I thought it had had that for twenty years?
Yeah I don't know why profiles itself are being mentioned as a new thing. What's new is the more convenient interface for them
you don't like about:profiles?
Show of Hands:
Who's heard of "about:profiles"?
🦗🦗🦗
Been using it for years.
Been using multi account containers [1] for a couple weeks, complete with per-tab-SSL vpns.
[1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/
Wait till you hear about:about
I use it so much I have the tab pinned
uhhh, this has been a thing for a long time already. I don't know whats new here. put about:profiles in your url bar for anyone uses a firefox based browser.
The UI was clearly not user friendly.
This should have been a feature 10 years ago
It was.
It wasn't. It was a hidden feature.
But it was a feature
The screeshots shows functionality that the current profile/profile launch UI already has. Choose, create, ask on startup.
Right now it's hidden behind a startup parameter. But honestly, I would prefer a UI between the current one and the new one. That screenshot looks like it would reduce usability through big spacing and suboptimal alignment. At least judging by my preferences.
I guess adding a picture is nice. But does it have to be that huge and prominent?
This only works on Windows. For Macs and maybe Linux, you have to run this command to bring up a different profile:
/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -p
As best I can tell, there's no way to make this into a shortcut that you could just click on. This change will be good and allow me to launch them without invoking that command in terminal several times after rebooting my computer.
In Windows it's the same. Though the parameter is -P (uppercase) not -p. That's why the comment said "it’s hidden behind a startup parameter".
As best I can tell, there’s no way to make this into a shortcut that you could just click on.
I dont know about Mac, but in Linux you can just manually make a .desktop file to have as a shortcut to call firefox -P, or better a shortcut to a specific profile with firefox -P <profile>. Though what I often do is keep a bookmark to about:profiles and open a new window from there.
Bro is still on Windows 7
Impressive that theyre finally adding a feature that ive already been using. Makes you wonder how they do that
A feature that has been present for 20 years, but never exposed in the interface. Truly magical.
I already use profiles in Firefox but this looks a much better interface for managing them.
took em long enough.
I this a reskin of about:profiles?
about:profiles always worked for me. And the profile manager. I don't need a 3rd ui for switching profiles.
The new one is a much better experience. It works like profiles in chrome now. The old one is still there for you to use if you prefer.
It works like profiles in chrome now.
Is it gonna pop up obnoxiously every time you start the program?
Is it gonna demand that I create a new profile every time I sign in to Google?
Why would I use this when I have Firefox containers?
separate settings, separate addons, separate about prefs. also for when the PC is used by more than one person but there is only one user account
It's the same as about:profiles
Just an easy way to separate people's browsing histories, cookes, bookmarks, etc I guess. And you can have them sync independently as well. For if other people want to use the same computer
I love containers, but it has a pretty frustrating and unfriendly ui. If something else allowed sorting and categorizing, I think that'd be an upgrade.
It's great having a separate profile for when you tell bbc iPlayer you have a tv licence.
Multiple accounts on the same websites with different cookies for each one.
That's what containers do.
Yay, a 25 year old feature with a new UI design.
I'm using FF as my daily driver, but I feel my hatred for Mozilla soon reaches the level of my hatred for Google.
I do wonder (just in my head, there's no hint to that in the public) if all that money Google pays to Mozilla somewhere has a no-competition clause which says FF must stay more shitty than Chrome.
I'm not consciously of one Innovation out of Mozilla that made FF a better browser, and a lot of interesting stuff has been canceled.
It's still an OK browser, but it is like it was 15 years ago. While I watch colleagues using chrome reskins which have great tab management (amazing when you use Jira). Only now that we have LLMs people turn browsers into agents - why the fuck is there no cross - request scripting (go to google, search for this, click on 2nd result...). Yeah we have developer tools like puppeteer for that, but having - say python or js to do so would make people use it more frequently.
Browser history. Ah damn, a day ago I saw a page that explained how to do xx with yy while considering zz. How great some decent browse history would be. (And yes, FF, keep it all, but only when I'm at http://weirdkinkyporn.com/, please just store it for a few hours). A single keyword for history search IS NOT ENOUGH. I need to isolate things by adding a number of things, because if I knew the word I'm searching for, I'd just google it anyways.
Yeah, so much more things you could do (and the above ideas are just half - baked thoughts).
But Mozilla needa tha sweeet CEO payments. There's no money for experimental stuff.
About a month ago, I ranted about that with a few friends, afterwards I rage-contributed to the Servo project.
I just wish Google would cut off that Mozilla money, I really believe that would improve competition.
That no-compete agreement is a product of my imagination, but things really feel like that.
Fuck Mozilla.
Uhm ... is this perhaps for the android browser then?
The desktop browser has had this for a long long time, though in recent builds a bit hidden. I still use various profiles, very handy.
I find multi account containers to be the best workflow ergonomics when it comes to separating logins and sessions. I think having the same bookmarks, theme, etc. is actually nice. But I’m sure many really enjoy profile swapping.
Feels super strange to read this. They had profiles for what, decades now? It just required a simple command line flag.
I mean, this is better, but... Yeah.
So...... about:profiles is what then ‽‽
I wish there was a feature like this on YouTube. I'd love a profile for watching educational videos, a profile for feeding me cool videos when I'm high, and a profile for when my kids want to watch stuff. I'm tired of vibing and listening to music videos only to get hit with a language learning podcast or Disney songs.
It's insane that they have an incognito mode that still serves up ads even though I have premium.
Youtube > Profile picture > Settings > Add or manage your channel(s) > create a channel
You basically get a new "profile" with your own subs, history, profile picture, and comments and premium/channel subscriptions apply to all of them
ooo I might look into this.
fyi; if you have youtube tv, only the main google account will work on that. you'd need a family account for multiple profiles on youtube tv.
I think containers (that Firefox already has) are a much better way to handle this. Profiles, art least the way they are implemented on chrome, feels like a massive downgrade.
It depends on how much separation you need. If you want different bookmarks, history, or settings per, then I believe you need profiles to make that happen.
Ah, makes sense. I don't mind sharing history and have never used bookmarks or customized any settings.
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