Firefox 57 (and maybe previous versions, I can't remember) pops up a "temporary status bar" (for lack of a better phrase) with the link destination in it when you hover on a link (https://imgur.com/a/Vo7AZ).
Yes, this has been the way it's done for a very long time. It's such a basic feature that I don't think there was ever a version of Firefox without this feature in one form or another.
We've gotten similar feedback about the Save and Download buttons, we added the cloud icon in part to make that clearer. I feel like there's a ticket about it as well, but I not able to find it. We're planning on adding a Copy button, and we'll probably do some user research on the buttons generally to make sure the choice is clear.
We did have a full page screenshot feature, but it didn't make the cut for Firefox 56. It's back in Firefox 57.
If you have any issues or feedback on Screenshots, we track most of our work in GitHub and welcome new issues there: https://github.com/mozilla-services/screenshots
I'm not convinced "user research" is the best way to go here. If the majority of your selected users think "save" should mean "upload to mozilla" does that mean they're right? And when they hit "save" in microsoft word or whatever, they think the document is going to microsoft servers?
"Save" means put it in my local storage.
"Download" means copy some file from a remote server onto my local storage.
"Upload" means copy it from my local storage to a remote server.
I also just realized that clicking the "save" button clobbers whatever is in my clipboard.
https://screenshots.firefox.com/oFTVibyVnGx7LPAl/news.ycombi...
More or less, yes, if more people understand one design than another, then the one that more people understand is the right one. We're generally shooting for more than a majority though, we'd want most people to understand the interface, and would also take negative reactions into account.
In our past studies we found people generally understood the buttons well enough, and specifically it was obvious after first use what was happening. But we only compared the current buttons to one other option (which didn't compare well), so it wasn't a very thorough test.
There's more overhead in updating this interface than some others, since we have to get updated translations (to more strings than just the button) and change all our onboarding, which is why we've kind of left it be until we can look at the full set of buttons more closely.
I take screenshots of internal graphs, admin pages that may contain pseudo-private endpoints and admin account information all the time ("Logged in as $ADMIN_USER", account numbers with vendors, etc.). Sharing those in a private chat or email is a big part of my screenshotting use case. People screenshot a lot of private data.
I don't think Mozilla is wise in making "send your image to a public bucket protected only by the obscurity of its URL" the default behavior, at least not without making it obvious that this is what's happening. This sneaky exfiltration of private data is a large part of what people hate about Google and Facebook.
Maybe there could be an opt-out on first use? I get that your average grandma isn't going to understand the distinction and will want something she can share (but she's also probably just trying to get to email or Facebook anyway), but this is a real potential security problem for your users.
Something something Henry Ford and faster horses. It's still bad design even if 50%+ε understand save as 'upload to some server' and not the old meaning that predates Windows 95 which is to save it to local storage. You shouldn't be taking liberties whenever you are about to upload any bit of information from your users, instead you should obtain informed consent from all users and not just from better informed ones that can parse the meaning from the cloud icon. The UI is wrong until only a moron in a hurry[1] would be mistaken about what your software is about to perform. Otherwise how are you any better than that other company that starts with a G and ends with oogle.
Again thanks for your replies and hopefully they can be more clear in the future (without being incorrect). And just in case I have sounded like a jerk, I really do love Firefox and I have been using it since it first came out as Phoenix. I appreciate the work you all put into it even if my above comments didn't make that clear. I actually used the Mozilla Suite before that, too. I still have, wear, and love my dinosaur head t-shirt I ordered from the mozilla store soooo long ago. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Mo...
At the very least, change it to "Save to Cloud" and "Save to Disk." But to be really clear, "Upload and Share" is definitely the way to go.
Sure, it's obvious after the first use, but if somebody is taking a screenshot of sensitive information, is the best way for them to find this out to show them that they've already uploaded said sensitive information to Mozilla's servers?
I use the right-click/context menu a fair amount. Since FF screenshots was added, it gets triggered frequently when I'm popping the right/click menu on a page -- without my making any click after the right-click to open the context menu. And with the trackpad disabled and using a mouse with a physical button and a rather distinct click, I can say this with considerable confidence.
So, then I have to to hit the escape key to kill the FF screenshot functionality. Which is becoming muscle memory, at this point.
It's true that there is no "always on" status bar at the bottom. However, when I hover over a link, its URL does appear in the bottom-left corner. Exact same behavior as Chrome.
Alternate implementation would be to make sure the cursor has actually stopped, which still needs a frame or two before you act on it.
I could definitely do without the fade-in, that's inconsistent with the rest of the OS and it feels clunky. I wonder if the designers are on a different OS where this is normal for tooltips?
Safari has a fade-in and triggers it immediately, so you do get a pop-up as you move your mouse around. But the fade and delay on closing smooths it out enough that it doesn't flash on and off. I don't love that it pops up instantly when I don't want it to.
Chrome and Firefox feel pretty similar. There's a delay on fade-in and a (longer?) delay on fade-out. Looking at it more closely, I think it does check that the cursor has stopped. Moving left to right across a link won't trigger the popup even if you're over it for a long time. So is it just the fade that makes opening feel slow?
I'm not totally sure whether I'd like it better without the fade. Since I don't see a way to turn it off there's no easy way to find out.
The straightforward way most people use screenshots nowadays is to paste in Slack/Messenger/Google doc. Seems like a no-brainer for the default to be "copy to clipboard", but instead it's "upload to servers with no indication of this on the first click".
can Firefox's screenshot tool be disabled? I'd like to switch back from Chrome due to Big Brother concerns but not if Firefox is making questionable choices like this.
Outside of the browser, fire up the screenshot tool, crop whatever you want to show, save it, upload it to imgur or website of choice, attach or paste it.
I would liken the tool to Fedora's amazing fpaste tool, which you invoke via the following:
foo | fpaste
fpaste also takes several safety precautions such as static URLs that delete themselves after 24 hours.
So I can see Screenshots being very useful for that purpose. It just needs to be better about disclosing what it's doing.
cat verysecret.csv | cut -f 1 -d ' ' |fpaste -z -x -a
If you accidentally fpasted something sensitive, you're given a deactivation link to remove it immediately.
Screenshot in firefox is aware of the page, you can select the appropriate html tag visually.
Actually I thought they removed it in recent Nighlty and was looking for it, after few days I found it in the triple dot, (just next to the start and pocket icons).
I remember recent HN submissions about Mozilla sharing information with Google...
I saw that too, but it seems the only way to do it is the old ctrl+shift+i and use the dev screen shot tool after enabling it in the toolbox. This method does always save locally though.
I'm also might not upgrade to quantum because I will lose my status bar (status 4 evar addon). I don't understand how people browse the web but can't see where links are taking them. Showing me where the link points when I hover the mouse over it is something so fundamental to browsing I just can't figure out why it was ever removed. I think by default it eventually shows up in a tiny popup but it doesn't show the full link and the delay is infuriating.