Closed Bug 1523117 Opened 5 years ago Closed 5 years ago

private windows don't respect the user's settings for displaying a search field

Categories

(Firefox :: New Tab Page, enhancement)

enhancement
Not set
normal

Tracking

()

RESOLVED INVALID
Tracking Status
firefox66 --- affected

People

(Reporter: soeren.hentzschel, Unassigned, NeedInfo)

References

Details

A search field for private browsing was implemented in bug 1508364. It's a great addition but it doesn't respect the user's setting for displaying a search field in the new tab page. There is no reason to assume that if the user disables the search field, the user wants to have one in private windows. I think it should be respected if the user makes an explicit choice.

(In reply to Sören Hentzschel from comment #0)

A search field for private browsing was implemented in bug 1508364. It's a great addition but it doesn't respect the user's setting for displaying a search field in the new tab page. There is no reason to assume that if the user disables the search field, the user wants to have one in private windows. I think it should be respected if the user makes an explicit choice.

New tab in private browsing mode isn't meant to be customizable at this time. Since PBM doesn't have the other sections of new tab (top sites, pocket stories, highlights) it should be treated as a special case instead of inheriting partial settings. We should maybe consider a special set of settings for PBM as people may want to customize one experience over the other.

Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 5 years ago
Resolution: --- → INVALID
Component: Activity Streams: Newtab → New Tab Page

New bug opened at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1592436 per the last comment from Aaron.

(In reply to Aaron Benson from comment #1)

(In reply to Sören Hentzschel from comment #0)

A search field for private browsing was implemented in bug 1508364. It's a great addition but it doesn't respect the user's setting for displaying a search field in the new tab page. There is no reason to assume that if the user disables the search field, the user wants to have one in private windows. I think it should be respected if the user makes an explicit choice.

New tab in private browsing mode isn't meant to be customizable at this time. Since PBM doesn't have the other sections of new tab (top sites, pocket stories, highlights) it should be treated as a special case instead of inheriting partial settings. We should maybe consider a special set of settings for PBM as people may want to customize one experience over the other.

FWIW we are getting a number of user complaints about this and it seems that users find it unexpected that the search box in private browsing doesn't follow the application preferences. Perhaps this should be reconsidered?

Flags: needinfo?(abenson)
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