If Firefox 3 drops Vista look

[Randolph]

Yeah me too. That looks sick.

[Linkinfamous]

Yeah me too. That looks sick.

As I said, go vote for the bug. Maybe it'll get noticed.

[nazgul]

As I said, go vote for the bug. Maybe it'll get noticed.

I tried, but it's not giving me the option to vote for some reason...

[ObiWanToby]

Please don't turn this into an IE thread.

It just shows with one simple addon, IE becomes quite feature rich. UI conscious people will be just fine with IE over firefox, if it continues on its course of ugly.

[Chan Smith]

It would be kind of nice if firefox had a vista look when using it in vista. Maybe they will in time if they deside to drop it for sure.

[Ayepecks]

I actually tried to do it.

I set the background to black, and make the call to extend glass.

This was the result:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=265448

Basically, the only issues seemed to be with the two text boxes. They're apparently drawing bitmaps so that alpha transparency works perfectly fine on top, they're just not rendering text properly for it. If they fix the text issue, glass would work beautifully.

I recommend that everyone goes over to this page on bugzilla:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=367993

and votes for this....Hopefully renewed interest in this bug would help.

OR, if anyone understands how Firefox works, and wants to try patching it so that the text is rendered properly, that'd be spectacular.

Wow, that'd be awesome! Nice work!

Voting for it now :)

[BlueFox]

Dear awesome people,

please keep making awesome FF themes. And please make some awesome FF3 themes.

Done, this way people will not complain about how it looks, right?

[Ayepecks]

^^ I will stop complaining when it's got aero glass and looks more "integrated" with Vista :) Just IMO.

[Calum Veteran]

^^ I will stop complaining when it's got aero glass and looks more "integrated" with Vista :) Just IMO.

I agree, completely! It HAS to be done!

[Gamerhomie]

That does look pretty cool. I don't know where to vote though.

[Ayepecks]

Create an account, and then go to the "Votes" and vote for it (it's on the page... just search for it in Firefox/IE).

[Randolph]

How many votes are needed?

I voted also.

[Lyric]

voted yes, as well.

[Phantom Limb]

People use Firefox 2 and it doesn't natively look like Vista, I don't see a problem with it (plus both versions are skin able anyway?). This is just nitpicking.

If it's that much of a problem just use IE.

[anarkhy]

We are using firefox 2 but expecting the new version come with a newer better looking interface.

And i think at this point is more interesting for mozilla to make a better interface than add unnecessary features.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I actually tried to do it.

I set the background to black, and make the call to extend glass.

This was the result:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=265448

Basically, the only issues seemed to be with the two text boxes. They're apparently drawing bitmaps so that alpha transparency works perfectly fine on top, they're just not rendering text properly for it. If they fix the text issue, glass would work beautifully.

I recommend that everyone goes over to this page on bugzilla:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=367993

and votes for this....Hopefully renewed interest in this bug would help.

OR, if anyone understands how Firefox works, and wants to try patching it so that the text is rendered properly, that'd be spectacular.

Haha, nice work man, When i tried that all i managed to do was knock out half the icons and text (of course i never thought of using a custom theme ;) )

[Redestium]

Actually these userstyles do a good job.

What dock program/dock skin is that?

[Linkinfamous]

Haha, nice work man, When i tried that all i managed to do was knock out half the icons and text (of course i never thought of using a custom theme ;) )

In order to properly extend glass into a window, you have to paint the background of it black. This, of course, can raise issues with other stuff, if you don't paint the things on top of it very intelligently. I think you just have to change when you draw the text. I'm honestly not sure, though, because I've never really done any UI work in unmanaged code.

Still, they'd have to switch to DrawThemeTextEx for certain things if they wanted it to look good.

Edited February 18, 2008 by MioTheGreat

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Yeah, it's a real pain. If you restrict your drawing to GDI+, you should have better luck.

Of course some of it is still plain stupid (If I draw the string as a path it renders fine, if I draw it as a string it looks like crap, and the text box isn't rendering with any knowledge of an alpha channel)

Edit: Since Gecko is drawing the UI, and Gecko uses Cairo for drawing, and Cairo calls into GDI+, with a few changes it actually shouldn't take that much work.

[DreadBoat89]

Yeah, it's a real pain. If you restrict your drawing to GDI+, you should have better luck.

Of course some of it is still plain stupid (If I draw the string as a path it renders fine, if I draw it as a string it looks like crap, and the text box isn't rendering with any knowledge of an alpha channel)

Edit: Since Gecko is drawing the UI, and Gecko uses Cairo for drawing, and Cairo calls into GDI+, with a few changes it actually shouldn't take that much work.

do i hear a neowin branded firefox-based browser with aero? lol

[Linkinfamous]

do i hear a neowin branded firefox-based browser with aero? lol

Doubtfully.

But if we can get someone who understands GDI+ in C++, and Cairo, it honestly doesn't sound like that big of a patch to tweak FF to properly support extended glass.

[Mikee99]

Some of the posts on here have bothered me so much that I need to reply.

Personally, I think it's a little extreme to say that you will switch browsers because of the theme not looking awesome. However, on the other end, to say that the look of the browser doesn't matter is equally retarded.

The fact of the matter is this: Firefox does not integrate well on Windows. It currently (FF2) integrates even worse on OS X, and on Linux. This is a big deal for many people. The visual look of an application is important. It's not as important as the functionality, but it's still up there.

Mozilla took it upon themselves to fix the visual look of Firefox on it's respective platforms. Where Firefox 3 stands currently, on both Mac OS X and Linux (at least on the GTK side), Mozilla has done a phenomenal job! Upon looking at the wonderful job they did on those platforms, Windows users should be excited that Firefox 3 will look fantastic. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Where it stands right now, Mozilla has completely dropped the ball on Windows. It's sad, since not only are the majority of Firefox users on Windows, but given the fantastic job they did on Linux and OS X, why couldn't they replicate that for Windows?

To those who say: "Just download a theme! Firefox is completely skin-able!" While it is true that Firefox can be modified with themes and skins, it's also true that the vast majority of skins out there are outright terrible. Of all the Firefox Vista themes out there, there is only 1 skin that truly looks amazing on Vista. That is this theme here: http://internauta2000.deviantart.com/art/F...k-Beta-45665026. There is one massive problem though: He never updates it. That theme is currently only available for Firefox 2, and I'm doubtful it will come out for Firefox 3.

I'm also not going to make my own theme. Like the vast majority of users out there, I don't have the time and patience to make a theme. For that reason, it would be excellent if Mozilla made a theme that was so awesome, I would never even consider seeking another.

That is why people are ****ed off! We want an application that looks native on the OS, and if you could do it for Linux and OS X, why not Windows?

Edited February 18, 2008 by Mikee99

[Darrian]

I wouldn't use the new skin any more than I use the current one; they're both ugly. I would be much more excited if they supported transparency for, at least, all the toolbars so we could have some real IE7 skins

[Calum Veteran]

Some of the posts on here have bothered me so much that I need to reply.

Personally, I think it's a little extreme to say that you will switch browsers because of the theme not looking awesome. However, on the other end, to say that the look of the browser doesn't matter is equally retarded.

The fact of the matter is this: Firefox does not integrate well on Windows. It currently (FF2) integrates even worse on OS X, and on Linux. This is a big deal for many people. The visual look of an application is important. It's not as important as the functionality, but it's still up there.

Mozilla took it upon themselves to fix the visual look of Firefox on it's respective platforms. Where Firefox 3 stands currently, on both Mac OS X and Linux (at least on the GTK side), Mozilla has done a phenomenal job! Upon looking at the wonderful job they did on those platforms, Windows users should be excited that Firefox 3 will look fantastic. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Where it stands right now, Mozilla has completely dropped the ball on Windows. It's sad, since not only are the majority of Firefox users on Windows, but given the fantastic job they did on Linux and OS X, why couldn't they replicate that for Windows?

To those who say: "Just download a theme! Firefox is completely skin-able!" While it is true that Firefox can be modified with themes and skins, it's also true that the vast majority of skins out there are outright terrible. Of all the Firefox Vista themes out there, there is only 1 skin that truly looks amazing on Vista. That is this theme here: http://internauta2000.deviantart.com/art/F...k-Beta-45665026. There is one massive problem though: He never updates it. That theme is currently only available for Firefox 2, and I'm doubtful it will come out for Firefox 3.

I'm also not going to make my own theme. Like the vast majority of users out there, I don't have the time and patience to make a theme. For that reason, it would be excellent if Mozilla made a theme that was so awesome, I would never even consider seeking another.

That is why people are ****ed off! We want an application that looks native on the OS, and if you could do it for Linux and OS X, why not Windows?

Finally, someone who speaks abosolute sense! Mikee99 is completely right! We don't need to stop using the browser just because the UI is terrible and ugly; however, we DO need a much better native interface in order to make our browsing experience better!

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

LOL, I can't believe anyone would "drop a browser" because the unreleased, upcoming version isn't going to add a new feature that wasn't in the previous one. Talk about your drama. It's a browser, and I can truely say, we all use firefox for another reason then it's appearance. How about it's performance, add-ons, extensions, and customizable interface with any skin you choose.

I find it sad people are willing to not use Firefox anymore because firefox 3 won't have a Vista visualization :(