After several months of complaints, Mozilla finally binds in. It removes a misleadingly dark pattern from the Firefox feature that allows users to take screenshots of pages. The problem lies in the Save button that appears when Firefox users take a screenshot.
The user can use the Save button to save a screenshot. This implies that the screenshot is stored on the computer, but that is not the case. The created image ends up directly on the Mozilla servers. Not only is it a violation of privacy, it is also awkward.
Months of complaints
Users have been complaining about the name of the button for several months now. An attempt to replace the word “save” with “upload” was made in September, but the update was not rolled out. This week we hear from ZDNet that the time has finally come and that the button will now really disappear.
The servers behind the function will be shut down. This fact is linked to Mozilla, which has stopped using the Test Pilot program, in which the screenshot tool has been developed since 2016. Test Pilot is slowly being discontinued, and with that the servers are also being shut down. This has yet to happen in the second half of this year and the intention is that the function will remain available in Firefox, but without the possibility to upload screenshots.
A Mozilla spokesman reports to ZDNet that the word save will soon be replaced by download. Since the start of the Test Pilot program, input from user support has always been the core for the development of new Firefox functions and features. Screenshots is one of the most commonly used functions we have made within the program and we continue to improve the function, according to the spokesman. We received feedback from users about the icon and the text in the button and were in the process of changing the button from Save to Upload to avoid confusion.
At the same time, the spokesman reports that at that time it also turned out that people prefer to copy screenshots to their clipboard or download them completely. And so we decided to completely remove the Save/Upload function, concludes the spokesman.
This news article was automatically translated from Dutch to give Techzine.eu a head start. All news articles after September 1, 2019 are written in native English and NOT translated. All our background stories are written in native English as well. For more information read our launch article.
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