OSNews:

OSNews: http://www.osnews.com/story/25013/Images_Firefox_Possible_Future_User_Interface Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2013, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Wed, 22 May 2013 21:46:14 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif OSNews.com http://www.osnews.com ... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483060 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483060

forcing you to use extensions that bring Firefox' user interface back to how it used to be (I'm assuming those exist).

Most of the time you can open about:config and change a key to get the old look back. I only really use extensions to enable functionality that didn't exist before in FF before (FTP uploads) or is incomplete in it's implementation (session management).

Which features have been cut that need extensions to add them back? Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Flatland_Spider) Comments Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483061 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483061 Firefox 5.0.1 looked so uncannily like Opera of the current iteration. And of course Opera does get its design cue from Chrome. But I'm sticking with Opera. I've used it from 1996 or so. So far I do like that all browsers are moving towards a more simplified interface. I like clean uncluttered interface.Edited 2011-08-01 21:47 UTC Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mfaudzinr) Comments Misleading title http://www.osnews.com/thread?483063 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483063 Mozilla has already announced that these were just internal design mockups and are in no way the official vision of the future Firefox. Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:51:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Sodki) Comments Amazing http://www.osnews.com/thread?483064 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483064 The mockups are stunning whether or not they become reality. Practically why go through the trouble of doing new UX testing when Google has already done theirs (as long as they don't copy the ever shrinking tabs of chrome

After looking at about:config and doing some rough math, my Firefox has ~2000 settings; this interface hides that complexity nicely. Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (joehms22) Comments RE: Amazing http://www.osnews.com/thread?483065 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483065 about:config show only half of them. The rest have defaults and are enabled only when the value is not the default. Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Elv13) Comments Nice Firefox... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483067 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483067

They basically pointed at Chrome and said "pretty much that".

I've been pointing another finger up at Chrome (and Firefox since it's been shitting on every reason Firefox users choose Firefox in the first place), and it's sure as hell not the pointer finger.

I'll be off of Iceweasel for good pretty soon. Firefox SUCKS these days. Sorry, had to say it. Their pointlessly fast releases and ripping of Chrome is just the beginning. If I wanted to use Chrome, I would f***ing use Chrome, god damn it.

Mozilla (and especially the Mozilla Corporation) and Asa Dotzler can go FOAD for all I care. Seriously, they've been doing nothing but running themselves into the ground since the Corporation was formed, and Asa's one of the lead nuts it seems these days.Edited 2011-08-01 22:19 UTC Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (UltraZelda64) Comments RE: Nice Firefox... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483068 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483068 Exactly, well said. As a traditionalist, I chose FF because amongst things like extensions it gave me an interface similar to IE and Netscape back in the (early) days, and that's what I want my browser to look like.

Like already said, if I wanted Chrome... Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Barnabyh) Comments RE: Nice Firefox... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483071 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483071 Don't hold back - tell us what you really think. ;^) Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Pro-Competition) Comments Wallpaper http://www.osnews.com/thread?483076 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483076 Where can i get that blue purple wallpaper in the mockups? Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (John Blink) Comments RE: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483077 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483077

Firefox 5.0.1 looked so uncannily like Opera of the current iteration. And of course Opera does get its design cue from Chrome. But I'm sticking with Opera. I've used it from 1996 or so. So far I do like that all browsers are moving towards a more simplified interface. I like clean uncluttered interface.

That's funny because actually Opera got it's design from Firefox.
Firefox has been VERY slow in development between 2x and 4x and they have a quasi fully open development model.

This means the Firefox UI sketches where up and look just like FF 5 and Opera, 2 or 3 years ago (!)

Opera copied it and released first. Sure it's fair competition - but let's not confuse who did what. Mozilla pioneered that UI and that's why they use it.

In fact, Mozilla has become the "lets insult that company" because they grew bigger and don't sound as cool as Google. But they kept to their roots so far. Mon, 01 Aug 2011 23:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (_xmv) Comments On-topic: Past Features http://www.osnews.com/thread?483078 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483078 I think some of the old functionality has been compiled out of Firefox current.

I have been trying to upgrade my brother from 3.x but he won't budge until they return the old status bar.

His monitor is massive, and he keeps the window maximised, so he would like the status bar always visible.

How do you bring it back? Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (John Blink) Comments Fennec http://www.osnews.com/thread?483079 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483079 I find it more interesting to look at Fennec - their mobile version.
Sure it's not as news sensationalistic, but on the mobile, tiny screen platform UI matters A LOT MORE.

And Firefox is very different from the others, on mobile. They also asked feedback several times there and didnt get much, because, once again, it wasn't sensationalistic. Hard to bash Firefox mobile on UI design (easy to bash it on performances) Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (_xmv) Comments RE: On-topic: Past Features http://www.osnews.com/thread?483080 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483080 status4ever extension brings it back.

but who needs it really? I mean, if you hover a link you get the information anyway. If you don't its empty, pretty useless if you ask me.

The progression bar is and has never been accurate. A rolling circle is just as accurate as the progress bar. So, that can't really be missed either.

Then again if you still want it: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/status-4-evar/
and it works with every firefox even nightlies Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:04:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (_xmv) Comments RE: Misleading title http://www.osnews.com/thread?483082 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483082

Mozilla has already announced that these were just internal design mockups and are in no way the official vision of the future Firefox.

The news has been picked up only because its sensationalistic. The accuracy does not matter, even on OSNews. Though readers knew that by now. Sensational = hits = ads = money. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:05:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (_xmv) Comments I get why they're doing this ... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483083 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483083 I get why they're doing this and I'm not stuck on the old user interface, but I find switching between programs these days quite jarring because everyone is using a different interface paradigms. Some programs use old fashioned menu bars, others ribbons, and sometimes reams of menu options are tucked into a single toolbar icon. And that is just a small sampling from the big vendors ...

Changing to a better UI is good, but please give people time to decide if they like it and for other vendors to catch up. Because, quite frankly, I'm spending a lot of time figuring out where things are on the computer and I'm the type of person that others usually depend upon to show them! Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:16:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (MacTO) Comments RE: ... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483084 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483084 Feeds indicator in the address bar for example. It was very annoying removal. Another annoying change was disabling of toggling the search bar with Ctrl+F. It opens with Ctrl+F now, but doesn't close back with the same keys combination. So to fill these gaps, there are extensions.Edited 2011-08-02 00:36 UTC Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shmerl) Comments Meh http://www.osnews.com/thread?483085 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483085 FF4 already switched to the basic Chrome UI. These mockups just look like a further extension of that, it's not really another major update. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (smitty) Comments Harry Potter.... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483087 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483087 I'm not sure I trust any Adult that likes Harry Potter enough to make it their theme to design UI's. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bill Shooter of Bul) Comments looks cool. http://www.osnews.com/thread?483089 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483089 those look so cool. i like every one of those except the one with the round button with the sideways triangle. not sure what that icon does, but it's ugly. but overall it looks very very cool. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (graig) Comments Comment by Luminair http://www.osnews.com/thread?483098 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483098 Mozilla has been brain dead for years. End of line Tue, 02 Aug 2011 02:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Luminair) Comments Firefox: Be original! http://www.osnews.com/thread?483100 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483100 As most of us know, IE has been ripping ideas from Firefox for years. Firefox was fresh, full of new ideas. Now the tables have turned. When I updated to Firefox 3, I was shocked and nauseous. Now Firefox has sunken to the level of ripping off of Chrome! Just like you said in your review of iOS on the iPad, there is more than one way of building a good interface. I use Firefox because Chrome's interface was anti-productive for me. Now I have to find a bunch of extensions and hacks to get Firefox the way it was in 2.x. Firefox needs to be original again. Mozilla needs to go back to the 2.x UI, and start from there again. Figure out a different way of doing it better. With all the copy-catting that has been going on between IE, Firefox, and Chrome, I am surprised that software patent lawsuits are not flying about between the three browsers! (YET!) Tue, 02 Aug 2011 02:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Obsidian_ShadowHawk) Comments RE: sdfvsdfv http://www.osnews.com/thread?483101 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483101 SPAM Tue, 02 Aug 2011 02:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Obsidian_ShadowHawk) Comments vertical http://www.osnews.com/thread?483103 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483103 I would like a few more vertical pixels available to view the web. The current firefox on osx has a menubar (standard apple) a window bar (three round buttons and a title) the tab bar and an adressbar with some buttons.
On windows they managed to compress some of this in less pixels.
On OSX they could trim some stuff down. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 02:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (gfx1) Comments Comment by RichterKuato http://www.osnews.com/thread?483106 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483106 The Chrome looking ones are a nice step but I'm more interested in seeing them adopt some of the idea's from their Ubiquitous Firefox concept. Namely, Inline Tab History:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/User:David_Regev/Ubiquitous_Firefox#Step_3a... Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:20:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (RichterKuato) Comments RE: Wallpaper http://www.osnews.com/thread?483107 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483107 Here you go:
http://blog.stephenhorlander.com/2011/08/desktop-backgrounds/ Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:34:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (RichterKuato) Comments It's time http://www.osnews.com/thread?483114 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483114 It's time for Firefox to ditch Gecko and welcome WebKit for its layout engine. I don't think Firefox developers would bring the full potentials of Gecko to the future Firefox releases.

What can I say? I think Mozilla should make a brand new Gecko-based browser that is intact from Firefox codes. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 05:27:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (neticspace) Comments RE: It's time http://www.osnews.com/thread?483115 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483115 What for? Gecko is innovative in its own right. And Mozilla's JavaScript VM is a state of art, and it continues to improve. It's time for someone to realize that not only WebKit is supposed to be supported (hinting on mobile browsers). Fortunately good developers like for example those of jQuery Mobile realize it pretty well. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 05:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shmerl) Comments RE: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483117 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483117

I feel like Opera's current iteration looks like an alpha version of Firefox 5. You have tabs on top but you can't throw your mouse to the top and click. You have a single button instead of menubar but they have just thrown all menus in it instead of redesigning it for the button. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Fergy) Comments RE[2]: Misleading title http://www.osnews.com/thread?483118 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483118

"Mozilla has already announced that these were just internal design mockups and are in no way the official vision of the future Firefox.

The news has been picked up only because its sensationalistic. The accuracy does not matter, even on OSNews. Though readers knew that by now. Sensational = hits = ads = money. "

Did the possibility that I was simply unaware of that cross your mind at all? I'm currently in the final stages of finishing up my masters' thesis while at the same time running my translation company, so my apologies if I don't have the full time to devote to every news item on OSNews. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom_Holwerda) Comments RE: Nice Firefox... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483119 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483119

I've been pointing another finger up at Chrome (and Firefox since it's been shitting on every reason Firefox users choose Firefox in the first place), and it's sure as hell not the pointer finger.

You didn't mention the reason why people choose Firefox.(I would like to think it is because they like it)

I'll be off of Iceweasel for good pretty soon. Firefox SUCKS these days. Sorry, had to say it. Their pointlessly fast releases and ripping of Chrome is just the beginning. If I wanted to use Chrome, I would f***ing use Chrome, god damn it.

Why are fast releases pointless?(They give you new features now instead of in 12 months and it is less work for the developers)

Mozilla (and especially the Mozilla Corporation) and Asa Dotzler can go FOAD for all I care. Seriously, they've been doing nothing but running themselves into the ground since the Corporation was formed, and Asa's one of the lead nuts it seems these days.

Mozilla has been growing in influence and money since the corporation was formed.

All this ranting and you have said nothing. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Fergy) Comments RE: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483120 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483120

But I'm sticking with Opera. I've used it from 1996 or so.

Really? Since 1996 you say? I'm sorry but it sounds an awful lot like you peeked at the Wikipedia article, saw the year, and ran with it to look impressive.

For one thing, Opera may have been released in the last three weeks of 1996, but from what I remember (and I first heard of it in late 1998) it was about as popular then as the Midori browser is today, i.e. far less than 1% usage. In those days it was Netscape vs Internet Explorer all the way. I can't imagine you having used it since 1996 unless you were on the dev team or a beta tester. If you were I apologize for my rude assumptions, but cynic that I am, I highly doubt it.

For another thing, Opera's interface has changed so much in the past decade and a half that it really is an entirely different browser from its early days. That tends to be the case with pretty much all of the current browsers save Chrome, which in its short life has had more "under the hood" changes than anything. If you really have stuck with Opera since day one, I certainly applaud you. I found it to be a curiosity when I first discovered it, mildly useful when I revisited it in 2000-2001, and more or less abhorrent in the years since. I will say that its mobile versions are very nicely done though.

So, please forgive my inherent skepticism, but I think you are making that up to sound smart, and it's not working dude. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Morgan) Comments RE[2]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483121 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483121

So, please forgive my inherent skepticism, but I think you are making that up to sound smart, and it's not working dude.

Or - and this is just a wild guess out of the goodness of my heart - he doesn't know exactly when he started using it, and guessed 1996. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom_Holwerda) Comments RE[3]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483123 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483123 What?? Goodness of your heart??? This isn't the Thom Holwerda I'm used to... (just kidding)

That thought crossed my mind, hence the "I apologize if I'm the stupid one" part. But one of my fatal flaws is a hefty amount of cynicism and a bullshitometer that stays cranked to 11. And I tend to be extra cranky when I'm at work at 3:30am, and that's nobody's fault but my own.Edited 2011-08-02 07:53 UTC Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Morgan) Comments Chaotic and Distracting? http://www.osnews.com/thread?483124 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483124 "As someone who finds the current interface a little... Chaotic and distracting"

Maybe you should just sit in the corner with a coloring book.

The Internet is serious business. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 07:53:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Finchwizard) Comments RE: Nice Firefox... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483127 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483127 I'm genuinely curious: What browser are you moving to? You mentioned leaving Iceweasel so I'm assuming you are using Debian or a derivative.

I'd love to know what might be better than Firefox. I still use it for the easy sync, good extensions and cross-platform support. Those things exist in Chrome, though to a lesser degree on all fronts. Syncing in Chrome, for example, is easier to set up but has some pretty silly defaults. I prefer my most used shortcuts as "buttons" on the bookmark toolbar using only the favicon for identification. Firefox handles syncing those just fine, whereas Chrome puts them in a different random order on every subsequent install. For someone like me who is very nearly OCD, that is quite frustrating.

Still, I'm growing tired of seeing my memory usage in the high hundreds of megabytes with two tabs open in Firefox on Windows. It's not as bad on Arch Linux, but it's still the most resource hungry program I run in either OS by far. Chrome is not really an option for me, as I feel it's pretty much "Firefox Light", i.e. not enough to compel me to migrate fully to it despite the smaller footprint.

I do like what I've seen of Midori, though I feel it has a long way to go yet. I even find myself using Dillo and Links when I'm in Arch Linux, though mostly for text-heavy pages as neither handles modern formatting well.

So please, enlighten us! I'm sure I'm not the only one wanting to know what lies in greener pastures in the great browser war of 2011. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:09:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Morgan) Comments My thoughts http://www.osnews.com/thread?483132 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483132 * Controls are too large for mouse use, it's a waste of space. Firefox 4/5 was an improvement in terms of screen estate use, why go back now ? Firefox's main destination platform won't be equipped with a touchscreen anytime soon.
* Home button positioning sounds incredibly annoying for an experienced user, but well, I got used to it for FF4 so I guess I could get used to it too. It also makes sense from a UX standpoint to put it close to the "App tabs". However, why not move the bookmarks button there, then ?
* The "gear" menu is an awful mess. Bi-dimensional grids don't work well and never had for anything other than file browsing, people should just get over it. Also, drag and drop is another relic from the past that should be run away from as fast as possible. ESPECIALLY if they target touch devices.
* Give me my search bar back ! I need it, and they don't explain how they plan to properly replace it yet.

As a whole, not attracted by this interface. As pointed out by others, if I wanted to use Chrome, I would use Chrome. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Neolander) Comments RE[2]: ... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483137 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483137

Feeds indicator in the address bar for example. It was very annoying removal.

FWIW, I solved this problem by adding the new independent feeds button to the toolbar next to the address bar. (I know, itâs not quite the same, but it works alright.)

Another annoying change was disabling of toggling the search bar with Ctrl+F. It opens with Ctrl+F now, but doesn't close back with the same keys combination. So to fill these gaps, there are extensions.

I always just press Escape. Seems more convenient. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:21:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Aankhen) Comments RE: ... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483140 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483140 The old static statusbar, the old (compact) location bar drop-down. You also need to add obscure crap to your userChrome.css file to get back stuff like the full menubar (4.x and > make it so that some menu items, like the back/forward/stop/reload navigation items, are only visible when opening the menubar via keyboard shortcuts - this can be fixed with "#navigator-toolbox menuitem[class="show-only-for-keyboard"] { display:-moz-box !important; }"), or a persistent Go button. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:33:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Icaria) Comments . http://www.osnews.com/thread?483142 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483142 I really wish browser vendors would stop trying to out-design each other with a combination of novel widgets and the removal/hiding of any and all potentially non-critical functionality. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:37:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Icaria) Comments RE: My thoughts http://www.osnews.com/thread?483143 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483143 'bi-directional grids' (or matrices) aren't even good for file managers. Set your file manager to display files in a single column (ideally with text besides icons) and watch as your productivity improves. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Icaria) Comments The problem is inconsistency http://www.osnews.com/thread?483144 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483144 I would call the UI change introduced in Firefox 4 and later an "improvement" only very hesitantly. Sure, the menu paradigm is dated and has to be replaced with something more streamlined, but they did a mediocre job in cleaning up the UI.

As in Firefox 5.0, certain useful features that have been there since forever are still only accessible via the traditional menu. For example, you have to hit Alt + V or bring back the menu bar just to enable/disable Zoom Text Only and whatnot.

All in all, the current UI feels like a mish-mash of different paradigms, neither here or there... But I'll still be using Firefox for the near future because some extensions are just indispensable for me. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 09:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (filosofem) Comments Going extreme http://www.osnews.com/thread?483147 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483147 Except a few details, I don't see anything new here. I wonder if it's time to start rethinking the whole browser paradigm.

1) Back and forward buttons: are they still needed? A lot of sites have all dynamic content rendered inside some DIVs, so those buttons are far from doing what you expect. Sites are turning into applications.

2) Address bar: things like http://server123.somewhere.somewherelese.com/path/to/something.funn... doesn't help anyone. That's a mere technical detail nowadays.

3) Status bar (or the simple popup that replaced it): as more and more anchors now just run some Javascript, it's becoming useless. I installed status4ever only because I feel lost and lonely without a status bar.

4) Progress bar: the times of staring at a progress bar while our modem made some funny noises while our page was being loaded are long gone. As the pages themselves (see point 1). And spinning wheels aren't that much useful anyway, perhaps only for the first time a "page" is requested. Everything else should be handled inside the "page" itself: let's take a news with comments below, the link for the next page of comments actually loads the comments in the comments area (a DIV), not the whole "page"; so the spinning wheel only makes sense inside that area, or over the link.

5) Ability to select text, contextual menus on pictures, etc.: They're so damn useful, but I wonder how long they will survive. Read: I see new projects using Javascript to render content inside canvases, and the content is described with less insane languages than HTML and CSS (even binary, to laugh at those Firebug nerds). Where we used to have all-Flash sites, we're going to have all-canvas-and-JS sites. Block that, now... we have to hope that site designer will be so generous to leave some selectable stuff.

6) Last but not least, as every site is becoming an application, let's turn those into real applications at OS level! Chrome already does this only in part - I can't alt-tab/ExposÃ©/whatever between sites, for example. I would really love that. Also put in drag&drop, bookmarks in Start menu/Launchpad/Dock/whatever, etc.

7) This is not really a browser's fault, but as that sites-are-applications thing implies, the language they're written in should evolve. Multithreading, anyone?
Even better, there shold be more languages for the folks - and I sign in for that - who doesn't like Javascript. A solution could be to have a universal bytecode, AOT compilers for each language (and a JIT compiler to speed things up), with the compiler supplied by the site itself if it isn't already available in the browser.

I believe the internet is moving this wsay, currently we are in a sort of half-backed situation. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (biffuz) Comments RE: Wallpaper http://www.osnews.com/thread?483148 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483148 hehe... I was thinking the same thing. I don't like the Chrome-like mockup, but I do fancy the wallpaper.

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ggeldenhuys) Comments Comment by v_bobok http://www.osnews.com/thread?483153 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483153 Mockup looks decent in OSX/Aqua version. Terrible in Win7 Aero -- ewwww, gross. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (v_bobok) Comments FF5 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483157 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483157 I still use FF5 primarily. However, lately I've been growing just a bit disenchanted with the interface. I have to move my mouse too much for my normal use. I've been growing more fond of Chrome at about the same pace as I've been losing interest in FF.

Still the mockups look great! Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:23:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Drunkula) Comments RE: FF5 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483165 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483165 If you don't like moving the mouse, you could try keyboard-based UIs like the one provided by Vimperator

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:31:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Neolander) Comments RE[3]: ... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483167 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483167 Feeds button in toolbar is very different from the feeds *indicator* in the address bar. I.e. it doesn't indicate anything, unless you try to click on it to test if feeds are present. Absence or presence of feeds indicator on the other hand prompts the user that feeds actually exist for some page. That's why extension was needed to compensate that.

Using Esc to close the search toolbar is not comfortable, if search toolbar looses the focus. It'll require you to click on search toolbar first, and then hit Esc. Too many extra mouse + keyboard manipulations IMO, in comparison with just doing Ctrl+F.

That's why I use these:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rss-icon-in-awesombar...
http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/find-toolbar-tweaks/ Edited 2011-08-02 15:09 UTC Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shmerl) Comments . http://www.osnews.com/thread?483176 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483176 hunt the function.

Hope they keep the option to show toolbars. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (fran) Comments RE[2]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483177 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483177

I feel like Opera's current iteration looks like an alpha version of Firefox 5. You have tabs on top but you can't throw your mouse to the top and click.

They've intentionally left a gap so that the titlebar can be dragged in Windows 7 (a mistake in my opinion). but you can tweak it to remove the gap and make tabs more fitts' law friendly, in fact some skins do that for you.

You have a single button instead of menubar but they have just thrown all menus in it instead of redesigning it for the button.

That's not true. Turn the full menubar back on and you'll see that the menus in the button have a significantly different layout.

It was actually possible to reduce the standard menu bar to a button a good few years before the new menu button was made a default. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:08:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Dave_K) Comments RE[2]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483184 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483184 I don't know he looks Scandinavian in his profile pic. Opera started in Norway and was a hit in the Nordic countries due to the different language versions.

Heck, I'm a US citizen and I was using Opera in mid 1997. The lab computers were stuck with Netscape 2 ( Netscape 4 was already out), and I didn't have admin privileges to install anything. I could install opera ( opera 2.x? don't remember) to a 1.44 mb floppy and take it from computer to computer. It was lightening fast compared to Netscape (2,3, or eventually 4) on those computers. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bill Shooter of Bul) Comments RE: Chaotic and Distracting? http://www.osnews.com/thread?483186 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483186

"As someone who finds the current interface a little... Chaotic and distracting"

Maybe you should just sit in the corner with a coloring book.

The Internet is serious business.

Rumour has it that he once saw Office 2010. And died. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:59:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (M.Onty) Comments RE: My thoughts http://www.osnews.com/thread?483187 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483187

Also, drag and drop is another relic from the past that should be run away from as fast as possible. ESPECIALLY if they target touch devices.

Aside from touch based devices, what's wrong with drag 'n' drop? I've personally never found a GUI thats more fluid to use than RISC OS which is very heavy on that. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:02:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (M.Onty) Comments RE[3]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483188 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483188 Yeah, I realize looking back how much of an ass I made of myself there. I think I'm going to stop posting from work, where I'm always bitter and tired. Not an excuse by the way.

I had forgotten that Opera used to fit on a floppy! That was one of those things that piqued my interest when I first started using it. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 19:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Morgan) Comments RE[2]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483190 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483190 I used it when it still fit in a 3.5" Floppy. So when was that. Even remembered using it in it's beta stages back then which crashed a lot. Nah Don't need to sound impressive. I just love the software even back then. Even more so now. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:03:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mfaudzinr) Comments RE[2]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483192 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483192 Most of the browsers out there took many design cues from Opera. Most notable is multi-modal interface. Tabs if you will. Nowadays everybody seem to want to emulate Chrome. Oh well to each his own. I'm an Opera guy... Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mfaudzinr) Comments RE[3]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483193 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483193 Yeah what's with the gap I wonder. I find it disconcerting if it has no real purpose. How'd you tweak it? I like clean simplicity and abhor skins... Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mfaudzinr) Comments RE: Going extreme http://www.osnews.com/thread?483194 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483194 Back and Forward are common use cases. Sites should behave correctly, and not the browser become broken because sites are:

http://hacks.mozilla.org/2011/08/making-history-with-the-august-dev... Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:25:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shmerl) Comments RE[4]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483199 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483199 Eh, it happens to the best of us. Thanks for being honourable enough to own up to a grumpy mood. Even the best of us aren't saints 24/7. Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bill Shooter of Bul) Comments RE[4]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483201 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483201

Yeah what's with the gap I wonder. I find it disconcerting if it has no real purpose. How'd you tweak it?

You need to go into Opera:Config and set "Chrome Integration Drag Area Maximized" to 0. Then either install a borderless skin or tweak the existing skin to remove the top padding.

You can find skin tweaking guides on the Opera forums. It's not something I've bothered with as I don't use tabs at the top.

With modern widescreens and a lot of tabs open, I prefer to have a vertical tab bar down the side of the window, especially as the version in Opera's panel has additional features like allowing you to select groups of tabs and filter them by name. The lack of a feature like that is the main reason why I don't use Chrome.

I like clean simplicity and abhor skins...

Some of the available skins are designed to be clean and simple. I generally hate skins too, but it's not like Opera's default skin fits the standard Windows look and feel anyway. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Dave_K) Comments RE[3]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483219 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483219 Yeah I was being a jerk, and I'm sorry about that. One of the reasons I don't have as many "friends" on here as some is that I tend to speak first and think later. Add that to my cynical nature, and I end up making a fool of myself.

Either way, you were using it before I was, as I found out about it near the end of the "fit on a floppy" days. I remember actually having to hunt down an older version so I could use it like that.

I wish I could say I still love Opera, but it just doesn't have that magic it had back in the '90s. As I've said before though, the mobile version kicks major butt! I put it on our new (well, new to us) Windows Mobile-based barcode scanners at the part time job, and it runs crazy-fast. We use them for quick product lookups, and hopefully soon for full inventory management. That's my new pet project there. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:40:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Morgan) Comments RE: Comment by Luminair http://www.osnews.com/thread?483225 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483225 its no longer Mozilla, its Chrozilla. but yeah Mozilla has been dead for awhile. FF5 really has nothing new unlike FF6

anyone seen a Picture of a mockup of a linux UX build? Wed, 03 Aug 2011 03:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Sabz) Comments RE[5]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483229 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483229 Thanks Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mfaudzinr) Comments RE[3]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483230 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483230

Most of the browsers out there took many design cues from Opera. Most notable is multi-modal interface. Tabs if you will. Nowadays everybody seem to want to emulate Chrome. Oh well to each his own. I'm an Opera guy...

I tried that mdi interface and really didn't like it. When Phoenix introduced tabs I loved it and never looked back.
If you 'invent' a feature that doesn't get used by a lot of people can you still demand credit for it? If you take an existing feature and improve it to the point where it becomes extremely popular should you share your credit with the previous 'inventor'?Edited 2011-08-03 05:23 UTC Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:22:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Fergy) Comments RE[3]: Misleading title http://www.osnews.com/thread?483232 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483232

Did the possibility that I was simply unaware of that cross your mind at all? I'm currently in the final stages of finishing up my masters' thesis while at the same time running my translation company, so my apologies if I don't have the full time to devote to every news item on OSNews.

Still your huge bias towards Chrome should have made you think twice before jumping on the opportunity of downplaying Firefox. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:30:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Fergy) Comments RE[4]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483233 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483233 :-) :-) :-) 3 smileys for you. You're alright. Anyways on desktops, Opera is my poison and yes the mobile version kicks ass. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mfaudzinr) Comments RE[2]: Comment by Luminair http://www.osnews.com/thread?483234 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483234

its no longer Mozilla, its Chrozilla. but yeah Mozilla has been dead for awhile. FF5 really has nothing new unlike FF6

anyone seen a Picture of a mockup of a linux UX build?

If Chrome didn't exist would Mozilla be copying IE9 or Opera? If my sarcasm isn't clear; a good idea can originate anywhere and using it is only smart. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Fergy) Comments RE[4]: Very similar to Opera http://www.osnews.com/thread?483241 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483241 I actually don't understand your point but that's ok. Truthfully speaking I don't care who does what first or credits where credits' due. I've been using Opera for a very long time and I'm happy with the progress that they've made so far. Chrome is the new shiny toy but I love my trusty old toy more and Firefox seem to be lumbering nowadays, while IE starting to look sexy again. I don't care much about Safari. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 06:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (mfaudzinr) Comments RE[2]: My thoughts http://www.osnews.com/thread?483257 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483257 It's a pretty complex operation for what it's usually used for. You have to...
-Target the file (precise pointing)
-Grab it
-While holding the mouse button, target the destination area, which is generally small if present at all and does not benefit from the infinite screen borders, unless you switch windows by doing a complex round trip to the task switcher while still holding your file.

Compared to copy&paste or, in this case, clicking an "install extension" button, this looks exceedingly complicated.

Maybe RISC OS has some kind of large permanently visible screen area dedicated to drag and drop, though. This could reduce the latter targeting problem at the cost of precious screen area. I've heard of one OS that had such a "shelf", though I can't remember how it was called.

Unless this firefox UI automatically opens the gear menu automatically, it doesn't have this for it, but you're right that I was being a bit harsh. Maybe drag and drop can be done right and made pleasant as compared to alternatives. I've just never seen a UI to date that made it a practical option. Delphi's form builder was close, but is was still simpler to single-click the control and single-click the form, instead of dragging the mouse around with the left finger pressed.Edited 2011-08-03 08:26 UTC Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:18:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Neolander) Comments RE[2]: On-topic: Past Features http://www.osnews.com/thread?483258 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483258 Thank you. I'll check it out. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:26:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (John Blink) Comments RE[3]: Comment by Luminair http://www.osnews.com/thread?483263 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483263

"its no longer Mozilla, its Chrozilla. but yeah Mozilla has been dead for awhile. FF5 really has nothing new unlike FF6

anyone seen a Picture of a mockup of a linux UX build?

If Chrome didn't exist would Mozilla be copying IE9 or Opera? If my sarcasm isn't clear; a good idea can originate anywhere and using it is only smart. "
Mozilla arent copying anyone. look at the UX branch Tabs, much different from Chrome and opera or IE . the only think i can think of that Mozilla are doing some similar to Chrome and thats there JavaScript. Mozilla have been slow to act on DOM compared to what Chrome does, Chrome uses Multi Processes on all where FF only uses 2 out of 3 Multi Processes , in the UX branch i think should have all 3 using all 3 Multi processes, ( i'd have to dig up the article about that ) and im to lazy, plus its near dinner time where i live anyway http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2094853/mozilla-looks-mult... Edited 2011-08-03 08:45 UTC Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:41:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Sabz) Comments RE: FF5 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483264 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483264 Ever tried Lynx? ;-) Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:43:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (biffuz) Comments RE[4]: ... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483371 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483371

Feeds button in toolbar is very different from the feeds *indicator* in the address bar. I.e. it doesn't indicate anything, unless you try to click on it to test if feeds are present. Absence or presence of feeds indicator on the other hand prompts the user that feeds actually exist for some page. That's why extension was needed to compensate that.

Itâs greyed out on pages with no feeds; itâs dark on pages with feeds. Isnât that the same principle as the earlier behaviour?

The new design could certainly stand to be clearer, as there isnât enough contrast between the two states.

Using Esc to close the search toolbar is not comfortable, if search toolbar looses the focus. It'll require you to click on search toolbar first, and then hit Esc. Too many extra mouse + keyboard manipulations IMO, in comparison with just doing Ctrl+F.

I use Ctrl+F to refocus the search field and then Esc to close it.

That's why I use these:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rss-icon-in-awesombar...
http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/find-toolbar-tweaks/

Thanks for the links. Iâm pretty used to the current behaviour at this point, so I probably wonât install them myself. Iâll keep them in mind if it ever becomes too annoying, or if I come across someone whoâd prefer the older behaviour. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:56:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Aankhen) Comments RE: It's time http://www.osnews.com/thread?483387 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483387

It's time for Firefox to ditch Gecko and welcome WebKit for its layout engine.

Since significant parts of Mozilla's technology stack are dependent on Gecko (such as XUL) trying rewrite it to accommodate WebKit would certainly put Mozilla out of the browser business as it would tie large parts of their resources for several years. I'm glad that Mozilla never truly considered such poisonous advices from false friends.

Plus, according to a Mozilla developer even WebKit people are interested in having multiple engines implementing the standards. Wed, 03 Aug 2011 19:52:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Erunno) Comments My opinion FWIW http://www.osnews.com/thread?483537 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483537 I'm liken Chrome, nice, clean and fast. I still need FF for a few plugins/extensions that aren't available on Chrome like HTTPFox. Seeing out IE and FF are both moving their interface closer to Chrome shows how good it actually is. Thu, 04 Aug 2011 04:35:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (marcus0263) Comments RE[5]: ... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483663 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483663 May be it's theme specific, but in the theme I use feeds button in toolbar doesn't change appearance at all.

Ctrl+F Esc is still longer than just Ctrl+F

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 17:12:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (shmerl) Comments RE[6]: ... http://www.osnews.com/thread?483868 http://www.osnews.com/thread?483868 Maybe the buttonâs appearance is theme-specific, yeah.

And I agree, two keystrokes is one too many. :-) Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Aankhen) Comments