Mozilla reveals the Firefox of the future?

[The Canadian]

Mozilla has unveiled a spectacular new concept browser, dubbed Aurora.

The bleeding-edge browser is part of a new Mozilla Labs initiative, in which the open-source foundation is encouraging people to contribute ideas and designs for the browser of the future.

The Aurora browser demonstration shows a highly advanced way of collaborating data gathered on the web.

Data gathered from the web - such as weather reports - are collated as 'objects' that can be dragged and dropped on to the desktop and dynamically manipulated. The video shows two people working in different offices comparing rain reports. In the demonstration Alan invites Jill to join him on a weather report page, where they each highlight important bits of the page for each other.

The video then shows Jill entering a 3D visual bookmarking system in which related pages are grouped by cells, modelled after cells in the human body. Recently opened pages appear closer to the screen, and gradually fall back the longer they're ignored.

The author searches through sports, entertainment and weather cells, as well as those of her contacts, before pulling up the page she wants and dragging it onto the existing page, where it automatically overlaps comparing the two data sets.

Potentially the most interesting thing about the video is how integrated everything appears, with desktop tasks and an instant messaging utility all linked directly into the browser interface.

Mozilla Labs

Aurora represents a spectacular introduction to the new Mozilla Labs, which much like Google Labs looks to become a home for offbeat projects which would otherwise probably never see the light of day.

Unlike Google Labs, however, Mozilla intends for the labs to encourage ideas from beyond the typical open-source development community.

"We're particularly interested in engaging with designers who have not typically been involved with open source projects," says the site. "And we're biasing towards broad participation, not finished implementations."

"Our goal is to bring even more people to the table and provoke thought, facilitate discussion, and inspire future design directions for Firefox, the Mozilla project, and the web as a whole."

To visit the labs, and watch the Aurora video click the link here.

Source: PC Pro

[ViperAFK]

Ugh I would hate using an UI like that, looks ridiculously complicated.

[The Canadian]

Check out the videos on the link provided....

[afusion]

This actually looks wonderful to use once you see the vid.

[ViperAFK]

I did see the vid.

[39 Thieves]

Does anyone really have a problem with essentially how web browsers function now? Maybe I just don't see the point of reinventing a way something is done just for the sake of doing it.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

It's not just for the sake of doing it.

It's one of many ideas, which all contribute towards where the future versions go!

Heck, why achieve anything!?

[-Clark-]

That pointing device is rather large...do people actually use those things?(Woman on video 1)

The browser looks alright as a step towards something better.

[Smigit]

Looks pretty messy to me to be honest, especially the part in that screencapture above. Doing a quick count theres about 80 icons surrounding the screen. While somewhat sorted thats alot of images to be showing users at any one time. Secondly that pool of pages is complete garbage. Whats the point in having them fade into the Z access? Anything even just a few pages old will have no chance of being represented. Why not just use a 2d time line. Sure, it's less fancy but it does the exact same thing functionality wise without sending objects behind others on the Z axis.

Ohh and lastly that bottom bar that has current pages. Who in their right mind wouldn't have that as a flat horizontal menu. As it is in the middle of the page your losing alot of real estate to some bar.

[MR.T]

That looks ridiculous. It seems to me like they are just working on a futuristic project to keep funding flowing. I'm using firefox 3.0 now, but to be honest firefox 1.0 worked just as well for everything I use my browser for. There is only so much stuff you can do with a browser before it because cluttered and annoying to use for its original purpose.

[+virtorio MVC]

I wonder how much Mozilla ****ed away on this.

Here's a tip for a them: flashy, overdone UIs seen in sci-fi movies rarely translate well to reality.

[EduardValencia]

Am i the only one seeing it as a good concept?

Edited August 7, 2008 by EduardValencia

[Rigby]

Remember when Nero was a small, lightweight app that only did a few things and did them very well? Look at it now and think, in a few years Firefox will be joining it. The great thing about open source though is once they do ruin Firefox someone will just fork the last good version.

[redvamp128]

Ugh I would hate using an UI like that, looks ridiculously complicated.

That is exactly what people said about Windows 95 when Win 3.1 was king of the Hill.

They said where would I find my Icon's for programs if they were not in folders on the desktop.

Now Most people know to click on the "Start" to find them.

See the comparison.

[+virtorio MVC]

That is exactly what people said about Windows 95 when Win 3.1 was king of the Hill.

They said where would I find my Icon's for programs if they were not in folders on the desktop.

Now Most people know to click on the "Start" to find them.

See the comparison.

Another comparison is that the desktop/start menu is well organized, the Mozilla concept is a big jumbled mess.

[Smigit]

Another comparison is that the desktop/start menu is well organized, the Mozilla concept is a big jumbled mess.

Yep. They are distributed on the Z axis which makes them unusable for users since other items obscure the ones you want. It would be like if Windows folders were all put in one location rather than a grid and were allowed to overlap one another. The only way you could get to the one you actually wanted, assuming it wasn't at the top, would be to use search (as they had to in this video).

A grid layout or horizontal timeline would make sense with the time aspect scaling as needed to make sure items are as on hand as possible. Distributing icons across the Z axis for a 2d display is just a stupid idea. By going 2d no link gets obscured and it would be far more useable even if it doesn't look as cool. It could still have the quick search too.

[Ayepecks]

OK, I watched the video... still looks too complicated for 90% of computer users IMO. Interesting concept nonetheless, though.

[exotoxic]

Get back to the drawing board please.

[Rudy]

Get back to the drawing board please.

agreed

i personally fail to see shared browsing be anything else than a very small niche, I personally don't see who i'd like to share my browsing experience with

[qdave]

concept is quite cool. but how this will end up might be entirely different .

[jingarelho]

so much eye candy so little "juice"...

the shared browsing would be perfect for "security" government agencies to easily access what are you doing online...

[kaiwai]

That looks ridiculous. It seems to me like they are just working on a futuristic project to keep funding flowing. I'm using firefox 3.0 now, but to be honest firefox 1.0 worked just as well for everything I use my browser for. There is only so much stuff you can do with a browser before it because cluttered and annoying to use for its original purpose.

Firefox has major issues, and unfortunately most of them appear on non-Windows platforms. Until Firefox gets these issues sorted out, quite frankly, I find these 'futuristic' a distraction from the reality that Firefox still has major issues.

[rpgfan]

I don't like it. For one thing, that browser looks more like an OS with the browser embedded on the desktop or something... Finding data and superimposing it on an existing graph? I can see the point (demonstration of functionality), but do we REALLY need that in our browsers?

While I agree with the idea that browsers could use a great change, I don't think the idea showcased in the video is the way to go.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

You all have to remember that this is still in the planning stage. It is not ready for prime time. If and when this product is produced then slam it. What I have read here is what Edison probably heard.

[XerXis]

You all have to remember that this is still in the planning stage. It is not ready for prime time. If and when this product is produced then slam it. What I have read here is what Edison probably heard.

great comparison! I'm sure people slammed Edison when he invented the light bulb for using the Z-axis just to be cool!