2009017 - Add a capability that lets us set different defaults for top sites and top stories during the first 48 hours of the default profile's lifetime

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: New Tab Page, task)

Description

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

During the first 48 hours of the default profile lifetime (so this shouldn't impact new selectable profiles), we want to be able to experiment with setting the default pref values for top sites and top stories enablement to false. Users should still be able to pref those on during that 48 hour period.

After the 48 hour period, we should change the defaults back (but ensure that if the user had expressed a preference to enable OR disable those sections during the 48 hour period, that we respect that).

The transition after 48 hours should not wait until the next restart - we should be checking every time the user opens a new tab if they were previously in the 48 hour window to see if we should transition out of that state.

This experimental capability will default to using 48 hours as our threshold, but we want to be able to adjust that if need be via Nimbus.

We also need the ability to show a message to users after having transitioned out of that state - for example "hey, we turned these things on now that you've had a chance to get used to the browser. Here's how you can control them".

Comment 1

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 1: Block initializing ActivityStream on the newtabTrainhop Nimbus feature being ready. r?nbarrett!

Comment 2

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 2: Compute instant of profile creation and have ActivityStream cache it. r?#home-newtab-reviewers!

Comment 3

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 4: Add support for newtab activation window experiments. r?#home-newtab-reviewers!

Comment 4

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 5: Add prefs for showing high-priority newtab messages on activation window enter and exit. r?#home-newtab-reviewers!

Comment 5

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 3: Make StartupCacheInit feed start first amongst feeds. r?thecount!

This is so that if there are any other feeds that want to emit actions on initialization
that the StartupCacheInit feed should hear about, it will be initialized and be able
to hear about them.

This is needed for the PrefsFeed activation window check, which might emit actions on
initialization that a cached page should hear about.

Comment 6

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/b9992564382d
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/ded14db4160f
Part 1: Block initializing ActivityStream on the newtabTrainhop Nimbus feature being ready. r=nbarrett,home-newtab-reviewers
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/23c94dce1dbb
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/7937837e71af
Part 2: Compute instant of profile creation and have ActivityStream cache it. r=home-newtab-reviewers,nbarrett
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/cdc9349c281d
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/cf37297e8104
Part 3: Make StartupCacheInit feed start first amongst feeds. r=thecount,home-newtab-reviewers,nbarrett

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/3542fdd33761
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/949b8ea1daae
Revert "Bug 2009017 - Part 3: Make StartupCacheInit feed start first amongst feeds. r=thecount,home-newtab-reviewers,nbarrett" for causing bcv failures.

Comment 8

[agoloman]

Backed out for causing bcv failures.

• Backout link
• Push with failures
• Failure Log

Comment 9

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/93f37c668398
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/31e29444a62c
Part 1: Block initializing ActivityStream on the newtabTrainhop Nimbus feature being ready. r=nbarrett,home-newtab-reviewers
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/b739c8749170
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/bf903602e91e
Part 2: Compute instant of profile creation and have ActivityStream cache it. r=home-newtab-reviewers,nbarrett,perftest-reviewers,kshampur
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/bf311162df37
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/f4fa14d52777
Part 3: Make StartupCacheInit feed start first amongst feeds. r=thecount,home-newtab-reviewers,nbarrett

Comment 10

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/26ebbdcfb933
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/d5945bcd5811
Revert "Bug 2009017 - Part 3: Make StartupCacheInit feed start first amongst feeds. r=thecount,home-newtab-reviewers,nbarrett" for causing Talos failures.

Comment 11

[Atila Butkovits]

Backed out for causing Talos failures.

Backout link: https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/d5945bcd5811

Push with failures: https://treeherder.mozilla.org/jobs?repo=autoland&resultStatus=testfailed%2Cbusted%2Cexception%2Cretry%2Cusercancel&revision=f4fa14d527773446af0876c706cd12a243f43720&selectedTaskRun=Ph04EsSYT72i8KmLsK1Uuw.0

Failure log:
https://treeherder.mozilla.org/logviewer?job_id=545045010&repo=autoland&task=Ph04EsSYT72i8KmLsK1Uuw.0&lineNumber=1629
https://treeherder.mozilla.org/logviewer?job_id=545018154&repo=autoland&task=fjxz8sYaRNq4JCk7x1cPHw.0&lineNumber=1092

Comment 12

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/5edf6de1d9bd
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/dca5cc891ee4
Part 1: Block initializing ActivityStream on the newtabTrainhop Nimbus feature being ready. r=nbarrett,home-newtab-reviewers
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/c6c2729d07d3
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/8367a0687d59
Part 2: Compute instant of profile creation and have ActivityStream cache it. r=home-newtab-reviewers,nbarrett,perftest-reviewers,kshampur
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/5791aaacec84
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/d5e09e55847e
Part 3: Make StartupCacheInit feed start first amongst feeds. r=thecount,home-newtab-reviewers,nbarrett

Comment 13

[Norisz Fay [:noriszfay]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/dca5cc891ee4
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/8367a0687d59
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/d5e09e55847e

Comment 14

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 1: Block initializing ActivityStream on the newtabTrainhop Nimbus feature being ready.

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D279335

Comment 15

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 2: Compute instant of profile creation and have ActivityStream cache it.

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D279336

Comment 16

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 3: Make StartupCacheInit feed start first amongst feeds.

This is so that if there are any other feeds that want to emit actions on initialization
that the StartupCacheInit feed should hear about, it will be initialized and be able
to hear about them.

This is needed for the PrefsFeed activation window check, which might emit actions on
initialization that a cached page should hear about.

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D279362

Comment 17

[Phabricator Automation]

firefox-beta Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: None, but the growth team will be unable to do experiments related to the newtab 48 hour activation window on the release channel unless this foundational code lands.
• Code covered by automated testing: yes
• Fix verified in Nightly: no
• Needs manual QE test: no
• Steps to reproduce for manual QE testing:
• Risk associated with taking this patch: low
• Explanation of risk level: This has been on Nightly for a few days now, and is mostly just plumbing the creation date of the profile down into the newtab code, so it's fairly well understood.
• String changes made/needed: None.
• Is Android affected?: no

Comment 18

[Donal Meehan [:dmeehan]]

:mconley, could part 4 be tracked under a different bug?
I'll take part 1 - 3 for beta, but it's harder to track uplifts when a patch lands later under the same bug.

Comment 19

[Pulsebot]

https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/2bb41f48f154
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/43c2b5c9fd31
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/2d61b9cd8a93
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/352a7122761d
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/e01d57cd13c7
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/575336de33cd

Comment 20

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Having the 4th part kinda dangling out here is making things hard to track for RelMan, so I'm going to close this one out and do part 4 in a separate bug.

Comment 21

[Phabricator Automation]

Comment on attachment 9538199 [details]
Bug 2009017 - Part 4: Add support for newtab activation window experiments. r?#home-newtab-reviewers!

Revision D279337 was moved to bug 2013416. Setting attachment 9538199 [details] to obsolete.

Comment 22

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 1: Block initializing ActivityStream on the newtabTrainhop Nimbus feature being ready.

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D279335

Comment 23

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 2: Compute instant of profile creation and have ActivityStream cache it.

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D279336

Comment 24

[Phabricator Automation]

firefox-release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: None, but the growth team will be unable to do experiments related to the newtab 48 hour activation window on the release channel unless this foundational code lands.
• Code covered by automated testing: yes
• Fix verified in Nightly: no
• Needs manual QE test: yes
• Steps to reproduce for manual QE testing: See https://gist.github.com/mikeconley/653f52f653a686c9bd8b9c83af8ec64d
• Risk associated with taking this patch: low
• Explanation of risk level: This has been on Nightly for a few days now, and is mostly just plumbing the creation date of the profile down into the newtab code, so it's fairly well understood.
• String changes made/needed: None.
• Is Android affected?: no

Comment 25

[Mike Conley (:mconley) (:⚙️)]

Attachment: Bug 2009017 - Part 3: Make StartupCacheInit feed start first amongst feeds.

This is so that if there are any other feeds that want to emit actions on initialization
that the StartupCacheInit feed should hear about, it will be initialized and be able
to hear about them.

This is needed for the PrefsFeed activation window check, which might emit actions on
initialization that a cached page should hear about.

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D279362

Comment 26

[Pulsebot]

https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/57bcc57e77a2
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-release/rev/138fa1698282
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/12dfed2c4862
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-release/rev/baafd72ad51f
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/1e7619b4c303
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-release/rev/26b4a4cc121a

Comment 27

[Alex Finder|PTO, back on April 14th]

(In reply to Pulsebot from comment #12)

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/5edf6de1d9bd
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/dca5cc891ee4
Part 1: Block initializing ActivityStream on the newtabTrainhop Nimbus
feature being ready. r=nbarrett,home-newtab-reviewers
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/c6c2729d07d3
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/8367a0687d59
Part 2: Compute instant of profile creation and have ActivityStream cache
it. r=home-newtab-reviewers,nbarrett,perftest-reviewers,kshampur
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/5791aaacec84
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/d5e09e55847e
Part 3: Make StartupCacheInit feed start first amongst feeds.
r=thecount,home-newtab-reviewers,nbarrett

Perfherder has detected a talos performance change from push d5e09e55847ecc8323f0918c6f2500149f785078.

No action is required from the author; this comment is provided for informational purposes only.

Improvement	Test	Platform	Options	Absolute values [old vs new]
2%	startup_about_home_paint_cached (doc)	linux1804-64-shippable-qr	e10s fission stylo webrender-sw	1,032.71 -> 1,009.50

Need Help or Information?

If you have any questions, please reach out to [e-mail]. Alternatively, you can find help on Slack by joining #perf-help, and on Matrix you can find help by joining #perftest.

Details of the alert can be found in the alert summary, including links to graphs and comparisons for each of the affected tests.

Comment 28

[Valentin Bandac [:vbandac], Ecosystem QA]

I can confirm that the Topsites and Story cards behaviour (including prefs values) matches the one described here (Steps 16-26).

• Tested versions:
  • Firefox Release 147.0.3 (Build ID: 20260203002554)
    • Used the builds and steps provided here
  • Firefox Devedition 148.0b15 (Build ID: 20260213095341)
    • Followed the steps provided here, using this addon
  • Firefox Nightly 149.0a1 (BuildID: 20260220092058)
    • Nimbus experiment - Jira ticket
• Tested platforms:
  • Windows 10 x64
  • Windows 11
  • macOS 15.6.1
  • Linux Mint 22.2

Based on this, I am marking this issue as Verified - Fixed.