Please -Bring over the classic Edge Favorits experience with pin-able side menu!

Brass Contributor

The Chrome experience with favorites is really subpar and hugely frustrating to use! This is my top peeve to new Chrome Edge..

 

If you have many favs in nested folders to navigate, the cascading menues overlap multiple times. Making it hard to get to your favorite shortcut and even a simple mistake (such as right clicking on wrong place, forces you to click outside of the popup menu, collapsing the whole tree down, or choosing the wonrg favorite, or hovering outside of the opened menu tree etc etc) cause the whole menu to collapse, forcing you to start over.

 

You can’t pin the chrome fav menu open to launch several favorites in rapid succession, you have to redo the whole process.

 

You cannot edit/move/delete favorites in the sidebar, you have to go to a separate view to do that, whereas in Edge classic it was super easy to do, just pin the favs open and manage away in place.

 

For comparison - see screenshots below

 

So: Please, please PLEASE… bring the Edge classic favorite experience back.Chromeium super frustrating menuChromeium super frustrating menu

 

Edge Classic: clean, user friendly, easy to use + + +Edge Classic: clean, user friendly, easy to use + + +

 

 

35 Replies

@Fredrik Ståhlbrandt 

Fred,

Sure agree with you.  Edge #1 looks like one expects, folders & expand, the usual kind of nav tree. Looks good.  The other, not only what you said about a confusing & looking 'messy', but, just drab & dull, almost juvenile-ish.  Edge #1 (approach) is far more intuitive, you're right about that.

Cheers,
Drew

Nice comparison, everything is so clean and sleek in the Edge classic but looks messy in Edge insider

@Fredrik Ståhlbrandt 

 

Hi:

 

I completely agree with your comment. Managing favorites is still a black dot in the new Edge. There are many open posts requesting solutions for current favorites.

 

As it seems that the subject is going for a long time, this is currently using the extension "Neater Bookmarks" that although it is not a wonder, in my case if it improves the navigation by the favorites, and solves the problem that you are posing in your post.

 

I hope that the development team will soon give us some joy with the management of favorites in the new Edge.

 

a greeting

 

-----------------------
(Spanish)

 

Hola:

 

Estoy completamente de acuerdo con tu comentario. La gestion de favoritos todavia es un punto negro en el nuevo Edge. Hay muchos post abiertos solicitando soluciones para los favoritos actuales.

 

Como parece que el tema va para largo, actualmente esto utilizando la extension "Neater Bookmarks" que aunque no es una maravilla, en mi caso si mejora la navegacion por los favoritos, y soluciona el problema que estas planteando en tu post.

 

Confio que el equipo de desarrollo pronto nos de alguna alegria con la gestion de favoritos en el nuevo Edge.

 

Un saludo

Hi, just wanted to say that the forum automatically translate comments so don't worry about translating your comment manually, just write in your language "Spanish" and we will see the English translation automatically :)

@Fredrik StåhlbrandtI completely agree with this comment.  The favorite menu is like a library and mine has so many nested topics that it makes your head spin to navigate through the new construction.  Also, the folders are topics or related links, so if you want to go from one link to another in the same folder, you have to navigate through the maze all over again.  I remember when another of MSW versions was updated, I was frustrated by the loss of some features, but eventually got over it, but this is different.  The only plus I can see is more screen acreage.

@rjwd1234 

Can quickly be an overwhelming forest of brambles. and thick twisted nettles. Frustrating tedium. Hopefully nobody thought it was a time-saver. It's productive...produces frowns.

Cheers,
Drew

@Fredrik Ståhlbrandt 

Thanks for posting about the issue, and for demonstrating the issue so clearly through your screenshots.

 

The Favorites UI has been a constant source of comment/complaint from the beginning, by me and many, many others.  

 

Favorites UI - Kirk.jpg


Although I initially thought that Microsoft would resolve the problem (based on Elliot's response above), it does not seem that Microsoft intends to change the flyouts to a hierarchical list, because the issue no longer appears on the "Feedback" list.

 

The Favorites UI is abominable, in a word. On a 11-13" laptop the UI is unusable, as flyouts quickly start to overlay each other and it becomes just about impossible to use the UI. As far as I am concerned, the UI also creates accessibility issues, because anyone trying to use the UI who has even slightly impaired small-muscle control and/or any level of hand tremor cannot use the menu at all.

 

I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't change this. For a significant number of people, the current Favorites UI is going to be a roadblock.

"I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't change this. For a significant number of people, the current Favorites UI is going to be a roadblock."

doesn't Google chrome use the same style for bookmarks and still has lots of users? or is there any issues and differences between how Edge insider and Google chrome handle their bookmarks menu?
A couple of things on this I guess;
That there are a lot of Chrome users is not necessarily suggestive that the Chrome favorites experience is good, it might just mean that they accept it as a “lesser” problem for the “greater” overall benefit. – I won’t try to speak for them though, it’s just that for me the current Chrome experience is like stepping back a decade in user friendliness,

On the personal side of it is that I have seen/used and lived with the (imo) far superior classic edge fav experience, and as such also suffer from the clunky, user unfriendly and generally bad fav experience and thus would like to get the superior one rolled into Chromium.

As to the diff between Chrome and Chromium Edge users – it could be as simple that we on the Chromium Edge side of things actually know the subjectively better way whilst Chrome users might not have that previous experience?

@HotCakeX 

Sorry - I meant Favorites Pane for Edge Classic (+) and not sure what it is called in Chromium Edge/Chrome - Favorites Menu/Fly out?

I like one thing about Google Chrome and I think Microsoft should follow that too: Simplicity.
that's Google chrome's motto.
flyout menu, sliding menu, things like that are not simple. in Google chrome there is an arrow, you click/touch it and all the bookmarks are there, no more messing around. easy and fast access to the bookmarks.
there are cluttered browsers like Opera (lots of variants), Firefox etc, fully of unnecessary features. none of them have any significant user base.
for Chromium based browsers, extensions are available, so everyone can customize their browsers the way they want without forcing their opinions on others to accept it. that's very important.

@HotCakeX  "doesn't Google chrome use the same style for bookmarks and still has lots of users?"

 

Lots of people eat way too much fast food, too. That doesn't mean that the food is good.  It just means that a lot of people eat it.

 

@Fredrik Ståhlbrandt "That there are a lot of Chrome users is not necessarily suggestive that the Chrome favorites experience is good, it might just mean that they accept it as a “lesser” problem for the “greater” overall benefit."

 

I agree. The fact that a lot of people have learned to tolerate a poor design is not a reason to replicate it.

 

@Fredrik Ståhlbrandt "I won’t try to speak for them though, it’s just that for me the current Chrome experience is like stepping back a decade in user friendliness."

 

I agree with this, too. Flyout menu design was "the thing" 1995-2005 and Chromium picked it up. But that doesn't mean that it was a good UI solution (even at the time) and it certainly doesn't mean that it should be continued.  EdgeChromium is, as far as I know, the only element of Windows using the flyout UI at this point.  The inconsistency in design motif is glaring.

So you want to force people to use a different UI just because you think it's good for them?

yes people use fast foot a lot but it doesn't matter whether it's good for them or not, who are we to decide?

extensions are made to give people choices.

@HotCakeX "So you want to force people to use a different UI just because you think it's good for them? yes people use fast foot a lot but it doesn't matter whether it's good for them or not, who are we to decide? extensions are made to give people choices."

 

The question we are discussing is which Favorites UI (that is, flyout or nested list) should be the default, not whether extensions allow users to modify the default. 

 

You mentioned in a previous comment that "Simplicity" is a Chrome attribute that you think Microsoft should follow.  Let me ask you, then, looking at Fredrik Ståhlbrandt's screenshots:  "Which is the simpler to comprehend and use, a flyout UI or a nested list UI?" 

 

The nested list UI is used throughout Windows 10.  If the flyout UI is superior for some reason -- and I have yet to see anyone defend it on technical or usability grounds in this Forum -- then perhaps we are barking up the wrong tree.  Instead of asking Microsoft to change the default UI in EdgeChromium from flyout to nested, perhaps we should be asking Microsoft to change the default UI everywhere else from nested list UI to flyout UI.

Everywhere else on Windows 10 is fine, no need to change that.
Flyout menu is simpler but Microsoft made it too big that's why it's worse than Google chrome's bookmark menu. also the logic of nested bookmark folders in the current flyout menu needs improvements, it sometimes opens to the left and sometimes to the right and overlay other entries.

@HotCakeX "Flyout menu is simpler but Microsoft made it too big that's why it's worse than Google chrome's bookmark menu. also the logic of nested bookmark folders in the current flyout menu needs improvements, it sometimes opens to the left and sometimes to the right and overlay other entries."

 

I'll take your word for all of it, but I am getting identical results using EdgeChromium and Google Chrome on my test machine.

 

Google Chrome (the red box indicates the active menu):

 

Flyout-1.jpg

 

EdgeChromium (the red box indicates the active menu):

 

Flyout-2.jpg

 

I wonder if we are ships passing in the night. 

 

I'm concerned with the issues inherent in the flyout menu motif itself (see Fredrik's, Drew's and my comments for examples) rather than the possible slight differences in the way that motif is implemented by EdgeChromium and Google Chome.  Like the many others who have commented over the months on this Forum, I would like Microsoft to abandon the flyout UI entirely and return to the nested list UI used in EdgeClassic.

 

Nested List (red box indicates the menu marked in the earlier screenshots):

 

Flyout-NOT.jpg

 

I hope that this demonstrates the concern we have about the flyout UI in both Google Chrome and EdgeChromium.  It is, in my view, significantly more difficult for users to comprehend and to use.

 

But, to keep the ship analogy going a fathom too far, perhaps, I think that the EdgeChromium UI ship has sailed, and EdgeChromium will be using the flyout motif going forward.  We've been discussing this since April, Microsoft doesn't seem to have the issue on a "to-do" list, EdgeChromium is six weeks away from launch, and there is little or no chance that we will see the change.

 

You've mentioned that those us who prefer (or for accessibility reasons, need) a nested list rather than a flyout can switch over by using an extension.  Can you point us to the extension you recommend?

 

The one in your screenshot looks fine (all of the nested folders open to the left) but the one in OP's screenshot looks messy. left, right, left, right etc.
when I see his screenshot, makes me think that the favorites menu in Edge is too big for Google chrome's style but seeing Your screenshot shows that it's fine! confusing lol. probably because of smaller/larger screen sizes?
I don't know how Microsoft can skip this..for now i will say they are busy with more important and fundamental features/missing features but at some point some of the team members should try this new Edge themselves and fix the bugs they see.
I don't know how they are handling feedbacks, they are getting so many and lots of useful feedbacks are being missed. they said last month they got 240,000. who is gonna read all of them one by one and consider them? by now i bet the number is 300,000.

for a simple extension to make bookmarks look like in Edge classic, nested inside each other, try this:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/simple-bookmarks/nafmgkhgdblkabfjfegmafagpccaobfg

@HotCakeX  "The one in your screenshot looks fine (all of the nested folders open to the left) but the one in OP's screenshot looks messy. left, right, left, right etc."

 

You might want to look at the screenshots I posted again if you think that "all of the nested folders open to the left". Look more closely at each flyout menu: (1) the first flyout menu (Level 2, Subcategory: Technology) opens to the left; (2) the second flyout menu (Level 3, Subcategory: Technology, Linux) also opens to the left; (3) the third flyout menu (Level 4, Subcategory: Technology, Linux, Virtual Machines -- the red boxed active menu) opens to the right, overlaying the first flyout menu.

 

Google Chrome:

Flyout-1.jpg

 

EdgeChromium:

Flyout-2.jpg

 

That happens in both Chrome and EdgeChromium, as the screenshots clearly demonstrate.

 

"[W]hen I see his screenshot, makes me think that the favorites menu in Edge is too big for Google chrome's style but seeing Your screenshot shows that it's fine! confusing lol. probably because of smaller/larger screen sizes?"

 

Screen resolution is a factor. At 1920x1080 resolution (most desktops and 17" laptops), all menus open to the left. At 1366x768 resolution (most laptops below 17"), menus open left/right and overlay each other, as shown in the screenshots.

 

But it is not an issue with "the favorites menu in Edge is too big for Google chrome's style" because the results in Google Chrome and EdgeChromium do exactly the same thing in this respect.

 

"I don't know how they are handling feedbacks, they are getting so many and lots of useful feedbacks are being missed. they said last month they got 240,000. who is gonna read all of them one by one and consider them? by now i bet the number is 300,000."

 

I understand what you are saying, but (a) the way in which EdgeChromium handles Favorites (EdgeChromium flyout versus EdgeClassic nested list) is pretty basic, a fundamental element of the EdgeClassic UI that differentiated EdgeClassic from Google Chrome, and (b) lots and lots of people have been discussing it in this Forum over the last seven months.

 

I suppose that it is possible that the issue was overlooked, but it is hard for me to imagine how.  Anyone opening the Favorites UI would immediately notice the difference.

 

The bottom line, though, is that the complaints about the Chrome-cloned EdgeChromium flyout motif are about usability and functionality, not about "look". The flyout motif has inherent, fundamental flaws in both respects (again, I suggest that you look at the comments to this thread) that strongly suggest to those of us who have been commenting about this for the last seven months, that Microsoft got it right in EdgeClassic, and Google didn't get it right in Chrome.

 

"for a simple extension to make bookmarks look like in Edge classic, nested inside each other, try this"

 

I looked at both "Simple Bookmarks" (the link you posted) and "Neater Bookmarks" (the two nested list Chrome extensions that seem to be most highly regarded) this morning on my test machine. Both work similarly. As workarounds, both are okay, but don't approximate the functionality of the EdgeClassic nested list, which is, after all, integrated into the browser itself.  

 

But if we need an extension to make EdgeChromium work in the way that EdgeClassic works (and it works very well in this respect), then so be it.  Extension it  will be.