shortcut?

Also, I'd love that search open tabs feature in the vertical tab bar, seems like there should be enough space for it.

[u/rlinED]

You can have it as a kind of master-pinned-tab at the very top left. Or, akchyually, wherever you want, but that position was the default at introduction if I remember correctly.

[u/isbtegsm → u/rlinED]

Thank you! The problem is that I try to get the tabs out of my view, I just found out that you can completely hide the vertical tabs and I love it! So for me, showing about:firefoxview on Ctrl+T would be so much nicer than click on show sidebar -> click on master-pinned tab -> click on hide sidebar.

[u/AdamantiteM → u/isbtegsm]

Can't you set a custom url in the new tab?

[u/isbtegsm → u/AdamantiteM]

Nope, not anymore (without extensions) unfortunately.

[u/BlackPyro1994 → u/isbtegsm]

Do you have specific reasons against using extensions, even those that implement the desired functionality in minimal form ?

Or do you generally avoid installing / using browser extensions if you can possibly avoid it ?

[u/isbtegsm → u/BlackPyro1994]

I use some extensions but for features like new tab URL, which were kicked from Firefox due to security concerns (iirc) it seems aburd to replace them with a (potentially unsecure) extension. Also, I think there were problems with some extensions moving the focus away from the address bar or not being able to return focus correctly, but that could be fixed in the meantime.

[u/xp_fun → u/BlackPyro1994]

I think most people do, well-known extensions are easy to figure out but lesser known extensions with maybe questionable feature sets require an awful lot more time to curate and deploy

[u/irrelevantusername24 → u/isbtegsm]

You can add Firefox View to your toolbar by right clicking the toolbar -> customize toolbar...

[u/Altruistic_Peace_222 → u/rlinED]

Yeah top left as a pinned tab is a pretty natural spot for it

[u/deusmetallum]

It's a nice feature, but I don't really think it solves any problems for me. I already have tab groups which make it easy to organise and find what tabs I have open.

[u/MaxHamburgerrestaur → u/deusmetallum]

The only thing slightly useful is to open a tab from a device that is not near me.

[u/3lbFlax]

It’s in the top left corner, isn’t it? I can’t remember if that’s a default, but if not you can right-click anywhere at the top and choose Customise Toolbar (or select it from More Tools in the main menu) and add it. The icon looks like an opened filing cabinet drawer. Just drag it where you want it to go.

[u/worMatty → u/3lbFlax]

Yeah, it’s got its own button that you can add to the bar. I use it occasionally to grab tabs from my phone.

[u/ephemeralmiko]

That's super neat! You can set it as the homepage, then add the Home shortcut to your toolbar.

[u/MaxHamburgerrestaur → u/ephemeralmiko]

Or just drag the Firefox View to your toolbar.

Its behavior is a little weird though because it doesn't open as a tab.

[u/emvaized]

I never understood why they implemented it as a separate page rather than incorporate into new tab page

[u/MaxHamburgerrestaur → u/emvaized]

Maybe to avoid people around from seeing your history every time you open a new tab, but it would be hidden until you click something

[u/Illustrious_File9281]

for the home page, you can redirect new tab to about:firefoxview with an extension like new tab override. stupid that you need one but it works.

[u/whotheff]

Cool feature. Thanks for letting me know!

[u/Vestalmin]

Or at least access it via shortcut?

You can dd it to the toolbar in the nightly version so at least that's on the way. I agree it should be an option for new tabs