1370854 - Adjust page thumbnailer to use all of the top of the page instead of the corner

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Toolkit :: General, enhancement)

Description

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Attachment: bitmap.png

The page thumbnail code currently uses the dimensions of the window displaying the page when calculating what to put in the thumbnail. That is, the thumbnail is of the largest rectangle (at the aspect ratio required) which could fit on the window.

I want to change this so that, where possible, any page content below the bottom of the window could also be included. The rectangle is limited only to the width of the window. (If the page is too short then the edge is cut off as currently happens.)

In my opinion this produces better looking thumbnails. I have been making the change proposed by means of an extension (New Tab Tools) for a long time, but I can no longer do that with WebExtensions so I propose to move the change into Firefox.

Comment 1

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Attachment: 1370854-1.diff

Comment 2

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Comment on attachment 8875249 [details] [diff] [review]
1370854-1.diff

That wasn't the patch I had in mind!

Comment 3

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Attachment: 1370854-1.diff

Trying again.

Comment 4

[Mike de Boer [:mikedeboer]]

Comment on attachment 8875247 [details]
bitmap.png

Hi Stephen, what do you think of this change to page thumbnails? It looks more accurate to me...

Comment 5

[Mike de Boer [:mikedeboer]]

Comment on attachment 8875254 [details] [diff] [review]
1370854-1.diff

Review of attachment 8875254 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

This change looks good to me, certainly ready for review.

Comment 6

[Stephen Horlander [:shorlander]]

Comment on attachment 8875247 [details]
bitmap.png

(In reply to Mike de Boer [:mikedeboer] from comment #4)
> Comment on attachment 8875247 [details]
> bitmap.png
> 
> Hi Stephen, what do you think of this change to page thumbnails? It looks
> more accurate to me...

The enlarged and cropped thumbnail is a deliberate design decision.

Usually the important page defining visuals (e.g. site branding) are located top left. Favoring that area increases the tiles distinctiveness.

Also as the thumbnail gets smaller the details get fuzzier making it harder to recognize.