Why all the Firefox Start home page animations?
I use the Firefox Start page to avoid Google's annoying logo animations.
Now they are being imposed on me by an organization that touts usability and giving me choices about what I want and don't want.
To be clear, I don't want to have to opt-out of Mozilla's animations. I should be able to "opt-in" if I want them, but that should not be the default.
I feel like these animations are screaming at me, "Give us your money!" These animations do NOT make me want to give any money to the Mozilla Foundation. In fact, they detract significantly from the image of the organization for the above and other reasons.
I followed the steps at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1002975 and was able to remove the annoying animation.
BUT A NOVICE USER WILL NOT BE ABLE TO DO THIS ... DUH MOZILLA!!!!
Why not, at MINIMUM, have a button on the page that says, "Hide Forever" or "Dismiss Permanently"?
Just because corporations like Apple, Inc. don't believe their customers know anything, and thus don't listen to them, doesn't mean every organization and non-profit has to follow in their footsteps!
Mozilla, I hope you're listening.
All Replies (7)
They're just fun animations. They aren't hurting anything, and it isn't advertising. If you don't like animations, don't use the internet.
This support forum isn't the best place to suggest feature changes. Instead, please use the feedback page: https://input.mozilla.org/feedback
Personally I think it would be a good idea to let users vote on the snippets as they rotate through. They would be easy to dismiss and Mozilla would get feedback on which topics are of the most interest.
I wasn't suggesting that this was a feature. It is related to usability, and the usability is hindered by these distracting animations. When software doesn't behave as expected, I can say confidently as a web developer with 10+ years of experience, you have a bug. I'm sorry if the creators of these annoying animations are offended, but I'm sure there are better ways to direct their efforts.
Also, the feature feedback form is not public, so there is less transparency. This forum is public, so it is one way for users to get their voices heard, especially when "features" that we don't want are thrust on us without our consent. Isn't that just becoming the "American" corporate mentality towards consumers today?
I mean, come on, who wants this junk on their start page besides the developers who created it? Did anyone out here ask for it? Who wrote in and said, "Dear Mozilla, I switched to Firefox Start to get away from Google's annoying animated doodles. Now, I changed my mind! I want them back, but I'm too lazy to switch my homepage back, so can you please slow down my CPU and distract my mind for me when I begin my web search by copying Google and adding those annoying things to Firefox Start?"
Just like GMO foods, binding arbitration, and surveillance are "features" that Americans have just been begging for.
Sheesh.
What's not public about the posted feedback page? https://input.mozilla.org/en-US/ A person posts to the Happy / Sad Feedback page and each posted message appears there, within a minute. How does that lack transparency? I suspect that you didn't even try posting any Feedback and as a result you make yourself look foolish over this "not public" thing.
Personally, I object to Mozilla adding or changing content on the default homepage at will, regardless of what that content is about - text or images. I expect an "internal" page not to draw content from outside the browser. When I work off-line I don't want the browser to wait for a timeout for an online connection upon startup.
I block it via a UserStyle or with userContent.css rules. https://userstyles.org/styles/104673/about-home-hide-snippets-and-hide-brand-logo
@-moz-document url(about:home) {
#snippetContainer { display:none !important; }
#brandLogo { display:none !important; } }
You are not really blocking content via code in userContent.css, you only hide it so you do not see it. If you aren't setting the browser.aboutHomeSnippets.updateUrl pref to an empty string value then Firefox will still retrieve the snippets and store them in the Firefox profile folder.
I think you need to cool off and accept that the internet has animations. Let's be honest: these things don't slow down your CPU unless you're running Windows 98 or older. And are they REALLY that distracting? Half the time, I never even notice them.
Hi TomDenver14, maybe my description of a "feature suggestion" was too narrow, but my point is, this forum is like a support emergency room and your comments here won't get the attention you want them to get, and soon will be buried by new posts. If you don't like the input page, there are mailing lists, social media, and other avenues for initiating a discussion.