Firefox: tabs stand out in the new version

Each month, Edge, Chrome and Firefox “pull the plug” with new versions and new functions, and if the browsers of Microsoft and Google have chosen to compete in the field of speed, their competitor from Mozilla opts for ergonomics and security. The proof with Firefox 89 revealed Monday. The goal is simple: highlight the subject, therefore the web page, and get rid of all the superfluous. In fact, it’s as if Firefox had decided to apply the design of the mobile versions to its desktop version, and all that door a name: Proton. The most striking is the change in the display of the tabs which are deported above the icon bar.

Basically, this takes up the idea of ​​MacOS where each window open takes precedence over the rest. It’s exactly the same with tabs in Firefox that seem to float above the main window. Here, the menu and search bar becomes an accessory, and it is the tab that is at the center of this new version. Moreover, the active window is slightly curved and brighter. Like tool palettes in Photoshop, you can move them wherever you want.

The superfluous is eliminated

Another change, very pleasant on a daily basis: the discretion of notifications. Even if services include notification windows, Firefox has chosen to relegate them to the background so as not to disrupt navigation, and the developers even reveal that some are removed. In the same vein, the browser now blocks the automatic playback of videos, most often advertisements … Everything is therefore done to prevent browsing or reading an article from being disrupted.

In terms of menus, Firefox is inspired by websites with a “hamburger” button symbolized by three horizontal dashes, and when you click on it, you access the most used functions. In fact, the engineers found that Internet users finally used a handful of functions in the different menus, and that it was more ergonomic and quick to bring them together in the same window.

Cookies are isolated to prevent sharing

Finally, security is also at the center of this new version. For several months, Firefox has set itself up as the number 1 enemy of cookies, and now the private browsing mode becomes really private in the sense that the cookies present on a page are isolated from the rest of the navigation. For this new function, Mozilla speaks of a “cookie jar”, each page having its own, advertising agencies cannot collect it to share information with other sites. So no more seeing the same banners on all the sites you visit because you looked at a pair of shoes on a merchant site …

Available for Mac and Windows, Firefox 89 is also available for iOS and Android ; ergonomics and design also undergo the same changes with the desire to provide quick access to the most frequently used functions.