Mozilla's popular Firefox browser is on the up and up; with version 3.5 recently released, it's making very good progress, and now, the organization has revealed some concepts for a redesign they plan to be included in version 3.7.Firstly, we should note that these new designs are purely ideas, and they'll only be re-making the Windows versions, so put your excited faces away, Mac and Linux users. According to the official wiki that we linked above, here are Mozilla's planned new improvements:
1. Embracing Glass: Toolbar and Tabs using Glass. Buttons translucent and slightly glossy to meld with the toolbar. Raised 3D lookachieve tactile "feel".
2. Page Button: Connect the Page button to the left side of the tab area. Directly connected to the Page.
3. Tools/Bookmark Bar: Connecting the Tools button to the side of the window to emphasize the fact that it is used for customizing and changing the UI. Adding a button next to that to toggle the Bookmarks bar which is turned off by default.
All this chat is well and good, but we know what you're really here for... the actual screenshots. Without further ado, here they are!
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Because it doesn't come from Microsoft. You know you can't trust software that doesn't come from Microsoft, right?? And also Vista was the greatest OS ever, IE has been the safest browser ever, ActiveX is a brilliant idea, Microsoft isn't a monopoly, and if they are then everyone is. Maybe you can help me with my petition to get clippy back, in all Microsoft products.
And I think it is an ugly redesign, I have never liked this glass look.
Wut. Chrome's UI looks like it was designed after a piece of baby blue plastic. It's a fantastic browser, and in terms of UI layout it's great, but the colours and shapes... Urgh.
Absolutely love this Fx mockup, aside from the cloned buttons - but they've got a long time to change that.
Absolutely love this Fx mockup, aside from the cloned buttons - but they've got a long time to change that.
Well under XP and vista with aero disabled i agree - but with aero enabled it looks much, much more native then IE can ever hope with Vista/W7.
Hmm, so it seems. One second!
damn windows xD
And the non-Aero versions of the 3.7 Firefox look pretty ugly.
That's only because the non-Aero version of Windows, with that hideous blue, looks pretty ugly.
the toolbar even reminds me of chrome, the way its arranged
As I've said to other people - how is it possible to make icons like that much different to Chrome's when you wish to have no colour on them? The only reason these icons look like Chrome's is because Chrome's icons are so generic. Chrome uses a spanner for the 'Tools' menu icon, this uses a spanner and a hammer; again the only reason it looks similar to Chrome's is because it is colourless (blends into the background of the UI) and it is a similar shape. There are only so many shapes you can use for an icon...
Just because you have an inch of glass and a few monochrome icons does not mean anything.
because they are aiming to copy chrome interface.
https://wiki.mozilla.org/images/2/21/%28Win...8Ver-001%29.png
i saŠ½ - i like, but i'm still disappointed with mozilla development team very much. it takes so long them to fix important bugs and add important features. theme was just an ugly piece of crap for a long time. and 3.7 won't be released before end of 2010... places (history/bookmarks module) was not optimized for 3.5 after all - still gigantic memory leaks and hangs...
Just because you have an inch of glass and a few monochrome icons does not mean anything.
By "minimalistic" I'm sure you mean "lacking in features".
And the fact you're taking this so seriously shows you're just scared that your precious Chrome isn't as amazing as you thought it was
Besides all that it's a nice first mockup, it's great to see them adapting Aero. Can't wait to see updated mockups
If you really want a glass Firefox on Linux there is sure to be a way to do that, but Mozilla won't do it for you.
A tenth? Well, you are very exaggerated. Maybe a half makes more sense.
Yes, a tenth.
you fail
No, it's not. Get some math classes.
Last edited by Luis Mazza on 20 Jul 2009 - 22:53
An so, the expansion All Glass 2.1.2 does make tabs and menus, status bookmark bar. Everything is glass except the buttons. That's why Mozilla's version would be "50%" better than All Glass, former "Glasser" or whatever.
If someone just modifies the Strata Default Theme with half-transparant glassy white buttons you can get exactly this result! Except for making the frame Glass my addon does nothing, themes still apply (even though some themes break the effect)
wheres the home button?
wheres the home button?
That's a very good question. Maybe you can't go home anymore?
As for tab support in the taskbar, I currently have 93 tabs open, so not sure what that will be like to use. 0_o
Yes, I know. I need to see somebody about my tab "problem" :p
Does anyone use this anymore? I haven't clicked that button for years. Only just noticed that it is still there.
As for tab support in the taskbar, I currently have 93 tabs open, so not sure what that will be like to use. 0_o
Yes, I know. I need to see somebody about my tab "problem" :p
I have 29. yeah I suggest going to a tab alcoholic anonymous meeting ASAP.
As for tab support in the taskbar, I currently have 93 tabs open, so not sure what that will be like to use. 0_o
Yes, I know. I need to see somebody about my tab "problem" :p
I have 29. yeah I suggest going to a tab alcoholic anonymous meeting ASAP.
Tabaholic more like.
What space is being wasted? What would you have in that space instead?
The web page.
In Chrome, if it was maximized, the whole top got replaced with tabs, and if you want to see the full tab, just hover over it.
I certainly can't think of anything else. It may remind you of the Chrome icon but that's because Chrome's icons are just really generic.
Why I am not suprised I wonder...
Chrome has more in common.
Chrome has more in common.
Menu bar can be easily hidden now. Technically the new Menu button which appears in the top left corner when the menu bar is hidden is Tools + Hidden menu bar in one.
Chrome has more in common.
@Phantom Helix: +1 looks A LOT like Opera 10 and yes u can remove menu bar and customize it in ANY way you want/like it.
@rm20010: not just now u could do it even in Opera 8 u just had to add a custom button manually and in Opera 10 its automatic now.
I knew there would be a Crhome fanboy in the midst who would call "copycat".
Seriously, get the **** over yourselves. Mozilla doesn't need to be all "revolutionary and ****", they already accomplished that with Firefox.
Remember your roots. Before Chrome, you know you used Firefox and loved it.
Where is the home button?
Yeah that makes sense. But it seems odd that it would be disabled by default.
takebacktheweb.org, if you don't have it already.
Thank you, simon!!!
Mozilla's websites are beautifully designed, but all their software always looks half-finished.
Chrome is beautiful though. It's so slick and simple. The little animations in it are perfect too.
IE8 is as nice as they can make it. They're limited because they use Windows APIs for everything. It does make all the different interfaces match though, which is nice. (Plus they have great logo designers.)
There's no lens flare.
I find that the horrible blue colour of Chrome gets annoying after a bit.
Also, they use the most awful icons for folders and for the star.
Finally, there is no favicon in the location bar suggestions, when typing and there is also not a 'tags' option in the bookmarks (again, something which appears in Firefox's location bar suggestions).
Mozilla's websites are beautifully designed, but all their software always looks half-finished.
Chrome is beautiful though. It's so slick and simple. The little animations in it are perfect too.
IE8 is as nice as they can make it. They're limited because they use Windows APIs for everything. It does make all the different interfaces match though, which is nice. (Plus they have great logo designers.)
You sir, win the internet.
@Calum, chrome looks increadible with windows aero, so much that it looks more "native" than IE8 on w7
@Calum, chrome looks increadible with windows aero, so much that it looks more "native" than IE8 on w7
No it doesn't. IE8 looks like other parts of Windows. Chrome looks like tacky blue plastic with a bit of Aero at the top.
I rarely need to view my history as it comes up in the location bar, to match what you type.
It makes a lot more sense to make that menu modular and in the worst case scenario let you totally reproduce it yourself (which is already possible via adding new menu bars with text only menu items.
/sarcasm
NOT.
I hope they implement the Protected Mode scheme that IE8 and Chrome are using.
It looks gorgeous though.
The mockup for Aero Basic looks pretty good too.
Currently (and for a while now) in the nightly builds there is the option to hide the menu bar.
Anywho, these themes are good, but seem rather unfitting in their environments. I would prefer themes that look integrated with the respective version of Windows.
Yeah exactly, I use mine way too much to ditch it for a "Tools" button.
I like it as well otherwise, maybe a bit too much form over function at this stage, but I bet that will be improved upon from these concepts.
In truth the browsers look so basic/minimalist/generic they all look like each other.
They don't even get close together.
They don't even get close together.
What the hell are you talking about? The only noticable difference between them is the standard File/Edit/etc toolbar, a search box and the location of the tabs.
I'll stick to Chrome just because it seems to suit me better. However, when Chrome gives me a hard time I'll temporarily switch to Firefox.
had to restart the program before it got unbearable.
safari 4 had it worse though, it just crashed. it's the only app that crashes in windows 7 rc so far.
IE8 and Chrome were just fine. Probably due to the tabs running in multiple processes. (ie. the processes were created and killed as i open/close tabs)
Although i definitely hope Firefox will get some much needed speed improvement and slim down. I dont expect it to be fastest. But anywhere close to Chrome or Saferi will do. Currently they are just way faster.
i don't mind 'some' tweaks like the color to make it transparent etc but i just don't want it to look like IE7/IE8 does with the 'tools' completely in a different place since i been used to the current methods (as i said above) for ages and it sucks relearning something after THAT LONG.
but it appears i wont have much choice
But even with a great example of what a browser should look like, they still cant get it right.
I mean how hard is it to copy?
I understand glass is cool and all, but should't it be limited to the window border and toolbar? Didn't the Safari 4 beta prove it's a bad UI idea to have tabs use glass? It's pointless and reduces readability.
Why does the tools/bookmark area need that weird and pointless frame around it? Why do the icons totally not fit with Windows Seven?
A page bar button on the tab bar? Great, like the new tab button another space wasting button on the tab bar. What's wrong with a new tab button on the toolbar?
Why is the least used UI element (the adress bar) given the most prominent position and size while other much more used elements (tabbar) have to sacrifice more space with every release?.
It's starting to look like IE.
Mozilla get your act together and come up with something truly innovative and good looking instead of changing the icons every two years and adding some buttons.
The XP theme on Vista would look a lot better.
On XP, though, they still curve the bottom part of the tab bar, even though it doesn't extend around the window.
They still haven't combined the stop and reload buttons, nor have they combined the search and address bar.
I wonder if the tabs will be more chrome-like, and not tear unless explicitly told to.
comon!.. be more creative.. thank god this is just a prototype.. although I know and have faith it will get better
Besides, all they did was adapt so there was no menu bar. There's only so many ways to do that.
Look at all the "white space" around the title, the nav bar and buttons etc... if you are looking to save some screen space compact that but don't remove the only common, easily understood way of using a program!
That and all these rounded semi-transparent windows really have to go, what a waste of PC power, effort and screen real estate.
PS Firefox keep popping a javascript error every few minutes on your site, try and catch are your friend! Wish someone would tell Yahoo that as well.
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