398023 - Remove the splitter from the default toolbar

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Toolbars and Customization, defect)

Description

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

The splitter clutters the toolbar and won't be used by most users.

In bug 267831 comment 15, beltzner explicitly says it should be in the default toolbar, but I'm not really sure why.

Comment 1

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

The splitter also looks ugly on Windows (bug 393718), but even if that's fixed, we've cluttered the toolbar a bit with something that only a fraction of the users will want (and they can use "Customize...").

Bug 393733 would be the ideal solution.

Comment 2

[Jesse Ruderman]

I think that users who want to resize the search bar are unlikely to figure out that they can resize it by dragging a "splitter" or "resizer" from the Customize Toolbars sheet to the spot between the address bar and the search bar.

I'd also prefer bug 393733 to having the splitter there by default, but unless that's fixed, I'm not convinced that removing the splitter from the default set is a good idea.

Comment 3

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

I think removing it from the default set is a good idea regardless of bug 393733 because most users are not going to resize the location / search bar. To them it's visual cruft no matter how subtle you style the splitter. It reminds me of the old collapse toolbar grippy.

Those who are willing to control the size (and will likely complain) can still be pointed to the customize dialog. Even they might be better served with adding the splitter, resizing, and removing it again.

Comment 4

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

Also, only new profiles are affected from the changed default set; reverting that change would make it consistent for all users.

Comment 5

[Michael Wexler]

All I see here are suppositions with no supporting evidence as to removing the splitter.  However, we do have have quite a few bugs filed from users wanting to resize the Search Box and expecting this as default functionality (i.e., default usage without entering the customize toolbar mode).  And, we have very few people asking NOT to have it, or to have it only visible in customize mode; this is one of the few bugs even mentioning this option.  So, even without a full UI investigation, its pretty clear what we should do to make users happy.

We don't require customize mode to move bookmarks on the bookmark bar or tabs around (we just drag and drop them now), so why should a resizing of the search box require changing mode?  Does Excel require this?  Nope, you simply grab the side of a cell at the top and slide.  Word's ruler has tabs which are movable; no mode change is required.  Users seem to deal quite well with grippers and understand the utility.  

Modal change for extreme customization may be acceptable (such as removing a box) but for simple resizing of the address bar and the search box, the simple gripper is the right choice, and having it visible adds very little pain compared to many of the un-needed pseudo-3d effects and shading which are part of the default.  If you are worried about impact per pixel, removing the gripper would not be top of my list.

(BTW, I've installed firefox on thousands of machines now, for kids through senior citizens.  Guess what the first requests are from almost every user?  Change the font size on the menus, and resize the search box.)

Please, leave the splitter.  It belongs, it takes up few pixels, and users really do want to use it.  

Comment 6

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

This has been resolved by making the splitter invisible in our default themes.