I am always happy to see more xul going away.
Please implement a filter to only show modified preferences. Sorting
by modified is probably my most common operation after search on the
old page.
Thanks
On Fri, Jan 25, 2019 at 11:40 AM Axel Hecht <l...@mozilla.com> wrote:
>
> Is there a tracking bug for follow-ups?
>
> I'd have a few, adding pref w/out search (*), show add on screen for
> long searches, filter/order by modified, search in values, can't
abort
edit.
>
> (*) I just realize that I didn't understand how "add" works. Maybe
the
> bug is to make that discoverable?
>
> Axel
>
> Am 24.01.19 um 20:31 schrieb Paolo Amadini:
> > Last year a group of students, Luke, Matthias, and Vincent,
designed
and
> > implemented a new version of "about:config" in order to improve
the
> > ergonomics and align the look and feel with other in-content
Firefox
> > pages. They did an amazing job, working with design input from Amy
Lee
> > and with myself doing code reviews.
> >
> > I'm happy to announce that this work will be available to everyone
in
> > Firefox 67, and can be already used in Nightly at this URL:
> >
> > chrome://browser/content/aboutconfig/aboutconfig.html
> >
> > Most improvements are the natural result of using HTML instead of
XUL:
> >
> > * There are visible buttons for editing preferences
> > * String values are displayed in full as multiline text
> > * Find in page works for both names and values
> > * Triple click selects one preference name or value quickly
> > * Text selection works on multiple preferences
> > * The context menu is the same as regular web pages
> > - Copy to the clipboard
> > - Open selected link
> > - Search with your preferred engine
> > * Search results don't include spurious value matches anymore
> > * Closing and reopening the browser while the tab is pinned
> > preserves the search term
> >
> > We've not just converted the old page, we've designed something
new
> > based on actual use cases, telemetry data, and opportunity cost.
We
> > preferred natural HTML page interactions, for example a double
click
now
> > selects text instead of toggling the value. The way the page is
explored
> > with screen readers has also changed, and we've ensured that the
new
way
> > is still clear and easy to use.
> >
> > We're still keeping the old "about:config" around at the following
URL
> > for a while, to mitigate risk related to unforeseen circumstances:
> >
> > chrome://global/content/config.xul
> >
> > Thunderbird will not be affected by this change initially, but at
some
> > point we'll remove the old code from mozilla-central since
Thunderbird
> > will be the only remaining user.
> >
> >
> > *Performance*
> >
> > This page can be slower than the old one in some cases. On slower
> > machines the page may take a moment to display all preferences, if
you
> > so choose. We worked around this by waiting for the first input
before
> > displaying results, as 93% of "about:config" page shows include a
search
> > anyway. Navigation, scrolling, and find in page are then fast.
> >
> > We've used performance profiling to optimize the page and avoid
the
> > slowest layout modes, but we've not compromised on using the
latest
> > best practices for Firefox Desktop like Fluent localization, which
are
> > anyways in the process of being optimized on their own.
> >
> > We've explicitly chosen to avoid virtualizing the list, that is
only
> > rendering visible DOM nodes, because this would add complexity
that is
> > not needed for an internal page. It would also nullify most of the
> > advantages in accessibility and usability that we gained at a low
cost
> > just because we're using a simple HTML table. Effort would be
better
> > spent on optimizing the web for the layout of tables of about
3,000
> > rows, which would benefit every web site instead of Firefox only.
> >
> >
> > *Tutorials and screenshots on the web*
> >
> > While with some features there is a concern that a change would
make it
> > more difficult for users to follow instructions found in older
tutorials
> > on the web, this is much less of a concern in this case, given
that the
> > page caters to experienced users and the changes affect
presentation
> > rather than actual functionality.
> >
> > In fact, existing information on the web can more easily become
obsolete
> > because the preferences go away or change their meaning, rather
than
> > because of a change in how the values can be changed.
> >
> >
> > *Features that have not been rewritten*
> >
> > If the new page is missing a feature that the old one used to
have,
> > there is probably a good reason. Luke added telemetry probes to
the
> > current "about:config" so we know how people use it. It's
basically
just
> > one mode of operation across all channels: search, then maybe edit
or
> > add a preference.
> >
> > There are more details in the history section below, but this is
to say
> > that it is unlikely that we would accept a patch to add back a
certain
> > feature just because it used to be present before. All patches
would
> > have to be motivated by an actual need and include exhaustive
> > regression tests.
> >
> > That said, we have ideas for supporting new use cases for browser
> > developers, like pinning a list of favorites or just showing
recently
> > modified preferences first, but we don't plan to start working on
them
> > before the current version reaches Release.
> >
> >
> > *More details on history, motivation, and process*
> >
> > If you're reading this you probably already have a good idea of
what
> > we're talking about, but it's worth stating how we thought about
the
> > project when we approached it.
> >
> > "about:config" allows the occasional modification of application
data
> > that developers have chosen to store using the internal
Preferences
API.
> > This may be operational data, feature flags, or settings that
cannot be
> > modified anywhere else in the user interface because it would be
> > dangerous or rarely needed. This page is used very often by
browser
> > engineers during regular development and occasionally by other
users
> > after reading specific documentation in advance.
> >
> > The original "about:config" page was put together in the remote
past as
> > the "simplest thing that works" for the use case above. At the
time,
> > this involved about 600 lines of JavaScript, a supporting XUL
"tree"
> > element, and a few predefined "alert" and "input" modal dialogs.
While
> > this didn't result in the most comfortable user interface
possible, it
> > served the purpose and we're still using it today with little or
no
> > changes.
> >
> > Now we're in the process of removing XUL from mozilla-central,
including
> > the "tree" widget, and we're taking this opportunity to use
standard
web
> > technologies for more of our internal pages. The practical effect
is
> > that we've improved the user experience of a functionality that
was
> > effectively left unchanged for decades.
> >
> > When rewriting the page, however, we followed the exact same
criteria:
> > simplest thing that works, cheap, and easy to maintain, but
without
XUL.
> > Just reimplementing the same user experience, which was a side
effect
of
> > the cheapest tools available at the time, would have been
unnecessarily
> > expensive today.
> >
> > One good thing with this approach is that the page can feel like
part
of
> > Firefox with little effort, just by using HTML and the default
styles
> > from the Photon design system.
> >
> > Also, thanks to the better web platform that we have today, the
same
use
> > case can be supported using about 400 lines of JavaScript and a
few
> > lines of HTML and CSS, without any external UI components. For
example,
> > we can use HTML5 form validation to get a better user experience
when
> > editing numeric values at a low cost.
> >
> > We've also added extensive regression test coverage as we
progressed,
in
> > line with our usual practices, to ensure easy maintenance going
forward.
> >
> > Thanks again to Luke, Matthias, and Vincent for making all of this
> > possible!
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Paolo
>
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