Visual distinction between private and non-private windows
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.
The privacy button in the toolbar should change color while in private mode to further indicate the current state.
It would be better to centralise ideas or solutions for the same suggestion in one location: https://orionfeedback.org/d/198-visual-distinction-between-private-and-non-private-windows
adorabilis This screeshot makes orion and safari easilly distinguishable from the other two.
Can someone summarize the ask?
Vlad I should be clearer. I had one window from each browser open. All of them were in private browsing mode. For Safari, Chrome, Firefox, I can easily tell I’m in private browsing mode since there is visual indication in the UI (label or icon). However, I cannot tell that Orion is in private browsing mode by looking at its single window.
- Edited
Vlad I think a little color is always nice, like the purple on this page. Brave has the most visually aesthetic private mode I've seen, but it may not be for everyone. I like minimalism, but a little color is cool, IMO.
There have been times I was in private mode with Orion and didn't realize it. I think with heavy usage it become clearer, but it's not intuitive at first, unless looking for changes.
TechEnthusiast note that Orion shows a lot of content in the start page (unlike brave in your screenshot). Orion follows Safari here and macOS way of doing things (minimal design).
Vlad Ahh that would explain why I didn't notice I was in private mode as I have my start page set to open to an empty page. I guess I haven't used Private mode in Safari long enough to notice the similarities.
TechEnthusiast You should still see a banner on top that says you are in private mode? if not it is a bug and we should fix it (if new tab set to empty page)
Vlad You know, I never noticed it doesn't say "private." I look for color cues. Here is what a new tab page looks like for me.
And this is what a private tab looks like for me
Very slight color difference at the top. Also "search or enter website name appears twice. I've seen this before. Figured it was just a minor bug, not worth reporting, but seems it only appears in private mode, not non-private. I can't remember if that was always the case.
Also, if window is not maximized, the words run over each other, like this
TechEnthusiast These are two bugs we will fix them.
Just wanted to add that for time tracking applications (such as Timing.app), the full webpage title and URL of the active tab in a Private window is currently being shown and thus being reported to these apps. As much of a privacy concern as this is, at least if the window has a slight modification such as appending (Private) to the title, it could be filtered out.