Mozilla recently updated its entire codebase for Firefox on Android, and today, we are seeing a new UI change in the browser. Spotted by gHacks, the new Firefox for Android now simplifies URLs in the address bar.
This means you will no longer see ‘http/https’ or ‘www’ in the address bar in Firefox on Android. Instead, you will simply see the website’s name followed by the top level domain (.com, .in, etc).
This is similar to what Google Chrome has been doing for quite some time. Instead of showing the protocol type, Firefox will also now show a lock icon in the address bar to signify a website using https. For websites that don’t use https, the icon will be crossed out instead.
Naturally, a large number of people aren’t happy with this change. In fact, according to gHacks, a number of bug reports have been filed on GitHub asking Mozilla to show the full URL instead of a simplified version. However, those bug reports have been closed. This likely means that Mozilla is happy with its decision and will not likely be changing it anytime soon.
If you still feel the need to view the complete URL in Firefox, you can always just tap on the lock icon to see it. Other than that, there’s not much to be done at this point. Most smartphone browsers have opted for simplified URLs in order to save space. That makes sense, considering screen real estate is incredibly limited on smartphones. However, it would be nice if browser makers gave users the option to disable the feature if they wanted.
