Oct 01 2019 11:08 AM - edited Oct 08 2019 01:55 PM
Note: This is no longer the most recent top feedback summary. You can always find the latest at https://aka.ms/MSEdgeTopFeedback.
Hey everyone, I’m back with the latest top feedback summary. This week we’d like to highlight a few things which have been addressed:
The New Tab Page (we call it the “NTP” within the team) has received a significant update, and among the changes are two which address some of our top feedback items. First, the NTP now supports dark theme. If you are in dark theme (available in Settings under Appearance) you will see that the search box, top sites, and feed use darker colors. Additionally we’ve enabled greater customization of NTP content that allows you to turn off the feed if you wish. Just click the gear icon in the upper right corner of the NTP and choose Custom page layout. If you choose the Content visible on scroll option, the feed will only show if you scroll down on the NTP. If you choose the Content off option, your feed will be disabled entirely.
Another top request was for ClickOnce functionality, which among other things allows one-click installation of certain applications on Windows. This is chiefly a feature in work or school environments, so it is controlled by the new ClickOnceEnabled group policy. However, if you’d like to enable it on your device directly, you can browse to edge://flags and search for “ClickOnce” to find the ClickOnce Support flag. For more information on ClickOnce and the similar DirectInvoke feature, see our documentation at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployEdge/edge-learn-more-co-di.
Here is the full updated list of top feedback:
Status |
Feedback |
On this list for |
Addressed |
Show the New Tab Page in dark theme when the browser is in dark theme |
6 weeks |
Addressed |
Add the ability to turn off the news feed on the new tab page |
6 weeks |
Addressed |
ClickOnce deployment of Windows applications from web pages |
6 weeks |
Planned for October |
A round of improvements to scrolling experience, with more (including performance) to come down the line |
6 weeks |
Planned for October |
Inking for PDF files |
6 weeks |
Planned for October |
Provide the ability to change the title of tiles on the new tab page |
6 weeks |
Planned for October |
Need for better handling of links when there is more than one profile |
6 weeks |
Planned for October |
Option to set a custom photo as the New Tab Page background photo |
6 weeks |
Planned for November |
Enable search in the extensions store |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Opening a new tab is too slow |
1 week |
Under Review |
Ask users if they want to close all tabs when they close a browser window |
1 week |
Under Review |
Support mouse gestures for common actions like navigation and tab close |
2 week |
Under Review |
Provide a transparent theme for the browser frame |
2 week |
Under Review |
Add the ability to change the location for news content on the new tab page |
4 weeks |
Under Review |
Some users are asking for a home button in Edge. Since we already have one, we could improve discoverability or just enable it by default. |
4 weeks |
Under Review |
Touchpad two-finger scrolling is sometimes triggering a right click instead |
4 weeks |
Under Review |
The address bar and its text are too big, and should be smaller like Chrome |
4 weeks |
Under Review |
Add an option to hide the Bing search bar on the new tab page |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Allow the search bar in the new tab page to be configured with other search providers |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Bring the tab set aside feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Bring the tab preview feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Bring the reading list feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Bring the Ask Cortana feature from the current version of Microsoft Edge |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Provide an option to set a custom URL for a new tab instead of showing the new tab page |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Update the user interface with the Fluent Design System |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Make tabs more square and less rounded, like the current version of Microsoft Edge |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Support themes from the Chrome Web Store |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Allow sign-in to the browser with a Google account |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Provide different options for sorting favorites |
6 weeks |
Under Review |
Provide run / open / save / save as options when downloading files |
6 weeks |
Quality Area |
Bring more extensions to the extensions store |
4 weeks |
Quality Area |
Edge should use less memory than it does |
6 weeks |
Quality Area |
Edge should use less CPU than it does |
6 weeks |
Quality Area |
Scrolling should feel smoother for web pages |
6 weeks |
Quality Area |
Scrolling should feel smoother for PDF files |
6 weeks |
Quality Area |
Update does not always work reliably |
6 weeks |
Definitions:
Addressed – Feedback is addressed in current Canary builds.
Planned for… – We’re working on this and currently plan for it to be addressed in the Canary channel before the end of the month indicated
Under Review – We are reviewing this feedback internally and do not have a plan to share at this time.
Quality Area – We will give extra weight to fixes and opportunities in this area. Please continue to report specific bugs and make specific asks.
Oct 02 2019 09:57 AM
Well here's a new piece of feedback for you I haven't made or seen before. I've belatedly realised there is an issue that means I won't ever be using Edge as my desktop browser .... and it's not anything to do with anything you desktop Chromium Edge developers are doing or not doing. It's what your colleagues developing Android Edge have done.
There are, of course, compelling reasons to use the same 'brand' browser on both laptop and phone: the syncing of favorites, passwords, history, open tabs, throwing pages from the one to the other etc. I'd go as far as saying using the same browser on phone and desktop/laptop is a necessity nowadays, certainly for me. But that means anything blocking a user from using the Android version of a browser also blocks them from using the desktop version (and vice versa).
Your Android Edge colleagues, unfortunately, have made a design choice to have a bar of controls at the bottom of the screen. I HATE controls at the bottom of the screen. I simply won't use Apps that have bottom controls; I'll always choose a competitor app that doesn't instead. So, short of the Microsoft Android Edge team completely changing direction and losing the bottom controls, or adding an option to move those controls to the top - and I see no sign they are considering either - I will never even think of using Android Edge on my phone. And THAT means I won't ever use desktop Edge either (unless you make Chromium Edge able to sync favorites, passwords, history, open tabs et al with Android Firefox or Google Chrome, which seems unlikely).
Wish I'd looked at Android Edge more closely sooner, and so not wasted time on desktop Chromium Edge. Anyway, at least for this potential desktop Chromium Edge user, your efforts have been completely sabotaged by the Android Edge team.
Oct 02 2019 11:43 AM
Oct 02 2019 12:10 PM
@Dennis5mile It's true there isn't a button to do that for folders, but for now you can select to rename it and just erase the name.
Oct 02 2019 02:09 PM
Oct 02 2019 02:22 PM - edited Oct 02 2019 02:27 PM
@DavidGB wrote:
Well here's a new piece of feedback for you I haven't made or seen before. I've belatedly realised there is an issue that means I won't ever be using Edge as my desktop browser .... and it's not anything to do with anything you desktop Chromium Edge developers are doing or not doing. It's what your colleagues developing Android Edge have done.
There are, of course, compelling reasons to use the same 'brand' browser on both laptop and phone: the syncing of favorites, passwords, history, open tabs, throwing pages from the one to the other etc. I'd go as far as saying using the same browser on phone and desktop/laptop is a necessity nowadays, certainly for me. But that means anything blocking a user from using the Android version of a browser also blocks them from using the desktop version (and vice versa).
Your Android Edge colleagues, unfortunately, have made a design choice to have a bar of controls at the bottom of the screen. I HATE controls at the bottom of the screen. I simply won't use Apps that have bottom controls; I'll always choose a competitor app that doesn't instead. So, short of the Microsoft Android Edge team completely changing direction and losing the bottom controls, or adding an option to move those controls to the top - and I see no sign they are considering either - I will never even think of using Android Edge on my phone. And THAT means I won't ever use desktop Edge either (unless you make Chromium Edge able to sync favorites, passwords, history, open tabs et al with Android Firefox or Google Chrome, which seems unlikely).
Wish I'd looked at Android Edge more closely sooner, and so not wasted time on desktop Chromium Edge. Anyway, at least for this potential desktop Chromium Edge user, your efforts have been completely sabotaged by the Android Edge team.
You didn't have to waste your time (as you said) if you had looked at this article first:
https://microsoftedgesupport.microsoft.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022536833-Enabling-sync-on-Android
it shows all the possibilities and limitations of the new Edge insider and Android version.
Nothing is blocking anyone from using sync between Edge desktop and Android version.
currently sync between Classic Edge and Android Edge are working at full capacity.
once the desktop version of the new Edge insider gets the full sync, the Android version will get that too. no problem on that area, things are moving forward normally.
once that is done too, there is no need to use other companies like Google or Firefox to hand over users data to them.
Oct 02 2019 02:32 PM
Oct 02 2019 03:24 PM
@pmbAustin That's a good idea and Microsoft should make this an option. For me, I was never able to navigate Firefox's recently used tabs and its easier to go back and forth where I can see it. Some people like it, but its most likely that the current setup will be default.
Oct 02 2019 03:31 PM
@Deleted Yes, and I liked how the address bar was completely black when you clicked on it. I wish that they would either make the rest of the top bar completely black, or the address bar itself completely black. None of this gray stuff.
Oct 02 2019 03:46 PM
Well either I didn't write clearly, or you just skimmed and didn't read properly.
I made no complaint about the syncing between Android Edge and either EdgeHTML or Chromium Edge. With Chromium Edge a lot of the syncing is there and I assume the rest will appear in due course.
My issue is that these days one needs to use the same browser on both phone and laptop/desktop for the syncing, so Android Firefox and desktop Firefox, or Android Google Chrome and desktop Google Chrome, or Android Edge and (when all syncing is working) desktop Chromium Edge. Which means that it is not enough for the desktop or phone version to be good; they BOTH have to be good.
In my case, Android Edge has a design feature that makes it completely unacceptable to me - bottom controls. I will not use an app with bottom controls. Period. So I will not use Android Edge.
And because of the need for syncing between phone and desktop browser, that means I won't be using desktop Edge, even when all the syncing is working, even if they fix everything else I want in desktop Chromium Edge (like middle-clicking on favorites leaving the menu open). Phone Edge is unacceptable to me because of the bottom controls, so it won't be on my phone for desktop Edge to sync with. It's not a problem with the syncing; it's a fundamental problem I have with Android Edge design means I won't use it, so whether it syncs or not is neither here nor there.
So unless desktop Chromium Edge gains the ability to sync with a browser I will use on my phone, currently Android Firefox or Android Chrome, then desktop Chromium Edge is out of contention as my desktop browser ... and it seems highly unlikely that desktop Chromium Edge will ever sync with Firefox or Google Chrome.
Actually I'm now worrying about Firefox. Currently my default browser on Phone and laptop is Firefox, which is currently fine. But the Android Firefox 'Preview', which is supposedly a development version of the next evolution of the Android Firefox browser, has also adopted bottom controls. Which I will not use. So if the Android Firefox does eventually change to that, I will no longer use it, which will also then mean - for syncing sake - I'll have to give up desktop Firefox too.
But anyway, I wasn't posting here requesting anything, or to engage in debate with other users. I was posting just because if I was on the desktop Chromium Edge team I'd like to know reasons why people didn't use the browser I was creating, or gave up testing it. So I posted to tell them I won't be using desktop Chromium Edge any more or testing it any more, not because of anything it has or hasn't, does or doesn't do; but simply because Android Edge is of a design (bottom controls) I won't use, and browser syncing between phone and desktop/laptop is so important that anything putting someone like me off the phone version means they then automatically drop the desktop version too. So, unless the desktop Chromium Edge dev team go round to the Android Edge team and make them include an option to move the bottom controls to the top, there's actually nothing the desktop Chromium Edge guys can do to get me to use desktop Edge. They can make desktop Edge perfect, and add functions so it'll put out the trash and make and bring me coffee, I still won't use it unless Android Edge loses (or gets an option to lose) the bottom controls.
So, the desktop Edge dev team probably know this, but just in case they haven't thought about it I'm letting them know that some people (like me) will end up not using the desktop browser simply because there is something that those people really don't like abut the design of the Android Edge browser, however good they think the desktop browser is.
Oct 02 2019 04:06 PM
Oct 02 2019 04:10 PM
Have you tried suggesting your idea to the people who are designing the android app?
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Edge-AMA/bd-p/MicrosoftEdgeAMA
Good luck finding a solution!
Oct 03 2019 07:03 AM
When I came in this morning and fired up Canary 292 I was pleasantly surprised to see on the NTP a 'page content' option - choice between Office365 and MS News!
Outstanding!
But I miss my photos :(. Totally personal preference, but it would have been doubly cool if the Office365 selection just replaced the news section, so it could be controlled via scroll, always show, etc.
But I'll take this - very useful!
Oct 03 2019 07:36 AM
@DavidGB If you are worried about the bottom bar, download the Bing browser. It's a simplified browser that supports voice input, text input, and image (both images and qr codes)input. It doesn't have favorites, but if the most important thing to you not having a bottom bar, this is your best option in the case Firefox stops. I will also try to get in contact with the Android edge developers and see if this can be accommodated.
Oct 03 2019 07:41 AM
A big feature that is missing is the ability to generate a strong password in the password field.
Oct 03 2019 03:36 PM
Oct 03 2019 07:32 PM - edited Oct 03 2019 07:48 PM
@David Rubino I appreciate the new dark mode, but can we please get even darker shades of grey and some actual black in dark mode? I know a few loud voices immediately scream for grey whenever dark mode is discussed, but the shades that are a bit too light can look brownish or muddy. Please consider that many users prefer/need darker or higher contrast. I think reddit.com dark mode is a beautiful example of a darker grey with black that looks nicer overall IMO. Alternatively, maybe add a high-contrast dark option?
Oct 03 2019 10:45 PM
@dustytravel But why? I don't understand how turning it blue, makes anything better.
Oct 04 2019 01:48 AM
@KoshyG wrote:@basil3143 Why is squared better?
I was wondering the same..one thing is for sure though, it's Not a bug that now they are a little rounded.
Oct 04 2019 02:09 AM
I'd like to share my feedback in regards to Collections. I feel like the team is trying to create something where a need doesn't exist. It feels like a clumsy and unnecessarily complicated visual take on Favourites. I am not sure I understand what the difference between the two are? Comparatively, the Reading List from Classic Edge was a perfect companion to Favourites, as it provided a very simple, convenient list of articles or pages that you don't consider Favourite-worthy, but something you find important or relevant at the time. As a software engineer, I found the Reading List to be an invaluable tool for quickly keeping references to perhaps a Microsoft Document, a StackOverflow question, and the like. Certainly things that don't warrant being kept as a Favourite, and could easily be tossed when finished. I feel like the Reading List was a huge boost to productivity. I hope that your team decides to migrate the Reading List to New Edge.