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When you are not on the "new tab" page, there's no clear visual distinction between a regular and private window (at least that I can see). I think it's important there is one.

Firefox adds a small icon/motif to the upper right of the window's chrome, Safari 15 seems to show a "tab group" label of "Private", etc.

It may also be worth labelling the Window name (as seen in the Window menu) too with something like (Private) as a suffix?

  • Vlad replied to this.

    gp Is the color of address bar not enough (it is pretty different in light mode at least).

    I like adding sufix (private) to window title but this is not visible in browser chrome.

    What do you suggest?

        I was in dark mode at the time of testing, and didn't realise there was any different at all until you mentioned 🙂

        I'd agree in light mode there is likely enough distinction with the dark address bar. Perhaps something in the URL bar (to the left of the padlock) like an Orion icon with a pair of sunglasses on? I'm definitely not a design language person though... I just think we need a more visible cue in the UI for new users - even with colour, it's hard to "learn" which colour is normal/right. For dark mode, I think an icon or similar might be needed.

        In dark mode, an unfocused non-private window is pretty much visually indistinguishable from an unfocused private window, as you lose the purple-ish tint.

        Any UX gurus got any ideas?

          gp Worth noting that in iOS Safari, when in dark mode, the tabs look exactly like this too. No other clues.

          • gp replied to this.

              Vlad

              Good point - I hadn't really looked at the mobile/tablet UI for it. Desktop safari does the "tab group name", but that's a bit ugly from a minimalism perspective!

                  I think that having a Dark Purple Theme, or Midnight blue on private would be much better than just using a dark theme, that is just my opinion... Very much like the midnight theme added in the notes page...

                  2 months later

                  Currently, I couldn't find a way to identify whether a window is a normal window or a private browsing window. The only indication is when you first open the window, unless I didn't notice any other indicator. Something like safari mentioning private or google mentioning incognito is very helpful.

                  • Vlad replied to this.

                    Aldehyde Orion has the same privacy notice like Safari. In addition start page icon is changed (with an added shield) ti indicate privacy. What is your suggestion?

                        Vlad
                        Oh, I never noticed the change in the start page icon since I've set new window and new tab to open on google.com so I found it hard to distinguish between a private browsing window and a normal window.


                        Something like this would be helpful (Screenshot is from safari)

                        • Vlad replied to this.
                            Merged 6 posts from Private Browsing Window Identification.
                              11 days later

                              I posted an unrelated bug report recently that happened to include screenshots of private browsing mode in different browsers. You can tell that apart easily in Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. When there is only one window open, Orion’s private browsing mode is indistinguishable from normal mode. That should make a strong case for this suggestion.

                              • Vlad replied to this.

                                The privacy button in the toolbar should change color while in private mode to further indicate the current state.

                                  adorabilis This screeshot makes orion and safari easilly distinguishable from the other two.