Proposed Changes to Extension Button Behavior

Brass Contributor

Yesterday, Edge beta updated to version 92, which includes the extension button. I've been looking forward to this feature for a long time. Unfortunately, it was a dissappointment. Let me explain what it does and then propose some changes that I think will make it better.

 

I initially set up the toolbar as follows.

SS1.png

The extension button and the icons for two extensions are visible (bitwarden and a page search extension). I like this setup, but I would like to hide the extension button.

 

This is what happens when I right click on the extension button and hide it. 

SS2.png

All of the extension icons immediately become visible on the toolbar, which is a jarring experience to say the least. The URL box is so small it is useless. The extension button does not disappear, but this is a bug that is not the point of this post (I reported it separately through feedback). Even if the button disappeared, the other behavior is highly problematic.

 

I don't want all the extension icons to be shown on the toolbar (who would?) so I go into Settings-->Appearance and select the toggle to show the extensions button. The icons for the extensions are still on the toolbar. I have to go through the extension button menu and hide each extension, which is very inconvenient.

SS3.png

 

After thinking about this for a while, I would like to propose that the extension button work the same or similarly to the favorites and history buttons. For example, if I hide the favorites button, it does not put icons for all the folders on the toolbar. It just hides the button, which is what I expect. See the images below.

SS4.pngSS5.png

 

If I go to the ... menu while the favorites button is hidden and click on "Favorites." then it briefly shows the favorites button in the toolbar with the drop down menu listing my favorites. See image below.

SS6.png

 

If I click anywhere off the favorites menu, the favorites button and drop down menu disappear. The history button works a similarly. The extensions button should work this way too. It would provide a consistent, predictable experience for users. The current way it works is just really bad.

 

I also have an additional optional suggestion. Many users have complained that they want to retain some of the previous behavior, which is to hide extension icons at the top of the ... menu. You could do this with the extension button. For example, you could make the eye icon in the extensions drop down menu have three settings--show in toolbar, show in main menu, or hide from toolbar. The "show in main menu" option would make the extension icon visible at the top of the ... menu like how it used to be. The user would click the icon three times to cycle through the options.

 

This would make it so the user can choose to: (a) show the extension icon on the toolbar, (b) show the extension icon at the top of the ... menu like how it used to be, or (c) only show the extension in the extension button drop down menu.

 

One last thing I would suggest is to make is so we can customize the sort order of the extensions in the extension button drop down menu. I would like to have the most used extensions at the top. 

 

Thanks for all your work on Edge. It is a great browser. 

 

Edited to clarify a few things.

1 Reply
+1
I think this extension button should not have been added unless an option to hide it was added too