2063604 - Whene side-by-side exp layout is enabled, the "Change size" widget context menu item is missing

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: New Tab Page, defect)

Description

[Maxx Crawford [:maxx]]

Assumptions:

• You have sections stories/content feed enabled
• You have widgets enabled (See below for enabling them)
• You have new tab nova enabled

Note – If you dont have widgets enabled, follow the steps below to access the devtools menu and then:
Click "Widgets" section to expand
Click "Enable All" or whichever widgets you want

To enable:

1. In about:config, enable the pref browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.devtoolsEnabled
2. Open New tab
3. Click "Wrench" (not the pencil) icon in bottom right
4. Expected: The dev tools should open
5. Click on "Page layout (experimental)" section to expand
6. Select any of the following layouts to try them out
7. Expected: The layout should change on new tab with that specific layout, with widgets visible
8. Click "..." on any widget
9. Expected: The "Change size" menu item should be visible/working
10. Actual: The change size menu is missing.

Comment 1

[Hackbot]

Localized this to one line in the bug 2061741 landing (7012f7fe5513).

Root cause. In browser/extensions/newtab/content-src/components/Widgets/Widgets.jsx the changeset added !sideBySideActive to showWidgetsSizeToggle so the row-level header maximize button is hidden in the one-card-wide column — but the next line is const widgetsMayBeMaximized = showWidgetsSizeToggle;, and widgetsMayBeMaximized is the prop each widget uses to gate its <SizeSubmenu>. So one flag now suppresses two unrelated controls, and "Change size" disappears from Lists, FocusTimer, Crossword, PictureOfTheDay, Privacy and Stocks.

Worth noting the symptom is inconsistent: Clocks.jsx renders <SizeSubmenu> ungated, and Weather/SportsWidget read widgets.system.maximized directly, so those three still show "Change size" under side-by-side.

Per-widget sizing is meaningful here, so hiding the submenu isn't a defensible substitute: the widgets track is --col-span(4) in every side-by-side variant, and medium vs large differ only in row span (2 vs 4) in _WidgetWrapper.scss. resolveWidgetSize in WidgetsRegistry.mjs is independent of these flags, so a user's existing widgets.<id>.size = "large" already renders as large-widget in that column today — only the UI to change it is gone.

Proposed fix, in Widgets.jsx — decouple the two constants:

const widgetsMayBeMaximized =
  nimbusMaximizedTrainhopEnabled || prefs[PREF_WIDGETS_SYSTEM_MAXIMIZED];
// Row-level maximizing makes no sense in a single-widget-wide column, so
// that slot gets an add button instead.
const showWidgetsSizeToggle = !sideBySideActive && widgetsMayBeMaximized;

Two knock-ons to decide deliberately:

• Crossword.jsx reuses widgetsMayBeMaximized for auto-grow ("never render a large-widget on a layout that can't host it"). Decoupling lets it grow mid-puzzle in the side-by-side column. That column does host large, so this is likely fine — but if it should be suppressed, gate it on !sideBySideActive explicitly rather than on the maximize flag.
• widgetSize at line 299 is telemetry-only (4 call sites). Flipping the flag changes the reported row-level widget_size from large back to medium under side-by-side; derive it from sideBySideActive if the experiment analysis depends on it.

Tests. Nothing currently covers this: browser_newtab_side_by_side_layout.js is geometry-only, and the side-by-side cases in Widgets.test.jsx only assert the add-widgets button. A fix should add a Jest case asserting #toggle-widgets-size-button is absent and the per-widget size submenu is present when side-by-side is active.

Suggested severity S3: a functional control is missing, but only in an experimental layout variant, and switching variant restores it.

(Reasoned from the source; not built or run.)

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Comment 2

[Maxx Crawford [:maxx]]

Attachment: Bug 2063604 - Keep the per-widget size menu when side-by-side is active r?#home-newtab-reviewers

Comment 3

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/2e1364689126
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/ea21ca58a60b
Keep the per-widget size menu when side-by-side is active r=thecount

Comment 4

[Norisz Fay [:noriszfay]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/ea21ca58a60b