1150652 - Combine the 'response' and 'preview' tabs in the netmonitor side panel

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1353319

(DevTools :: Netmonitor, defect)

Description

[Jeff Griffiths (:canuckistani) (:⚡︎)]

These panels are similar enough I bet we could roll them into a slightly more complex UI.

Comment 1

[Victor Porof [:vporof][:vp]]

Why? You want to inspect both the raw data and see a data-specific rendering preview when inspecting network requests. Having them under a single tab would just mean moving the toggle between the two elsewhere, for which I don't see the point.

Comment 2

[Jeff Griffiths (:canuckistani) (:⚡︎)]

(In reply to Victor Porof [:vporof][:vp] from comment #1)
> Why? You want to inspect both the raw data and see a data-specific rendering
> preview when inspecting network requests. Having them under a single tab
> would just mean moving the toggle between the two elsewhere, for which I
> don't see the point.

1. There are now as many as 6 panes in there ( for ssl & html requests ) and on some screen sizes the side pane gets ellided to the point you can't see the preview pane on smaller screens depending on the width of the side pane container.

2. we are smart about images and show a preview of the image in the response pane - combining raw and preview responses in the Response pane for html would be more consistent

3. when the request is JSON people have requested a raw view of the data in addition to our object viewer, see bug 859138

When I look at all three issues, it feels to me like this could be made more consistent - consolidate views / previews of the data into a single pane. I shouldn't have to think so hard to remember that I look at 'response' for a preview of an image, yet look for 'preview' for html, yet cannot access raw JSON at all unless I open the request in a new tab.

Thanks for the nudge - this was an off-the-cuff bug I logged but now I'm much more convinced it's a UX problem we should solve.

Comment 3

[Sebastian Zartner [:sebo]]

FWIW I totally agree with Jeff.

For a UI I could imagine to have an option 'View Source' within the 'Response' tab (i.e. by default you see the preview/formatted source). Clicking that option switches to the raw response and turns the option into 'View Preview'.

Sebastian

Comment 4

[Dan Mills [:thunder]]

The Preview pane has now been removed, but it doesn't seem to have been combined with Response (I couldn't see any way to get a preview).

Today I was debugging some AJAX requests that return large-ish html fragments, and a way to preview would've definitely been useful. Maybe a button inside the Response tab, or another section? (currently it has only one section "Response payload").

Should I file a separate bug?

Comment 5

[Sebastian Zartner [:sebo]]

(In reply to Dan Mills [:thunder] from comment #4)
> The Preview pane has now been removed, but it doesn't seem to have been
> combined with Response (I couldn't see any way to get a preview).

The preview got merged into the Response side panel within bug 1353319. It will be released in Firefox 59, I am currently asking there if it's possible to uplift it to Firefox 58.

Sebastian