Tim Nguyen :ntim Reporter
	Description • 7 years ago

I've published a proposal at attachment 8841190 [details]

Basically, we want to solve:
- Tabs on bottom
- Findbar on top

	Caitlin Neiman [:caitmuenster]
	Comment 1 • 7 years ago

This will be discussed during WebExtensions Triage meeting on March 21. 

Agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xM6iKOSGo9cDWw3ZA27PT-AVlx1Mvd79sxC6pYNhBqU/edit#

	Tim Nguyen :ntim Reporter
	Comment 2 • 7 years ago

Another possible proposal:


Why is this important ?
----------------------
I've asked CTR users what features they want the most: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/5zgvpn/work_in_progress_classic_bookmark_star/dey0d5i/

"tab bar below location bar" was one of the items that came up.

Functions:
---------

browser.toolbars.navigation.{get/set}Position({ position });
browser.toolbars.find.{get/set}Position({ position });

browser.toolbars.tabs.{get/set}Position({ position });
browser.toolbars.tabs.{get/set}Visible({ visible });

(this is designed in a similar way to the devtools API: browser.devtools.panels.elements.setHeight({})).

Where position can be:
- "top_start"
- "top_end"
- "bottom_start"
- "bottom_end"
- "default"

Safety/Future-proofness:
-----------------------
If in a future release we no longer support one of the toolbars, the tweak will simply stop working, it won't break anything else.


Examples:
---------
- Tab bar on bottom:

browser.toolbars.tabs.setPosition({position: "top_end"});

- Find bar on top:

browser.toolbars.find.setPosition({position: "top_end"});

- Hide the tabbar:

browser.toolbars.tabs.setVisible({visible: false});

	Mkll
	Comment 3 • 7 years ago

(In reply to Tim Nguyen :ntim from comment #2)
 
Perhaps add option for tabs not on top in about:config and add ability to drag tabs other toolbars in "Customize's" GUI?

	Tim Nguyen :ntim Reporter
	Comment 4 • 7 years ago

(In reply to mklltech from comment #3)
> (In reply to Tim Nguyen :ntim from comment #2)
>  
> Perhaps add option for tabs not on top in about:config and add ability to
> drag tabs other toolbars in "Customize's" GUI?

This seems like a job for an add-on rather than a built-in pref, which it why it feels right to use an extension API in this case.

	Mkll
	Comment 5 • 7 years ago

(In reply to Tim Nguyen :ntim from comment #4)

How can we get this implemented?

	Caitlin Neiman [:caitmuenster]
	Comment 6 • 7 years ago

(In reply to mklltech from comment #5)
> (In reply to Tim Nguyen :ntim from comment #4)
> 
> How can we get this implemented?

Hi @mklltech -- this will be triaged at tomorrow's design-decision-needed meeting for proposed WebExtensions APIs. If it's approved, the API will be assigned a development priority. :) 

If you are available, you are welcome to join the meeting! Info is here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Contribute/Triage

	Kris Maglione [:kmag]
	Comment 7 • 7 years ago

This isn't something we're going to support in the near future. And I think the frontend team is opposed to this for the indefinite future. Gijs, do you have any opinions on this?

	:Gijs (he/him)
	Comment 8 • 7 years ago

(In reply to Kris Maglione [:kmag] from comment #7)
> This isn't something we're going to support in the near future. And I think
> the frontend team is opposed to this for the indefinite future. Gijs, do you
> have any opinions on this?

I'm less worried about moving toolbars than about hiding them completely, but the realistic part of me knows that if we allow moving the toolbars from an accessible webextensions API it will be up to us (ie the Firefox frontend team) to write CSS that caters to every possible permutation of toolbars (ie fix "making the find bar appear above the tabs looks ugly, make it not look ugly" bugs). That's a large amount of work that I don't think we're interested in taking on right now. If the toolbars ever became more uniform (all of them are basically special snowflakes right now) in terms of styling then I could potentially be convinced to change my mind.

In the meantime, people who are particularly adamant about having their toolbars arranged a certain way can use a userChrome/userContent.css hack to make it so.

I don't want to play dictator here, so Dão, can you chime in about whether not implementing this proposed API to allow add-ons to move toolbars seems like the right call to you?

	Dão Gottwald [:dao]
	Comment 9 • 7 years ago

(In reply to :Gijs from comment #8)
> (In reply to Kris Maglione [:kmag] from comment #7)
> > This isn't something we're going to support in the near future. And I think
> > the frontend team is opposed to this for the indefinite future. Gijs, do you
> > have any opinions on this?
> 
> I'm less worried about moving toolbars than about hiding them completely,
> but the realistic part of me knows that if we allow moving the toolbars from
> an accessible webextensions API it will be up to us (ie the Firefox frontend
> team) to write CSS that caters to every possible permutation of toolbars (ie
> fix "making the find bar appear above the tabs looks ugly, make it not look
> ugly" bugs).

Yes, supporting moving toolbars properly is a rather enormous task. Also, allowing the tab bar to be hidden actually seems like a more interesting use case to me, as it enables add-ons to implement alternative tab views (as a side bar or wherever WebExtensions allows devs to put such UI).

	:Gijs (he/him)
	Comment 10 • 7 years ago

(In reply to Dão Gottwald [::dao] from comment #9)
> (In reply to :Gijs from comment #8)
> > (In reply to Kris Maglione [:kmag] from comment #7)
> > > This isn't something we're going to support in the near future. And I think
> > > the frontend team is opposed to this for the indefinite future. Gijs, do you
> > > have any opinions on this?
> > 
> > I'm less worried about moving toolbars than about hiding them completely,
> > but the realistic part of me knows that if we allow moving the toolbars from
> > an accessible webextensions API it will be up to us (ie the Firefox frontend
> > team) to write CSS that caters to every possible permutation of toolbars (ie
> > fix "making the find bar appear above the tabs looks ugly, make it not look
> > ugly" bugs).
> 
> Yes, supporting moving toolbars properly is a rather enormous task. Also,
> allowing the tab bar to be hidden actually seems like a more interesting use
> case to me, as it enables add-ons to implement alternative tab views (as a
> side bar or wherever WebExtensions allows devs to put such UI).

Yes, this is bug 1332447.

Sounds like this is basically WONTFIX then.