I think it’s fine for some things to have a popover and window, but it needs to be implemented intelligently.
Like in Safari, downloads are a popover by default, but the popover can be “torn off” to become a window. Use cases for both are served, yet consistency is maintained.
Thats exactly how firefox works out of the box, no? On my firefox at least theres a popover with a few recent downloads and a button to show all downloads.
Not quite, in Firefox the downloads popover and downloads window are totally separate from each other with different UIs that can both be open simultaneously. In Safari the window and popup are one in the same, with the user being able to choose how to present it.
Like in Safari, downloads are a popover by default, but the popover can be “torn off” to become a window. Use cases for both are served, yet consistency is maintained.
Firefox could use a good dose of this thinking.