Firefox 4.0 Goes Chrome, New UI In Q4 2010 556
sv_libertarian writes "Mozilla recently updated its product roadmap through 2010. According to the first draft, the current browser will see a minor update in Q4 2009 and another in Q2 2010. Version 4.0 is headed for an October or November 2010 release and will bring a new user interface and browser sync integration. 'There is not much information on [what] this new user interface will look like, but the first mockups that have been posted on Mozilla's website suggest that the Mozilla team favors a Google Chrome-like design that integrates Windows 7 graphics features. Overall, window elements seem to be floating over the background.' The mockup page emphatically notes that the design is not final."
Re:Function before form (Score:3, Informative)
Why is this post marked as a Troll? It's a legitimate viewpoint and one I agree with. I'll take function over form every time. Give me a good, fast, stable browser with a UI that isn't flashy, cluttered or distracting.
Perhaps mods took the view that Firefox was being called unstable and thus regarded the post as a troll?
Re:Function before form (Score:3, Informative)
Crash? The only Firefox crashes I've seen in many many months were due to testing 64 bit Flash. If FF is crashing, I have to wonder about your operating system and/or hardware, but the primary culprit is probably buggy code in addon/plugin/codec/peripheral software.
Re:Why transparency? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Tabs on top, do it NOW! (Score:2, Informative)
I would like them to get whatever it is that makes Chrome usable on a Netbook. Firefox on it runs like a dog (even without flash) while Chrome functions more or less as it does everywhere else.
Re:Combo stop/refresh/go button FTW (Score:4, Informative)
One reason the triple button might not be such a good idea is that when you want to stop a page load, you might accidentally cause a refresh instead
Happened for me within minutes of installing Safari. There's no "might" about it.
Re:"Going Chrome" (Score:2, Informative)
I'm confused by the whole thing, since Mozilla were using "Chrome" to mean browser UI when google were in their infancy.
There is work under way to do the page per process thing work in Mozilla. I too would like to see that, while having a stupid UI like IE7+ or Chrome doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I currently have the menu, and URL bar with small icons and that's all I need from a browser UI.
Perhaps the only interface improvement would be an 'auto-hide' feature so that the menu's are painted over the page content only when I mouse up to the top of the window. That's how I have XFCE (top tasklist, bottom panel) and OSX (dock) configured.
Re:They are abusing moderation for a long time now (Score:5, Informative)
>That is exactly why we must meta moderate like crazy these days
Except that Metamoderation these days doesn't present you with already-moderated posts. At least, not for me. All I get is a selection of 10 random posts and I have to decide if you, the average Slashdotter, would benefit. Nearly every post I'm given to "meta-moderate" us not previously moderated.
Now, someone mod me down.
Re:Qt version? (Score:1, Informative)
The Mozilla Application Framework is the platform-neutral way to draw stuff; however, each platform still has to have a platform-specific toolkit to actually create them. The Mozilla Application Framework is just a layer above the actual toolkit that makes anything written for it platform-neutral.
Oh, and another point - fix SSL!!! (Score:2, Informative)
Ever since ff 3, i have HATED firefox cause of its "invalid site certificate" rubbish. Do mozilla even get how absolutely annoying this is? Why oh god why would they do that. The way it was done previously (and the way EVERY OTHER BROWSER DOES IT was perfectly sufficient). Now, whenever I build a server (or a new network devide with a ssl-enabled web server for config) I have to go through that same pain. Given I work for an SI, this is frequent - and the reason I so desperately want to get rid of it in favour of chrome.
OmniWeb - Re:Tabs on top, do it NOW! (Score:3, Informative)
Tabs should be down the side. [...] I don't understand how this basic mistake can have stayed with us for what, 10 years+ of tabbed browsing...
OmniWeb [omnigroup.com] has been doing preview tabs on the side since 2004. Unfortunately, it's a Mac-only browser and has never really caught on.
Re:They are abusing moderation for a long time now (Score:3, Informative)
Meta moderation is not re-moderation of posts, it is used to hunt down the moderator abusers and people not understanding what moderation really is. You moderate the moderator in fact. So, just because poor guy says "Firefox crashes" and talks completely on topic about a different focus developers should have rather than cosmetic stuff and gets "dugg down" as troll, you will notice it and tell it is not fair.
I know it needs considerable time but that is why this and limited Karma prevented Slashdot from becoming some Bangalore PR company outlet, astroturfer playground like other sites.
Listen to Jacob Nielsen (Score:2, Informative)
Jacob Nielsen [useit.com], who is a guru in usability, created a set of UI design heuristics.
I think the ones that are highly appropriate are:
Consistency and standards: Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.
Recognition rather than recall: Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
From the above, getting rid of menus is going to generally screw with consistency and ability to recognize operations (I really hated how Office use to hide menu items that weren't used recently)
Granted he also recommended minimalistic design when too many options are not warranted--such as a dialog with too many options available to achieve simple things.
Re:They are abusing moderation for a long time now (Score:5, Informative)
I understand that meta moderation is moderating the moderator. My problem is that when I go to meta-moderate, none of the posts I'm given have been moderated. Go re-read the paragraph at the top of the meta-moderation page. It's changed in the last few months.
Re:"Going Chrome" (Score:4, Informative)
We're working [mozilla.com] on multi-process [mozilla.org] too, and also hoping to have it in Firefox 4.
Re:Nice but.. (Score:3, Informative)
Um, not to beat a dead horse into the ground, but Windows XP Explorer and Firefox 3 did this well. I don't know why Microsoft removed that ability. You could drag your buttons into the file menu and have the file menu + all the navigation buttons in Windows Explorer. Why is this so hard for MS/Mozilla to do again?
image [imageshack.us]
Re:Nice but.. (Score:1, Informative)
Holy crap that looks like shit.
Whatever you do, don't get into graphic arts or UI design.
Re:Nice but.. (Score:3, Informative)
Ask any UI expert and they'll tell you the Office Ribbon is the most important UI thing to happens since the GUI. If for any other reason is because the ribbon focused on task based UI instead of technical organization that didn't apply to your average user."
Not a feature I've used very often I'll grant you, but I have needed it, and while that placement is strange, I can find it in a second or two by clicking each menu open.
The ribbon?? Honestly, I can't find SHIT in that thing, and most people I know that have been using computers for > 5 years have a bitch of a time finding what should be simple things to find. I'm trying to get used to it, but, when I need something other than a simple thing, it takes me FOREVER to find it. In word, just to find where to turn off auto-caps....which used to be a click on the menu, right to some preferences window.
I had to get help for this one.
You have to click the big button on new ribbon flavored word. From there, a little button at the botton of that screen (more of a link than a button) for "word options". -> Proofing menu option on that screen, then from there click the button for AutoCorrect options.
If that is at all intuitive for you to find...more so than with a simple menu bar to preferences....I have to tip my hat to you.
Honestly, the first time I opened MS word, it took forever for me to find the fucking "Save As" option...I mean, there was nothing intuitive there telling me the big button on the top rt was anything more than a windows logo...until someone told me, I'd have never thought to click it for such options.
I gotta disagree with you. I like tree views, I like to see the file structures in windows explorer, I like simple menu bars. I like things to look like a computer or at least have that option.
I'm still with XP when I have to used windows....at least with it, I can still set my views to be classic mode on most things still...wish I still could with office, I'd be SO much more productive.
Re:of all the things to copy from Chrome (Score:2, Informative)
someone who hasn't used Windows since version 3.1 could still get around pretty well in Vista or 7.
Try replacing 3.1 with 95. I'd argue that there was a big leap from 3.1 to 95 - namely, the start menu and taskbar - so I doubt you'd find someone who could do that. Things have remained relatively static since then though.