Mozilla Reveals Possible New Firefox UI Direction
Mozilla's Stephen Horlander has posted a presentation that could provide a first impression of how Firefox 7 or 8 may look like.
If the mockups in fact represent the next Firefox UI, we now have confirmation that Firefox is moving even closer toward Chrome, while adding a few pieces of its own flavor.
Besides cosmetic changes, the big news is the integration of the Home T, which is a permanent tab that cannot be removed by the user and will essentially become the Firefox homepage that holds all the information that is important to a user - access to emails, calendar data, news, social network updates, etc. The tabs themselves appear to be much more flushed out. As far as navigation buttons are concerned, the forward button is gone.
The Firefox menu receives a major update with a reduced menu that is based on icons and not on a list view anymore. The default configuration options are very limited, but can be extended by the user on demand. There is also a new full-size view of the window, which aims to improve Firefox' ability to work with web apps and uses Mozilla's One-Liner prospector add-on that forces the browser to share the location bar, tabs and menu items in just one line.
There was no information when this UI could be released, but Firefox 7 or 8 sounds like a reasonable estimate to us.
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... they make it ready for Google to buy?
FireFox is all over the place... lets see, FF5 is released about a month after FF4.
FF4~5 UI is a DIRECT copy of Opera 10~11. With Opera 11.5 being quite nice looking.
Then IE9 copies FF4...
So now, FF wants to look like Chrome? Want the best Browser interface, just get Opera.
so should I start using Chrome now?
since I already have Google+....
It's like they are trying to develop the Firefox for my grandma instead of users like me who *use* their computers.
They just keep cramming in additional features while making UI look more and more minimalistic and dumbed down. I don't want development time & effort wasted on that crap. I want Firefox that doesn't freeze globally when loading Gmail, YouTube clip embedded on some page etc.
Why is it that when opening some multimedia heavy page or something of that kind entire Firefox freezes (for a few seconds) instead of just that tab. They promised isolated tabs (i.e., if something crashes or freezes just a tab will be affected, not entire Firefox) *years* ago and still nothing.
If I want a Chrome, I install Chrome. I like it /I even have two browsers based on Chrome code - for testing/ but I want Firefox to be Firefox, I don't need just another Chrome. I like having more options in Firefox and more control.
Top left corner where it says Firefox... That's straight up from Opera.
No forward button is a good idea. People could simply right click it to go forward or hold right click for a forward drop down menu in case they go back too far.
Why is it that when opening some multimedia heavy page or something of that kind entire Firefox freezes (for a few seconds) instead of just that tab. They promised isolated tabs (i.e., if something crashes or freezes just a tab will be affected, not entire Firefox) *years* ago and still nothing.
Removed Flash from my computer and I gotta say, it's much much faster (and stable). Since Youtube is pretty much the only place I use that has Flash, I'll try their new HTM5 feature for a while and see how that goes.
I hope I never have to install Flash again. Firefox has not crashed on me ONCE since I removed it a week ago. Also forgot to mention I'm using Arch Linux (i686), so the Linux Flash plugin may not be very well developed.
Treacherous Mozilla... that's enough! HATE the new GUI. No "Forward" button? Icons instead of list? Can I at least come back to old GUI?
Damn, FF used to be different. Now it just copies Chrome. Nothing against Chrome (it's rather fast and stable), but I hate dumbed down GUI. It's not up to Mozilla to decide which buttons we need and which we don't. And they claim to be a community, based on people's wishes and support... like hell they are.
No forward button? No search bar built in? I really hate typing searches where url's go as the browser has to guess what I want to do unless I type a prefix which wasted strokes. Im sure it can be customized but this seems a bit to dumbed down to me.
Looks good to me. Not sure what the big fuss is all about, Chrome is a great browser but I'll always prefer Firefox. I'll definitely pay whatever they decide to charge for this
Wake up Mozilla! If your users want Chrome looking UI, we will dl and use Chrome. We want FF because the way it is with all the the buttons upfront for fast access. No matter what ridiculous design you are going to have, you better still have the classic UI as an option for users who prefer the classic UI.
Please don't ruin FF for all of us.
Wow...huge complaints about no search built in...you can add keyword searches.
Mine is if I hit a ?, it searches google. So a search at newegg would be something like:
? site:newegg.com gigabyte motherboard
Not saying I'm defending the Firefox direction...it seems to have lost its innovation. It feels like so many of the browsers offer the things Firefox did. Now it just feels that Firefox is bloated and playing catchup.
Still a fan of the extensions and the customizability, but it doesn't feel like they'll be around long if they don't get their stuff together.
Wow...huge complaints about no search built in...you can add keyword searches.Mine is if I hit a ?, it searches google. So a search at newegg would be something like:? site:newegg.com gigabyte motherboardNot saying I'm defending the Firefox direction...it seems to have lost its innovation. It feels like so many of the browsers offer the things Firefox did. Now it just feels that Firefox is bloated and playing catchup.Still a fan of the extensions and the customizability, but it doesn't feel like they'll be around long if they don't get their stuff together.
if the masses had no problem with that then the linux command line like OS would be more popular
If only Chrome had Video DownloadHelper, I could leave Firefox altogether.
Chrome needs noscript
FireFox is all over the place... lets see, FF5 is released about a month after FF4.FF4~5 UI is a DIRECT copy of Opera 10~11. With Opera 11.5 being quite nice looking.Then IE9 copies FF4... So now, FF wants to look like Chrome? Want the best Browser interface, just get Opera.
IE9 was planned and developed and released before FF4. You could have easily downloaded the first preview with the same layout well over a year ago. Not sure how they copied FF4 when IE9 has a much slimmer interface than FF4.
I personally don't like the rapid deployment that FF has adopted mainly because pluggins wont keep up. FF5 was not a major change from FF4 yet ABP was not compatable with it until a bit after.
Google Chrome, IE 9 and Firefox 5 interfaces look all the same now. Sometimes I don't even know which one I have open.
I like Chrome's speed and stability but hate its minimalist interface. The UI might work well on a phone, but it's simple to the point of complication for the desktop user (at least those who can type and like to avoid constant use of arrow keys). Firefox does seem to be losing clear direction. That's unfortunate. I find Firefox to be far more usable than any of the competition on the desktop. I install only one add-on (ad-block) and I am happy. It offers the easiest access to the features I actually use over and over on a daily basis. I think they need to realize that they can't rule the browsing world and cannot appeal to everyone. There's a portion of the market that doesn't want a UI that is *too* simple.
It looks like the Netscape 6 UI mated with Chrome and FF4....and the result was this garbage....
I gave up a while ago and I have every browser installed on my system. I use each for different tasks, whatever I feel gives me the best feel for what I am doing.
Why the hell can't they just make a browser that's fully-customizable by the user? You want an old-fashioned Back, Forward, Refresh, Stop, Home button setup, followed by the address, followed by the search, you can have it. If you want your tabs at the top or at the bottom, the choice is yours.
I wish they'd quit telling us what we want and just make the freakin browser completely customizable so each user can set it up in whatever fashion he or she prefers. And for your own sake, Mozilla, stop flippin copying the other browser layouts and get back to being unique.
From the article: "The tabs themselves appear to be much more flushed out."
The correct term is "fleshed out."
Meh. Looking more like Opera, perhaps...
I think they should focus on speed and dependability. I am happy with the 3rd party apps taking care of customize-ability and functionality in terms of plugins, etc. But I want FF to be as stable as it was pre 3.5... When I stopped using it because it crashed more often than IE... Until I discovered Chrome... Which is also buggy...
Just stabilize it...
How is it a 'dumbed down' GUI? Interfaces should be minimalist; the reason that we have to have all those extra words is for the 'dumb' people that don't understand what the icons are for or where the menu options can be found. These are the same people that have 3 toolbars along with all of their bookmarks listed taking up half of their browser window. Minimalism FTW.
FF used to be the leader, now the follower? Do away with the menu's and I'll do away with FF.
You know, one of the many things that makes FF better than Chrome is that you can customize how it looks.
Changing the default UI means nothing to the advanced user. My FF looks completely different from yours. I don't have a home button, back, forward, or stop. They don't need to be there because there is something called hotkeys which can be executed faster than dragging your cursor around.
All the people complaining are completely clueless. I see commentators asking why it can't be customizable when it already is. Even without extensions.
Firefox crashes? News to me, its extremely rare for firefox to crash for me. Like mabye twice a year. With heavy use.
But then again i use noscript, so i assume thats probably the difference. Lot of those buggy scripts and flash crap is blocked by default.
Maybe someday they will stop it from crashing all the time. In my own unscientific testing IE9 is faster than FF5.
Maybe someday they will stop it from crashing all the time. In my own unscientific testing IE9 is faster than FF5.
For some applications.
Both could be faster if Oracle allowed the old Java Runtime to integrate back into Windows...
There's no way in hell I'm using this if they release it. Looks like I'm gonna be filling up the "why did you uninstall our program?" box up relatively quickly this time.
As of right now, my Firefox is essentially perfect to how I want it. Doesn't crash, nice custom UI, and all of my Addons are working nicely. If they come along with something like this and screw everything over, I'll be going to some other browser... not sure which one, since I'm, not a Chrome fan, either, but I'm sure I'll find something.
So we can expect this new version when? Holidays?
I'm still using 3.6 and see no reason to upgrade to 4 or 5 when they keep updating it every few months.