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Update browser chrome and in-content to reflect changes in ESR 140

Design estimate

  • Complexity: large (6 days)
  • Uncertainty: high (2.0)
  • Total: 12 days (72 hours)
  • Actual: 38h 35m

Context

Vertical tabs

The current iteration of vertical tabs in Fx Nightly features an In-content area that closely resembles Tor Browser's most recent version of letterboxing (aka "betterboxing"). The final design appears to still be in flux, however when these changes hit stable I think we should update our letterbox styling to match.

At present, I don't have any info on whether these changes will land before or after ESR 140. However based on the current designs in Fx Nightly those changes would include:

  • Restore the default browser background outside of the letterbox.
  • Apply the same border (if applicable).
  • Apply the same border radius.
  • Apply the same box shadow.

(Side note: I've noticed various experiments with the border, so I wonder if Moz have encountered the same issues we did in our implementation)

These changes should also close issues tpo/applications/tor-browser#42406, tpo/applications/tor-browser#42676 (closed), and address general complaints from users who found the gradient too distracting.

Address bar

Mozilla have shipped several changes to the address bar in Firefox 137, including a unified search button, search term persistence, secondary action buttons, contextual search mode, contextual search engine options, and intuitive search keywords. Some of these features may be disabled in Tor Browser due to fingerprinting concerns, however some degree of change to the address bar and its associated search functions is to be expected.

Tab groups

Mozilla are progressively rolling out tab groups in Firefox beginning in version 137. This feature allows users to group tabs by color and label.

Issues

Mockups

Check Figma file

Edited by Felicia