1158856 - Add a favicon next to a tile's domain

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: New Tab Page, defect)

Description

[Marina Samuel [:emtwo]]

Based on mocks here: https://bug1150228.bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=8592387

Comment 1

[Ed Lee :Mardak]

Could probably reuse what was done in bug 1163888 for unifiedcomplete to show the appropriate favicon for a host.

Comment 2

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

note that we only show existing icons, we don't fetch missing ones, also because with the new security policy regarding having a principal to load a favicon, we wouldn't know where to get the principal.

Comment 3

[maxim zhilyaev]

This needs a bit more clarification. Aaron's comment here (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1188015#c16) may suggest that we may want to attach a partner supplied favicon to the tile distribution spec like other tile images.   

I was under impression that we should be using browser favicon cache and display favicon for any tile which page has one.  

So, need clarification on expected functionality: browser cached favicons for all tiles, or a partner supplied favicon attached to tile distribution, or a mixture of both?

Comment 4

[Aaron]

Is it possible/feasible to have a mixture both?

I don't want to limit the use of favicons, so browser cached versions are fine.

My question to you is whether those cached versions would be "official" by default, or "best guess".

However, I think partners would like to opportunity to update/change their favicon for Firefox users.

Comment 5

[Kevin Ghim]

Let's use browser favicon. We should try to minimize assets from clients as much as possible. If no favicon is available, show blank.

Comment 6

[maxim zhilyaev]

If we use browser favicon, then we are likely to show tiles ONLY for history tiles, because a user have visited landing URLs of history tiles already.  While the suggested or directory tiles URLs may miss a favicon, because a user is likely have not visited their landing pages. Which may result in a strange UX, where a user sees favicon for history tiles and sees none for suggested/directory tiles.

We could request a favicon for the landing URL host, but that would mean the site may learn about a user loading newtab with that tile being played, hence a privacy leak.

I recommend giving this nug a few more thought from product/UX perspective.
A proper fix would be adding a favicon to the distro of the tile.

Comment 7

[Kevin Ghim]

For History tiles, we'll get the favicon from the browser. 

For Suggested tiles, we can request a favicon file to load onto the distro.

Comment 8

[Jessilyn Davis]

Hello!

This bug has been closed due to inactivity and/or the potential for this bug to no longer be an issue with the new Discovery Stream-powered New Tab experience.

Please help us triage by reopening if this issue still persists and should be addressed.

Thanks!