1200587 - Provide option for about:privatebrowsing to show blank page like about:newtab

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Firefox :: Private Browsing, defect, P3)

Description

[Kestrel]

Since the new about:privatebrowsing page is intentionally eye catching (Bug 1199613) it would be nice to give users the option to show a blank page like they can with about:newtab (via the cog menu in the upper right hand corner). This could be used to avoid attracting unwanted attention and would make the new tab page more consistent across the different browsing modes (it could also potentially be used to show the user's top sites which would be both useful and give suggested sites more exposure).

Private browsing mode is still clearly indicated with the mask icon and titlebar name so it is not essential for it to be communicated through the new tab page.

Comment 3

[Sir Bugzalot]

Respectfully, my bug #1550253 is not a duplicate of this 4-year-old bug, but it is a duplicate of the 4-month-old bug #1522392 (that is also not a duplicate of this bug).

Until relatively recently, the blank start page for Firefox had been working without issue. The NEW bug, as reported in #1522392 and #1550253 is that Firefox has broken the long-standing Private/Blank page functionality and added a search box and logo. The Private/Blank page has clearly been working in the intervening time since this older bug was created.

In the screenshots for my bug, you can see how it used to work (and still does randomly - maybe 1% of the time) and how it now works for the majority of the time (with elements on the page that are contrary to user settings).

So, please do not supersede new #1550253 and #1522392 bugs with this older one. It masks the very-recently-injected problem with the other legacy issue of this bug that was never closed.

Otherwise, if you want to have some larger architectural discussion about blank pages, that is a different issue and one that is not related to (now) failing to adhere to user-configured settings for the private start page.

Comment 5

[hdfssk]

hi, this has been an ongoing problem for years. it is specifically a problem with new Private Window tabs always showing the private browsing logo over a search form (ie. the about:privatebrowsing page), regardless of how Settings > Home > New Windows and Tabs is set up.

with the current settings interface, new private window tabs should respect Settings > Home > New Windows and Tabs > New Tabs being set to "blank page", opening new tabs with about:blank.

if there's any utility to having new private window tabs show the about:privatebrowsing page even when new ordinary window tabs are set to "blank page", private window specific settings could be added to Settings > Home > New Windows and Tabs to enable that.

at the very least, an about:config setting to override what appears in new private window tabs should be added. there are a number of about:config settings that control elements of about:privatebrowsing (eg. browser.privatebrowsing.enable-new-indicator browser.privatebrowsing.enable-new-logo browser.privatebrowsing.vpnpromourl) that seem to have very niche use cases; private windows not having working new tab settings is an actual ui/settings fail.

I'm aware this is a low priority bug but it seems like a relatively simple fix. there is still no way to override the new private window tab starting url eight years after this bug was opened, which is embarrassing. please address this in the near future.