Chrome 76 style extension toolbar menu

[keeganwitt]

Chrome 76 introduced a menu to allow you to easily choose which toolbar icons are hidden in the menu and which aren't (that is, which are pinned).  I personally think this is an improvement in usability and something Edge should consider adopting.

[#2]

@keeganwitt 

Hi,

I think it is in conflict with current Edge's implementation.

you can already pin extension icons to the menu and the menu is the ellipsis menu (...)

I personally don't see the necessity to have a 2nd menu for Edge extensions. why do you exactly feel like you need a 2nd menu?

also, if they do that, right-click and choosing move to menu would be confusing, because the users think which menu! 

right now if you drag the right edge of the address bar and move it to the right, all the extension icons are moved to the menu, it's pretty easy compared to right-clicking on them, one-by-one and choosing move to menu.

[#3]

The current implementation is the same as in previous versions of Chrome, and the new toolbar was in some versions of Edge Canary earlier. The new toolbar menu looks a lot more attractive as the colored extension icons look unnatural in the monotonous main three-dots context menu (especially if I hide only one extension).

[#4]

Yeah I remember that, so this new extension list should replace the current implementation and not coexist with it.
and I see at the end it has "mange extensions" options which is a duplicate of "extensions" in Edge (...) menu.

I mean I see this is a "new" implementation, but something that's new doesn't necessarily mean better. just changing little details from here to there doesn't make it useful.

right now in Edge, you can right-click on each extension for all the extension options. in Chrome you need to left-click. that's not really an improvement.

" The new toolbar menu looks a lot more attractive as the colored extension icons look unnatural in the monotonous main three-dots context menu (especially if I hide only one extension)"

well maybe to you, but to me the Chrome's extension toolbar looks weird because of the black background and all the colored extension icons.

and they added a scrollbar, which is one more unnecessary step, specially in desktop screens. in Edge, extension icons can be located next to each other.

and even if that's the case, then you can do 2 other things instead of this:

1. request to change the color of the Edge ellipsis menu background
2. let themes change the color of ellipsis menu background.

so yes I think Chrome's extension toolbar would be a regression if Edge implemented the same thing.

[#5]

Can say nothing about dark theme, but in light it looks pretty good (+ Chrome's dark theme is actually black when Edge's is gray, so nothing will change).
It is not a regression, because the new popup has a lot of pros, such as displaying at a glance which extensions have access to web page, and which is not, more intuitive pinning of extensions and now I don't have to remember which extension corresponds to which icon => faster finding the desired extension on the screen if there are many.

[#6]

@msekmfb1 

Spoiler

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@msekmfb1 wrote:
Can say nothing about dark theme, but in light it looks pretty good (+ Chrome's dark theme is actually black when Edge's is gray, so nothing will change).
It is not a regression, because the new popup has a lot of pros, such as displaying at a glance which extensions have access to web page, and which is not, more intuitive pinning of extensions and now I don't have to remember which extension corresponds to which icon => faster finding the desired extension on the screen if there are many.

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displaying at a glance which extensions have access to web page, Edge's current implementation allows for that too. extension icons with white circle and in this form are inactive, the rest are active for that website or set for on-click activation.

it's a clear indication imo

like you said it only might be good for showing the names next to icons for quickly finding which extension is which if their icons are too similar, although you can hover over or touch the icon to see their names on Edge too.

[#7]

I agree this would replace and not supplement the current layout.  I also recognize this is a bit of a matter of taste, which is why I said in the original post that I personally found it more usable.  Here's why, specifically:

1. Ability to move icons around in 1 click, rather than click & drag or right-clicking then selecting "move to menu" is better.  Fewer clicks is more convenient.
2. The vertical list is a superior way of displaying extensions when there are many of them.  The old Chrome (and current Edge) display wraps icons onto a second horizontal row if it overflows the space in the first row.
3. Vertically placing icons allows you to display additional information, such as the name (I know you can hover this, but seeing at a glance is faster, and therefore better), and extension permissions.  This last point wasn't captured in my original screenshot, so there's a screenshot showing how this looks in Chrome below.

[#8]

Correct, but this in current implementation they aren't sorted and it is a bit difficult to determine if the extension has access to the site or not, if its icon is already white;

[#9]

FYI, it looks like the latest Dev build includes this change.

[#10]

Yup, it did, and now I really like it since it's Edge's own implementation and not coming from Chromium.
this extension button makes extensions easier to use and manage.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/articles/introducing-the-new-extensions-menu-on-the-toolbar/m...