Firefox settings page showing AI Controls. A “Block AI enhancements” toggle is enabled at the top, with a notice stating that new and current AI enhancements are blocked by default. Below, under “On-device AI,” several features are listed with status set to “Blocked,” including “Translations,” “Image alt text in Firefox PDF viewer,” and “Tab group suggestions.” Each feature includes a short description and a “Learn more” link.
Categories: News

AI Controls – These Weeks in Firefox: Issue 196

Highlights

Friends of the Firefox team

Resolved bugs (excluding employees)

Volunteers that fixed more than one bug

  • Henry Yeary
  • Khalid AlHaddad
  • Sam Johnson
  • Thomas Sileo

New contributors (🌟 = first patch)

Project Updates

Add-ons / Web Extensions

WebExtension APIs
    • As part of the work for the AI toggle switch, we have applied some small tweaks to improve the behavior of the the trialML WebExtensions API when it is disable/enabled globally at runtime through AI toggle switch – Bug 2012543
    • As part of improving cross-browser compatibility of the browserAction / action WebExtensions API, the isEnabled API method has been tweaked to optimally accept a tabId (as currently expected on Chrome) and to return the global state instead of rejecting when called without any parameter (aligning it to both Chrome and Safari) – Bug 2012727 / Bug 2013477
    • Fixed webNavigation transitionType for webpages loaded from the Firefox bookmarks panels by making sure it is set to auto_bookmark instead of the fallback link transitionType – Bug 1623654
  • Thanks to Thomas Sileo for contributing this fix and improving the cross-browser alignment of the webNavigation WebExtensions API!

Smart Window

  • generate memories based on browsing and chat history to use in conversations
    • schedule memories generation 2010143 when activating smart window 2011478
    • toggle memories per conversation 2011323 and show when they’re used 2011774
    • Firefox Smart Window showing recipe suggestions on a webpage, including dishes like Creamy Mushroom Risotto, Honey Garlic Glazed Salmon, Vegetarian Buddha Bowl, and Spicy Thai Basil Chicken. An overlay card labeled “Researches food topics” appears in the center, indicating a Smart Window memory. At the bottom, the address bar shows “Ask, search, or type a URL,” with a tooltip reading “Memories on,” and an “Ask” button on the right.
    • manage memories from about:preferences 2001453
      • Firefox Nightly settings page open to “Manage memories” under about:preferences#manageMemories. The page explains that memories are what Smart Window learns from your activity. A list of saved memories appears with delete icons next to each entry, including “Watches videos on YouTube,” “Researches food topics,” and “Tracks limited edition sneaker releases.” A “Delete all” button appears at the top. The left sidebar shows navigation items such as General, Home, Search, Privacy & Security, Sync, AI Controls, and Firefox Labs.
  • refer to tabs with @mentions
    • rich multiline inputbox to @ tabs 2003064
    • Caption: Firefox Smart Window search input showing the user typing “compare Honey-Glazed Bak…” and “@salmon.” A tab suggestion dropdown appears on the right under the heading “Tabs,” listing open recipe tabs including “Honey-Glazed Baked Salmon Recipe,” “Honey Garlic Glazed Salmon Recipe,” and “Sweet Glazed Salmon Recipe.” A “Previously visited” section shows “easy honey garlic glazed salmon recipe.”
    • rendering mentions in the conversation 2001526
  • chat conversation history in firefox view 2001496
  • start new chat from sidebar 2003657
  • require account when opening 2012806 and switching to smart window 2012014
  • callout to remind how to switch back to classic 2010897
  • improve reopening conversations by id 2009866
  • hookup new urlbar provider for smartbar chat 2003067
  • renamed prefs from aiwindow to smartwindow 2010128

DevTools

WebDriver

Lint, Docs and Workflow

  • ahal has fixed the source-docs-generate and source-docs-upload tasks to run when changes occur to the JavaScript files which are used in generating docs.
    • The list of files for generating has moved to docs/config.yml
    • When posting patches for review, if you get a message such as The analysis task source-test-doc-upload failed, but we could not detect any defect ,  please do check the task output manually by visiting the link. There’s a bug on file to improve the output there.

New Tab Page

Picture-in-Picture

  • Special thanks to jsudiaman who fixed a long-standing bug where an open Picture-in-Picture player window would close if the mirrored <video> element was moved around in the DOM!

Screenshots

Search and Navigation

  • Drew and Daisuke are consolidating urlbar results UI, according to new design specs.
  • Dao and Moritz are continuing polishing the new search bar
    • Fixed recent search terms when changing search engines – Bug 2008429
    • Allow dragging current loaded url on the search widget – Bug 2011252
    • Search bar corrupted after customization – Bug 2002275
    • X button position in RTL – Bug 2010289
  • Dale continue polishing the new identity box
    • Fixed identity popup not opening on trusted about pages – Bug 2010361
    • Connection secure shown for self-signed certificates – Bug 2010045
    • Clicking on privacy settings doesn’t close the trust panel – Bug 2006633
  • James improved the autofill ranking, to address recent feedback. The patch will be uplifted to Beta, we’re evaluating Release – Bug 2010941
  • Moritz addressed a performance issue when dragging large text over the address bar – Bug 2002920
  • Mark finished cleaning up the Search Service after deCOMtaminizing it – Bug 2003302, Bug 2003300, Bug 2003298, Bug 1643008

Storybook/Reusable Components/Acorn Design System

Settings Redesign

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