1461010 - "Safe Mode" is a misnomer

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Toolkit :: Startup and Profile System, defect, P1)

Description

[MarjaE]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.12; rv:59.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/59.0
Build ID: 20180323154952

Steps to reproduce:

I am strobe-sensitive, and have to use a number of animation-blocking tools to use the web.

Standard advice when encountering problems, or debugging, is to restart Firefox in safe mode.


Actual results:

Since this disables add-ons, it disables a variety of safety tools. It may not be safe, e.g. for strobe-sensitive users.


Expected results:

I think a better term, which describes what safe mode does, would be better. It wouldn't imply that it is safe for all users.

Comment 1

[Gingerbread Man]

The entry under the Help menu is titled, "Restart with Add-ons Disabled…"

Attempting to start in Safe Mode pops up the following dialog box:

"Firefox Safe Mode
Safe Mode is a special mode of Firefox that can be used to troubleshoot issues.
Your add-ons and custom settings will be temporarily disabled.
You can also skip troubleshooting and try refreshing Firefox.
[Start in Safe Mode] [Refresh Firefox]"

Comment 2

[:Paolo Amadini]

I agree that using this mode may not be safe for all users. We could use a different name, for example Troubleshooting Mode or Add-ons Disabled Mode, but it may still not be clear to all users what the implications of having add-ons disabled may be. These may range, for example, from reduced accessibility to additional tracking and profiling.

Renaming this mode may prove a challenge because, as you mentioned, most of the documentation and support on the web still refers to this as "safe mode", and those articles and forum posts would be impossible to update, creating a higher barrier for those looking for this functionality. I'd also expect most people to still call this "safe mode" unofficially even after we renamed it, because this is the industry standard for this kind of troubleshooting mode.

Still, maybe can improve the message shown at startup to make the implications clearer. Michelle, do you see any way of doing that?

Comment 3

[mheubusch]

you can change the second sentence of the dialog to: Your add-ons and custom settings will be temporarily disabled, and Firefox features may not perform as they currently do.

Comment 4

[MarjaE]

I take it this also disables about:config fixes, such as blocking animation there, and disables user css fixes, such as blocking the animated tab throbber?

Comment 5

[:Paolo Amadini]

(In reply to MarjaE from comment #4)
> I take it this also disables about:config fixes, such as blocking animation
> there, and disables user css fixes, such as blocking the animated tab
> throbber?

The about:config settings are preserved, I don't know about the user.css fixes but I guess they are too. The feature is intended to help with basic troubleshooting, so the more advanced modifications are kept.

Comment 6

[:Paolo Amadini]

Confirming the bug since we have a clear decision for an action in comment 3.

Comment 7

[Gingerbread Man]

(In reply to :Paolo Amadini from comment #5)
> The about:config settings are preserved, I don't know about the user.css
> fixes but I guess they are too.

They're not. Bug 333808.

Comment 8

[MarjaE]

I saw a shorter dialogue in FF61, it still refers to "safe mode," and doesn't mention disabling user (safety) css.

Comment 9

[Matthias :Kammueller]

Attachment: Bug 1461010 - changed second sentence of Safe Mode dialogue. r?paolo

To emphasize the possible negative consequences for users.

Comment 10

[Matthias :Kammueller]

https://treeherder.mozilla.org/#/jobs?repo=try&revision=aaf36e5eabac3cb6bf2887f7ea540

Comment 11

[Matthias :Kammueller]

https://treeherder.mozilla.org/#/jobs?repo=try&revision=07caf8735d86bf01e029d5f2a5a323e86f1ca5cc

Comment 12

[Matthias :Kammueller]

https://treeherder.mozilla.org/#/jobs?repo=try&revision=94249fd5801ca8f9db4d3e8c831d5d1d9efcf261

Comment 13

[:Paolo Amadini]

Comment on attachment 9011110 [details]
Bug 1461010 - changed second sentence of Safe Mode dialogue. r?paolo

:Paolo Amadini has approved the revision.

Comment 14

[Francesco Lodolo [:flod]]

Comment on attachment 9011110 [details]
Bug 1461010 - changed second sentence of Safe Mode dialogue. r?paolo

Francesco Lodolo [:flod] has approved the revision.

Comment 15

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/mozilla-inbound/rev/467b056f0870
Changed second sentence of Safe Mode dialogue. r=paolo,flod

Comment 16

[Natalia Csoregi [:nataliaCs]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/467b056f0870

Comment 17

[:Paolo Amadini]

Comment on attachment 9011110 [details]
Bug 1461010 - changed second sentence of Safe Mode dialogue. r?paolo

:Paolo Amadini has been removed from the revision.