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Firefox's New Mini Window Is Every Multitasker's Dream (zdnet.com) 51

Posted by BeauHD from the browser-window-within-a-window dept.
Mozilla is testing a new Firefox Nightly feature called Mini Window that lets users pop an entire webpage into a small, always-on-top window stripped of most browser controls. "The idea behind the Firefox Mini Window feature is simple: allow users to move a currently open tab (or a section of a tab) into a separate mini window," writes ZDNet's Jack Wallen. "Think of it as moving a tab from one window to what appears like a web app." From the report: At first blush, there's no address bar, controls, scroll bar, or anything else that would normally be associated with Firefox. The Mini Window appears to be a web app, without having to actually create it. However, when I hover my cursor inside the Mini Window, I do see the address bar, the back/forward/reload buttons, and the window close button -- and that's it. The browser gets out of your way, so the only thing I see is the content.

On top of that (pun intended), the Mini Window stays on top of other Firefox windows, so I can have that popped-out content always in focus while I work on other things. This feature comes in handy when I'm working with limited display space (say, on a laptop) and need to reference a page while working on another. For multitasking, it comes in very handy. [...] Let's say I'm writing a paper on Linux and need to read a particular article for background information. I could have my document open in the main window, and then open the article in question in a Mini Window. I could then reference the article without having to click back and forth between them -- even when working on a smaller display.

Here's another use case I've found: When using MacOS's Stage Manager feature, I only have one window available at a time. The Mini Window bypasses that limitation, so I can have my main browser window focused as well as the page open in the Mini Window. Another handy way I like to use Mini Window is to open a favorite search engine, move it to a Mini Window, and then I have an always-ready search tool at my fingertips. I could also open my favorite AI service and use it in the same way.

Firefox's New Mini Window Is Every Multitasker's Dream More | Reply

Firefox's New Mini Window Is Every Multitasker's Dream

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  • I will call him Mini-Me (Score:4, Funny)

    by jfdavis668 ( 1414919 ) on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @04:20PM (#66408382)
    Now Firefox just needs a laser

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shanen ( 462549 )

      Or fix the bug in the History menu for recovering recent tabs. (But perhaps that was a transient failure overlooked in the regression testing?)

  • What I tend to do is drag a tab and drop it on the other 1/2 or 1/4 of the screen whilst I keep my main tab on the first tab. Doing this more surgically, like in the video looks interesting for specific cases, not sure if I'd go our of my way to select the exact bit that needs to be shown when I can get that already by throwing a tab to the side already.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gr8dude ( 832945 )

      Maybe this could grow into something akin to a "print-friendly view" or a "mobile-friendly view" - where a special style is applied to the page to adapt it to a specific situation. Imagine that we have a new option like the ones before, call it "widget view" - where the page is shrunk to its essence. For a music streaming site, the essence could be "pause/resume, prev, next", etc. For a stock market site, it could be a specific ticker of an ETF or a share, etc. For a social media site - it could be the reac

  • It looks cute, but I do not see myself using it often.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by garcia ( 6573 )

      I have been using ScreenFloat (and similar tooling) for decades; those are more useful than this because it works on every application and not just the browser.

      It's quite possible I am missing something from their demo, but based on what they show: 1) it's just for Firefox; and, 2) it's really kind of a pain in the ass to use.

  • My preference on Linux is disabling raise in click and sloppy focus. You get something more powerful that what it see here. For all of the features macOS assimilated, this is the feature I most want. The feature on Firefox is a bandaid.

    • I think we do the same thing, I set focus follows mouse as the first thing I do on a new box. Click to focus is just the worst for me. And that auto-raise thing, satan came up with that one. But I do get it, everyone works differently, which is why I like *NIX, you get to pick. Well, maybe not in wayland, not sure, still use X11. For those who use click to focus, why the preference?

      • I sometimes flick my mouse cursor out of the way and don't want to worry about where it lands. I used to use sloppy focus but eventually went to click.

        • Interesting, mouse cursor never bothered me, but like I said before, everyone is different, and *NIX lets us all have our preference. I don't think apple offers the option, one of the reasons I never adopted apple. For me I expect ancient muscle memory. Pretty sure suntools used focus follows.

      • Re:Reminds me of disabling raise on click (Score:5, Insightful)

        by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @07:02PM (#66408674)

        I often have multiple programs partially overlapping, and dragging the cursor from side to side raises the middle app(s) when that's not where I'm going. I find that distracting and annoying.

        It may be my ADHD. There are several other newer UI features that I detest and spend stupid amounts of time figuring out how to squelch. "Smooth" scrolling? To me it's just the opposite - I call it jerky scrolling, and it drives me nuts. I kill that fucker wherever I can.

        Then there are scrollbars that are pencil-line-thin until the cursor hits them; at which point they widen to Sharpie-line thin, which is still too narrow to be usable. Give me a scrollbar wide enough to grab, with steppers, then leave it the fuck alone so I don't have to play whac-a-mole to use it. Ditto for window controls.

        I have nine different text files describing how to get the UI (mostly) the way I want it, in a folder called Fix_UI_Fuckery. Not that I'm fussy or anything...

        • I don't use auto raise ever. Moving the cursor in my setup changes only focus, never stacking. I click to bring things forward.

          • For years I used fvwm and reprogrammed the UI as follows:

            1) remove all the window decorations.

            2) program the extra two mouse side buttons to either move or resize the window under the pointer. Unlike decorated windows, there's no need to target the narrow frame, you can just stretch the window from the center, or grab and move it from anywhere inside.

            3) focus follows mouse. If I really want to I can raise the window with a key.

            4) Hotkey to open a terminal. Terminal appears under the mouse, ready to be

        • Re:Reminds me of disabling raise on click (Score:5, Insightful)

          by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @08:21PM (#66408772) Homepage Journal

          Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh I despise narrow scrollbars. This is one of the many sins of modern Firefox I've had to fix again and again. Every time I fix it, they break the fix or even undo my settings within a few months.

        • Then there are scrollbars that are pencil-line-thin until the cursor hits them; at which point they widen to Sharpie-line thin, which is still too narrow to be usable. Give me a scrollbar wide enough to grab, with steppers, then leave it the fuck alone so I don't have to play whac-a-mole to use it. Ditto for window controls.

          I agree 100%, this sucks.... Unless I am on a low-resolution screen (for whatever reason). Then it's great for the UI stuff to be hidden so I have more room for whatever I am actually looking at or reading. But, as stabiesoft said, that's why Linux is great, we can adjust it to suit.

          I have nine different text files describing how to get the UI (mostly) the way I want it, in a folder called Fix_UI_Fuckery. Not that I'm fussy or anything...

          I don't think it's fussy. Ergonomics are important, and ergonomics is not just about buying really expensive office furniture or an ostentatious keyboard. I might add a similar folder to my /home directory for next time. I just

          • Android keeps moving settings around, hiding them, or removing my ability to change things at all.

            That's why on my new-to-me Pixel 7a I have LineageOS 21 - already quite old - and will probably never update it. I don't keep a lot of stuff on my phone anyway because I do real work only on my laptop; so security isn't as much of a issue for me as it is for most phone users. With various programs available on F-Droid and - irony of ironies - a LOT of help from Google AI, I'm getting rid of some of Google's shitty UI and aesthetic choices. There's still stuff I can't fix, but at least the phone is now usabl

            • That's why on my new-to-me Pixel 7a I have LineageOS 21 - already quite old - and will probably never update it.

              Thanks for the info. It looks like LineageOS is supported on my Zinwa Q25 (proper qwerty keyboard! SD card! Headphone jack!) so I really should give it a try. My bank insists that I install their stupid app, but apart from that I don't need much else besides a web browser and Organic Maps.

              • Best of luck with the bank app - I hope that works out for you.

                Before you start the process, do lots of research with your specific phone in mind. Phones other than major ones such as Pixel, Samsung, and Motorola may have limited support on forums simply because fewer people use them.

                Bricking a phone is a real possibility - I did it once - so be careful. The recent LineageOS install I did on a Pixel 7a was made hugely easier with help from Google AI, of all things. As always you have to take what it says wi

      • Are you talking about that thing where whichever window your pointer is over jumps to the front? I hate that. Where my pointer ends up is probably where I want the focus (unless I'm just moving it for the heck of it, which I do), not the windows between there and where it starts. I find it incredibly distracting and it makes a mess of my desktop, hiding the things I want now in favor of the things I don't.

        Maybe it's a difference in how we work. I tend to have a lot of overlapping windows floating aro

        • Nope, you are thinking of auto-raise. Something I also dislike. No focus follows mouse just says keyboard events go to the window the mouse is over. Click to focus says keyboard events go to the window that was last clicked in. There are some derivatives like sloppy focus. I think these come into play with new windows, what happens when a window is destroyed over the mouse position and no underlying window exists under the mouse, .... My preference is strict focus follows. I want keyboard events going to th
  • Overlay windows often just get in the way, most of the time. A small overlay window might work for video or audio but Split view is where it is at plus separate desktops.

    Dream Bigger!

  • So this is for people who don't understand how to use their native window manager to split-screen two windows and that also don't know about alt-tab? So, uh, all three firefox users in that situation might appreciate it I guess. Oh wait, no they won't, since they won't ever know about it.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Tarlus ( 1000874 )

      Having a bunch of tiny Firefox windows tiled across my screen wastes a lot of useful space if each one has to have its own toolbar. Alt+tab works, but having everything in sight at the same time might be more intuitive more intuitive.

      I could see use cases where this might be handy but severely crippled if you cannot disable the always-on-top behavior, or if the OS cannot tile the windows like everything else.

      Personally I just map my screenshot application to F11 and leave snapshots of things open till I no

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by eriks ( 31863 )

        I guess that's true, but for exactly two windows on a reasonably large, widescreen display, there's *plenty* of real-estate for two firefox (or whatever application) windows. A second screen is sometimes better, but sometimes I don't want the other thing on a different screen, I want two windows, each half-screen, which (in most popular WMs) is: drag one window to the left edge: boom, one half screen window. Drag another to the right edge: boom, two half screen windows. I still don't understand how this

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by allo ( 1728082 )

        Vivaldi solved this years ago by a pseudo-fullscreen. You hit ctrl-F11 (I think) and it hides all toolbars but keeps the window decoration and window size.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ffkom ( 3519199 )

      So this is for people who don't understand how to use their native window manager to split-screen two windows and that also don't know about alt-tab?

      Exactly my first thought when I read this, too. "Let's include a window-manager in our application, because the user cannot be bothered to know he already has one running." - just crazy.

    • Why would you split the screen in two if the content isn't sized such that splitting the screen in two would make sense? Why would you want to waste space on a task bar when not needed? Why does none of this have the benefit of an always on top window that actually allows you to maximise space by overlaying content onto dead space of other windows?

      Yeah I'm sure you there's people who don't understand window management here, you can find one staring at you in the mirror.

  • I get it, pop-out video is good so pop-out everything is better.

    Why is this better than a browser tab, the recently-added split-screen in browser, or a GUI second desktop? This is a substitute for a second desktop, or a second browser: Put the required page into the pop-out, then switch from the browser to another application, while keeping the pop-out visible.

    With most work being done in a browser, including Microsoft Office, a pop-out tool is too little, too late for many workflows. (Office Help i

    • A videocall window can pop out while you go hunting for a different tab. That's the usecase I see.

      tbh I feel most workflows involving the browser suck really bad, from email to code review. And all that comes from having a single "presentation layer" - no windows.

  • Overlapping content (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Waccoon ( 1186667 ) on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @10:28PM (#66408820)

    Arrrgh... I hate this continued trend of overlapping UI controls over the content. In the screenshots from the article, you can clearly see the minimize and close gadgets rendered on the page content, and not on a separate menu bar. Even if it appears/disappears on rollover, it's incredibly annoying.

    And don't get me started on controls that disappear when they are not in focus. This kind of "magic" behavior destroys usability. I HATE it when scroll bars disappear or change in scale, and when they do appear, they overlap the content. It defeats the whole point of having them there in the first place.

    Good UI designers don't do crap like this. We've understood stuff like this since the 80's, when screen real estate genuinely was precious. There's no excuse to do this kind of crap today, even on a tablet. It's just artists showing off, as usual.

  • writing a paper on Linux - anyone doing that should know this has been available for years and for any gui program. I frequently use it, especially with webpages that are too stupid to just arrange their text parts in space I give them. But often also with text editors, reference images etc. They are basically doing the window management job in browser. Have seen that in a handful of specialized software. Did not work well in any of those. Sluggish as hell, you expect more window management functions to jus

  • Arg (Score:1)

    by Ashard ( 926700 )
    Just what I needed, another way to loose pinned tabs. lol, that beings said the concept does sound like it might be good.

  • If I needed to do this, I'd drag one tab to the RHS to snap it to the right half of the screen, and drag the other tab to the LHS to snap it to the left half of the screen, then write things up. On OSX, I have Magnet installed, so it would be C-O-left or C-O-right, but same basic idea (Magnet can do the drag-snap, but I find it interacts poorly with virtual desktops).

  • Maybe obvious to me, but it's somehow taken this long....

  • This is cool I guess, but why don't windowing systems outside of the Linux desktops support anything but the basic stack of windows? I used to use Fluxbox or other systems where you could do a lot more than what Mac OS or Windows allow. I could interact with any window on any layer without changing which window is on top of the others. etc etc. I think it's silly this is not built into every windowing system. Maybe not for EVERYBODY, but there should be more options.

  • As a GenXer, I detest video content, especially these new long-winded (for monetization purposes) "short" formats. Unfortunately that is all we get sometimes.

    I hope I can use this to have the video playing in a corner, at x1.5 or x2.0 speed, while I do some further reading, so as not to fall asleep while watching the video alone.

    I guess I should get around to play a bit more with LLMs to extract the main points and give me an executive summary.

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