You can now perform actions like “clear history,” “open downloads,” or “take a screenshot” just by typing into the address bar.
They've reinvented the command line.
this post was submitted on 25 May 2025
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Yep, just like all those command palette apps like Alfred, Raycast, and inside VS Code.
I'm all for it
Yet they call this the simpler bar, huh?
Command line is the definition of simple. It's not easy, but it is simple: you type a command and it runs the command, that's it. Knowing what commands to run is what makes is it difficult, but the interface is incredibly simple.
I mean.. it would be simpler if it didn't run any commands.
I think the point is that the UI of the bar wasn't really more complicated before. So it's not like the bar itself has really gotten any simpler. Specially if they aren't removing the previous ways to access those functions.
That said, I do like the idea.
i like it. i'm a kde user so i'm used to using krunner and the launcher to do more than just open applications. this feels very familiar to me
Now every time I see the word smarter from firefox, I'm afraid they'll add some AI somewhere new. Glad it wasn't the case here.
Don't give them the idea..... :'(
I love how the top two points, "Choose how you search, right from the address bar" and "Keep your original search visible" are things that we always had by default in the old days with the separate search bar, until Firefox blindly copied Chrome and went to the unified bar.
And now it's back as if it's some kind of revolutionary feature, rather than they made it worse and now they're making it better again.
Not that I ever stopped using the separate search field, I always turn that on.
Never understood why you’d keep a separate search bar next to the search bar
half out of habit.
But also I have search on the search feature disabled on the address bar so I'm not randomly sending search quires when I mistype a url.
I guess some of us just like to think the search bar and the address bar are conceptually different interface elements with different reasons to exist.
unpopular opinion: firefox copied chrome because the unified bar is simply better. the separate search field always felt like clutter to me even before i used chrome
Can we have a dropdown menu like we had in the 2000s?
Not sure why we decided removing the scrollbar and only showing the top 8 entries was a good idea.
You can increase the number of items shown by bumping up the browser.urlbar.maxRichResults setting in about:config.
But you won't get a scrollbar even if you bump it till it goes beyond the height of your screen.
This is ridiculous. I like the way it's set up now. They tried "simpler" before and I hated it and turned it off. Along with the news they're supposedly getting rid of tags for bookmarks (I have so many bookmarks without tags they'd be useless) I'm just feeling so much despair for the web right now.
Also disabling showing HTTPS in the address bar as part of the URL is another negative change catering to what they believe is the lowest common denominator. Consider for a moment that browsers still support multiple protocols besides hypertext transfer.
Consider for a moment that browsers still support multiple protocols besides hypertext transfer.
When the protocol is not https, then it will show it. In fact, it will show if the page is http and not https.
The lock icon (the one showing certificate information when clicked) only shows when the page is https, so essentially that icon replaces the https://
I’m just feeling so much despair for the web right now.
overreact much?
is this the update where I can delete from the address bar history on Android?
I can't do that even on PC, tried to delete dead LAN url many times, it always comes back
Is the solution to delete my whole fething history for this? I have many auto complete I wish I can delete because the sites are dead
bruh. we already have the ability to add the search bar lmao. i hope it's possible to revert to current functionality.
Keeping the search terms in the URL bar rather than replacing it with the URL is nice. Should help with searches on web engines that don’t support bangs.
I hope the https hiding doesn’t affect copying the URL.
That was my first thought as well. I understand the reason for the change and don't mind it, but how do I copy the url which is far more important to me on a day to day basis than refining my search. Normally the query is still visible at the top of the web engine search page anyways.
… that I didn’t ask for and that you probably won’t let me turn off. Thanks for nothing.
Turn off what? The address bar? What prevents you to use the address bar like usual?
Also what do you ask for?