Implement Chrome/Firefox animation for page back
I agree with the feedback of removing it entirely or using an alternative feedback mechanism. It adds complexity and some odd behaviors. On rare occasions I've noted that it won't actually navigate back but reload the page. The UX really only makes sense on mobile and I'm convinced it was some bureaocratic decision in the name of consistency.
My work around to this is to use the CMD-[ keybinding which just does the back navigation. Though having used Chrome for years is hard to break the muscle memory of swiping left.
I'm still very much in favour of replacing the WebKit back & forward animation/implementing a new one on top of WebKit.
For anyone who dislikes the WebKit gesture as much as I do, the workaround I have been using is under system settings, within trackpad, then more gestures, change swipe between pages to "Swipe with three fingers". The annoying thing about this workaround is that you have to disable three finger drag under accessibility settings.
I have also found some weird behaviours with the three finger swipe for back and forth, between weird page reloads instead of actually going back or forth, and the fact that it doesn't seem to work on the new tab page.
A path for this change would also be to communicate all the reasons this should be changed to the WebKit team who can natively change this via https://webkit.org
This is because we have our hands full just building the browser, and would avoid changes in the Webkit codebase if possible.
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Given that Cmd-[ works fine, could the page back user request just do the same action as Cmd-[?
I feel it is really against the entire speed aspect that orion seems to follow
It would be amazing if this could be implemented, I've always really disliked the inturruption of the bad safari/orion swipe.
Given that this post is looking for the community opinion, I would like to add my two cents: I love the Safari/WebKit animation for this and prefer it over the Chrome/Firefox one. It gives the visual indication and feel of going back and forward and is consistent with the "native app look". However, the page suddenly changing after the animation has played out is a legitimate issue and it would be wonderful if it could be fixed.
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scullionw @Vlad this is what I'm referring to in my post Option to disable page navigation. Maybe you can just route the two swipe gesture to "cmd + [" and "cmd + ]"
The page navigation animations is just straight up bad in webkit. The chrome one is much better. In webskit, its like first the page navigates and then it reloads and its just not so smooth of a transition. Can you give an option to disable the animation while navigating forward or backward a page?
Its just a better user experience. Quick jump to pages forward or back like with the "cmd+ right arrow/leftarrow" is so much better in my opinion. But my reflex is always swiping between pages to navigate so an option to disable the animation would be great. People who like the animations can keep it.
IshaanRathod this has already been suggested. can you find the post so I can merge it?
Vlad cant find any post similar to my post, everyone has different porblems with the swpe feature
So, I'm not sure, but I know how WebKit's scrolling feels and the app Dash feels like it's using WebKit. I could be wrong, but it does feel like it. If that's the case, the developer has also implemented a Chrome/Firefox-like swipe back animation which is great and better than what comes with WebKit.
Just thought I'd share.
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When I use two fingers on the trackpad to swipe between pages, a slow and visually distracting swipe animation plays.
I would like there to be an option to disable this animation and just snap between pages, like Vivaldi does:
https://orionfeedback.org/assets/files/2025-03-04/1741104248-806206-orion-vs-vivaldi.m4v
A user who finds this animation too slow (or choppy, if they are using an older Mac), or a non-neurotypical user who finds it too distracting, or a user with a vestibular disorder who finds the animation causes nausea, can turn it off, and have swipes just move between pages without the animation.
While this can be worked around by using Cmd-Left and Cmd-Right, this is asking users who don't want the animation (including those who can't handle the animation due to being differently-abled) to keep switching between trackpad and keyboard.
It is particularly annoying if I need to go back multiple pages at a time; it is much slower in Orion than in Vivaldi, because I have to wait for this cute-but-unnecessary animation.
Orion should make animations such as this optional, without requiring me to disable animations across the whole of macOS by changing the system accessibility settings — the rest of the system's animations are fine for me, but Orion's are just Too Much.
The ideal for me would be to have a swipe work exactly like pressing Cmd-Left — that goes straight back without visual faff.
Yes please. Dealbreaker for me at the moment.
I did see a suggestion that changing the page navigation gesture to a three-fingered swipe would fix this; unfortunately, that's not compatible with my existing settings (Accessibility > Pointer Control > Trackpad Options; turn ON "Use trackpad for dragging" and set dragging style to "Three-Finger Drag").
I wanted to mention that partly because very few people seem to know that option's there, and it makes things so much easier with a trackpad 