Talk:Firefox/3.7 Windows Theme Mockups
To everyone with suggestions
First, look at Firefox/Sprints/Windows Theme Revamp and see if they've chosen to push that off to Firefox 4.0 as there's probably a reason for this. --Kamasutra 18:37, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
Suggestions
Look this: adress bar inside the tabs. The address bar should be inside the tab. While typing the tab will expand. After type, the tab restore to a default size. The address bar get space in the screen and it is not so necessary after accessing the site
https://wiki.mozilla.org/File:FF4_larini.jpg
Suggestions
- Extremely good point: why is there still a separate stop/reload button? one is always grayed out, what a waste of space.
- Go, Stop, Reload would be better as one button, in the place of the Go button.
- When something is being typed in, show the Go button
- When a page is loading, show the Stop button
- When the page is fully loaded, show the Reload button - Don't use Google Chrome buttons for configuration and control current page on Windows XP, use the same menu as Vista/7?
- What is the Page button for?
- A Chrome like Omnibar would be good (In this case, Awesome bar + Omnibar)
- What happened to the status bar?
- Maybe the favicon next to the awesome bar could be replaced with the quick bookmark button, as the favicon is also seen on the tab bar.
- Someone just added a drawn concept to the main page, where the tools button and another button (I assume the page button) is in the titlebar. This would be a good idea. It would give the website much more space.
- Do Not copy Chrome buttons and icons it most be orignal.
--Sonnygauran 03:55, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
- Wouldn't it be nice to assign "hot edges" to the firefox? (Love the screenshots btw)
- When you hover your mouse to a specific edge/zone, the relative UI only shows up. This allows the browser to maximize all available space.
- Hovering your mouse over the top edge shows the tab bar.
After hover: 
- When the mouse nears the titlebar, the main menu shows on top of the tab bar.
- We don't need to use both the tab and menu at the same time. ;)
- The right edge shows the vertical scrollbar.
- The bottom edge shows the horizontal scrollbar.
- Hovering your mouse over the top edge shows the tab bar.
- An alternate view for the tab bar hover:
- When you hover, and have a hotkey assigned:
- When you hover to any part of the browser and hold the Ctrl, the top-left "fans-out" similar to an OSX dock, or just displays at the top edge, the Navigation Toolbar buttons like back, refresh, etc.
- Holding Ctrl + right edge doesn't show the scrollbar, but shows the outline of the document.
- Headings (h1, h2, h3) are shown as small glyphs as well as anchors with labeled internal and external links.
We can use glyphs to show document outline
- Headings (h1, h2, h3) are shown as small glyphs as well as anchors with labeled internal and external links.
- When you hover your mouse to a specific edge/zone, the relative UI only shows up. This allows the browser to maximize all available space.
I like the hotedges suggestion, but what I'd really like is the option to fill my screen with content, the way I can when using a media player. All controls and other screen edging (including that useless quarter-inch bar at the top of the browser that should be combined with the tab bar) should ghost away unless the user right-clicks (or uses a hotkey combo) to bring the browser interface to the fore. The user should be able to tell Firefox whether tabs should be "always on top" or whatever other interface component they want never to ghost away. It is possible that a "hot corner" would be a useful option. I don't think I normally mouse to the lower left of my screen when browsing pages or interacting with websites, so maybe mousing in that corner could activate the browser interface without using a hotkey or a mouse click. Regardless, as a user I want to access *content*. Too much of the browser interface crowds my content. In the age of netbooks with small screens, visual real estate is precious. If Firefox can lead the way with regard to this trend, they might be able to dramatically improve market share. On the other hand, one can guess that the Google Chrome OS is going to make this happen.
What happened to the history dropdown next to the back/forward buttons? Don't make it trigger by pressing and holding the mouse. Making it like this turns it into a hard to find invisible feature. Also, some tablet pcs and tablets are configured to trigger a left click by pressing and holding the pen for a while, then releasing it. This overrides the back/forward buttons press and hold function.
--Facildelembrar 18:53, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
Mindless robotic praise
I am in love. Unlike both the Fx 2 and 3 redesigns, I feel absolutely no "out-of-placeness" at first sight. Well done! Bielawski 16:16, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
Position of the Buttons: 4 proposals
I like the "Initial Windows Theme Mockups for Firefox 3.7" very much. Here are some proposal/suggestions.
1°) Il like the "tool" button on top right. Personnally, I always use an extension named "compact menu". And I think that this is more or less the same idea: to hide the traditional menu (File, Edit, etc...) and to group all the commands inside a unique "tool" menu. It make the User Interface more clean.
2°) I like the "page" button concept. Great idea. I have remark regarding its position: Actually the "Page" information are like attributes from the URL. So I think that the position on the right of the menu (link in XP screenshot) or ~like a new tab (like on Vista/7 screenshot) are a bit confusing. So I would suggest to put the "Page" button just near the URL box. It seems more logical.
3°) Regarding the button "star" (= "quick bookmark this page"). I have the same proposal: it shall be located just near the URL box because this is an action related to the current page.
4°) I like the idea to be able to display/hide quickly the personal bar. For me this action is similar than opening a new tab. Except that this new tab has to be preloaded with an URL already bookmarked by the user. So, my sugesstion is to treat is in a similar way than the ["+" new tab] button. On the right or the near the ["+" new tab] button.
Please look at the proposal on attached file
Regarding the display/hide quickly the personal shortcut bar, I have another suggestion: when pushing this button, the system could display kind of "bubble" on the forgound with all icones of adress bar (like in the Mac Dock, please look at the 2nd screenshot). 
An easier way to do it could be to dispay the personal bar in the same way that the password bar, just on top of the page with a little translation movement from the page.
A last thing : I REALLY like the rounded corners in the URL & Search fields. Please make it available on XP also.
--Freeman31, 22th July 2009 0:22 UTC.
Tab Animations
It would be nice to have tab animations when the user grabs a tab, and rearranges it on the tabs toolbar. An example of this is in Chrome and Safari, where the tabs move themselves accordingly to where the user holds the grabbed tab at the moment. This makes the reorganization of tabs look more smooth. However, there should be an choice in the options page where the user can allow/disable these animations. Also, animations should be added for when tabs are torn from the toolbar, and are either used to make a new window, or join another window's tabs. These animations are also found in Chrome and Safari, and add a nice touch to the browsing experience. These animations would make the browsing on Firefox look more smooth and seamless. --Lmaoxlong 23:53, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
Criticism
I feel this design attempts to combine Safari , IE7/8 & Chrome UI and while quite beautiful, it does not reflect the personalization aspects that make Firefox so great. When you add 6-10 addons (or more) with their related UI additions, have bookmarks toolbar visible for convenience of top 10-12 visited sites a click away, etc etc. The design falls short. I believe this is a case where form should not supersede function. Also: what of Royale Noir for XP?
- "Royale Noir" is a leaked, incomplete theme. If you want an officially released dark theme, take a look at the Zune theme. Ekerazha 20:15, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
Seems more like you're trying to imitate the other browsers and apps, by going with something like M$'s ribbon-interface. The elimination of the menu bar (and replacing it withe the tools menu) give the browser a new (but not improved user interface). If you are going to go with the "ribbon" interface, please give users the option of keeping the "classic" look with the drop down menus, which many people find easier to navigate. Also the tool menu clutters up the navigation bar somewhat.
Keep focusing on OS Integration
I have 3 critics :
- Google Chrome is not an example to follow. Please forget using its icons and colors, and try something more firefox-customed.
- To extend glass effect in Vista/7 below toolbar is a very good point. It helps in OS integration, and should have been done in 3.5.
- To remove menu bar in XP is an heresy. To use these icons in XP is an heresy. Keep the current theme for XP : it feels much more integrated in the OS. In XP : there are menu bar, the button are colorfull (Luna theme).
OS Integration must be the first point to focus while developping a theme.
Do NOT combine search and address bar.
I really hope that me saying this isn't needed, but, combining the search bar and the address bar is a horrible idea. I have several custom search options in the search bar that I use regularly. If it was combined into the address bar, I'd be forced to search with one specific engine every time. This would be a huge inconvenience to myself, and I'm assuming many other people that also value making their time more efficient.
As to combining the go, refresh, and stop button, that's unnecessary as well. The go button should be removed, but stop and refresh should stay where they are. Personally, I use hot keys, and never click the buttons, so I take them off already, but sometimes I reload a page in the middle of it loading because my internet hung and the page didn't load properly, or is timing out. A quick mid-load refresh remedies that, and wouldn't be possible if it showed a stop button since it would still be loading. It's just an extra step if I had to stop it, and then reload. It may sound minuscule, but if you have to do that several thousand times, that adds up pretty fast.
Unorganized
- what do you think about something like this?
Fida Mehran: Re: 'What do you think of something like this?': I think this somewhat dampens the professional look of a world class browser. As a theme for personal use as a personal preference is okay, though.
In the Vista/7 mockup without Aero, there are two stars, one beside the Tools menu and one beside the Page menu. I'm assuming this is an oversight? (What do the stars indicate anyway -- bookmarking UI?)
The Windows XP interface actually looks cleaner than the Vista/7 mockups, with all icons neatly laid out on one line. Very Google Chrome-like. I like it, but some others may feel it dilutes Firefox's distinctive look. Also, not having the "Page" menu means more valuable horizontal real estate is actually available to the user's tabs.
The biggest issue I have with this interface, though, is the Search box. Right now in Firefox 3.5, it's Back/Fwd and friends, the address bar and the search box. Adding more UI chrome to the right of the search box adds clutter and diminishes the the importance of the search UI (almost literally - the search is squeezed into a smaller size, almost like it's an afterthought.) Is an omnibox-equivalent planned for v3.7 that'll replace the search box outright? --Prasenjeet
Guys, love the new design but seriously - I am with Prasenjeet - you need to remove the 2 UI search boxes. There should be the so called "omnibox" - it doesn't make sense anymore to segregate both the address bar and the search box - they should be one and the same.
This will greatly enhance the user experiences by not having to type "addresses" into one and "searches into" the other. The best thing about chrome - is how great this feature is. It makes it so much easier to simply search for things and interact with the browser.
Get rid of the search box and replace it with an "omnibox" - and you have a winner.
While I agree that general searching is sometimes handy from the address bar, I don't totally agree with removing the search box. One of the benefits of having a seperate search box is that you can add all kinds of different search providers. For example, if I want to search for a product on Newegg, I have the little drop-down to select Newegg. If I am looking for a book based on ISBN from Amazon, I can just select the search provider. This kind of searching is tedious with Chrome.--Mawcs 17:39, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
- You can still do this with the omnibox; you preface the search with a letter or two designating the desired search provider. It's not quite as easy to discover, though. --Jamesgecko 18:33, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
Please, don't get rid of the search box. Buttons that are used are functional, not "clutter", and I urge our designers to remember that this is a GUI, not a painting. You seem to be going down the same road IE did with it's now clumsy, yet 'uncluttered' interface. LESS IS NOT MORE when you're trimming muscle, not fat. The first thing I'd do with your revamped theme is restore the home button, and see if I can restore the File/Edit menu bar. People use the "Find" function in open pages all the time- don't bury it. Overall, though, very nice design, but I'd rather see improvements to the bookmark utility, particularly the ability to search tags like a database.
My two cents: Keep the search box. One of the design interfaces that I loathe with Google's Chrome is the integration of the search bar and address bar. I like the current function of FireFox that clearly separates the two functions. I do like the proposed positioning of the tools. I think it's an excellent user-friendly upgrade.
The spacing of the tabs... and look. That... I'm not sold on. One of the reasons I don't use Opera is that I really hate their tab management. It never... works... like I think tabs should work. The other problem is massive tab management. I quickly took some screen shots of Opera's latest Linux offering, Google Chrome's latest Linux offering, Google Chrome's lastest Windows offering, Firefox 3.0.0.6 on Linux, Firefox 3.5 on Windows, and Konqueror from KDE3 : http://picasaweb.google.com/je.saist/BrowserTabs# : None of the browsers really handle massive tab counts in ... an intuitive manner. Opera comes the closest by retaining the browser tab image even with a ludicrous number of tabs... but just wait until you start moving around in the tabs and trying to close them.
I think "massive" tab management needs an overhaul in design. Exactly what that overhaul is... I'm not really sure. I think a double layering of tabs with "more tabs" button under the "tools" button might be useful. Actually, I do know what I'd want. It's also in the picasaweb link. City of Heroes manages powers by having a clearly numbered power tray with arrows pointing to the left and right that allow players to select powers. Apply that sort of formatting to the tab bar. Once a user hits the limits of a tab, a new hidden bar opens up, allowing the user to slide bars back and forth. One of the other additions to CoH is the ability to have a power bar disconnected from the main set. Something like this also might help with massive tab management, enabling users to separate the tab bar from the browser screen.
And now I'm probably dreaming beyond the scope of Firefox 3.7
Zerias
Must have buttons.. forward, backward, stop/refresh combined, home, print, and undo close tab.
Don't need the url go or the search go buttons.
Please don't get rid of the menu bar and the status bar or combine the url and search box.
I really don't like how IE has the buttons spread all over the place and how IE has the menu bar under the navigation bar. I hope we stay away from the IE UI.
Here is what I believe to be the most useful setup:
I don't know about the page and tools buttons.. I would keep them as optional and not in the default setup. I don't think I would use them much.. the default setup should show the most useful buttons.
The bookmarks bar toggle looks like a good idea. What happened to the url drop down?.. keep that.. maybe make it an option to remove.
Thanks,
Tesla
I really like the new designs at the begin of this page. Maybe it's possible to create a vote.
Your new proposed Firefox 3.7 UI is interesting. However it look too much like Google Chrome,and I think that will make Firefox look bad as a browser. Personally I feel that it is a must to have the search bar in Firefox.(which is the reason why I chose Fx over IE 6) I feel that the location bar and the search bar are fine the way they are.
Jason
The bookmarks button seems arbitrary. How about it becomes some new fancy fangled "Places" button? Both history and Bookmarks.
I was originally thinking that "Pages" should become places because then it could be snapped into a sidebar or something. I feel Sidebars are underused.
Also I think we shouldn't emulate Chrome, tabs on top is a no and taking away the search box isolates new users.
Sorry to keep ranting, but what if the page button's was for tabs instead. press the tab and it comes up with the "Print this tab" etc.
Home Button
1. The home button transition form 3.5 to 3.7 inform of a bookmark bar is not to nice because I don't use the bookmark toolbar much but I use the home button much more but the transition from 3.7to the next version is nice, how is sitting next to the tabs and I think if you middle click it again to open a new tab would be nice.
2. You should explain how the combination between the awesome bar and the search engine bar is going to work, I like them both separate but if you do it right it could be awesome connection.
I really like your sketches, but the mockups for Firefox 3.7 aren't quite as good in my opinion. Please either stick to the sketch design, or move towards the Firefox 4.0 layout.
In particular, in the Firefox 3.7 Vista layout, the Page menu to the far left of the tab bar seems strange, and it's not obvious what the star icon on the right means: you say it shows the bookmarks bar, but its location makes me think it's going to bookmark the current page.
Would be very happy with the Firefox 4.0 version B ("tabs-on-top"). The version A ("tabs-on-bottom") would be OK too if you moved the Page menu next to the location bar.
I also like the idea of hiding the bookmarks bar by default. --Mikelward 03:26, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
Unknown
- Just like with IE 7/8, chrome, FF3.5, I do not like where the 'new tab' button is. It keeps moving and you have to hunt it down or drag your mouse further than you should just to get to a frequently used feature. It's harder to use on a 24" widescreen monitor. It's not fun dragging your mouse all over the place when doing a mix of opening new tabs and groups of tabs all the time. Especially since its easy to accidentally close the tab next to the button all the time.
- Again, think of us widescreen folks and keeping things simple where frequently used features should go. Make the refresh button off to the LEFT of the URL bar where the other FREQUENTLY USED FEATURES are. Who said it had to go on the right side? Do you know how annoyingly far the refresh button is on a 24" monitor? I hate that feature in I.E. as well.
- Can we get options for small/medium/large/x-large text & icons for us bigscreen folks? Seriously, I'm crying over here because everything is so small on this 1920x1200 resolution.
- So I see a star on the URL bar off to the right. I see a star on the bookmarks menu list. So why not merge the bookmarks menu with the URL off to the right with a little separation for the star off to the left of it?
- Bookmarks, Page, and Tools menu items should be close to each other. I rarely use bookmark menu item list since I use my bookmarks toolbar to handle my 40+ visited websites per day. But the question to ask is this really better than the Menu Toolbar we have today? Probably not. Looks fancier. Not sure where history menu list would go in this design.
- Home tab idea is cool. Needs the "Home" text to fatten the tab up so it's easier to click on. Why make such small buttons for frequently used features? Drives me nuts in this form of thinking. Anyway, the odd thing about this tab is that is it going to refresh the page everytime you click on it? Well lets say you do and go to yahoo mail off that tab to type something up. Go look at another tab and want to go back to the home tab. Or will it kick a new tab off to the right? Confusing.
- Tabs should stay on bottom to see the full title on what is like you know... called the TITLE BAR for a reason? Tabs on top just shows a cropped portion of the title. Stupid idea.
- URL bar with integrated search should be cool if implemented properly.
- URL + search bar combo is important to add as is transparency for Vista/7 folk.
Keep Bookmarks Menu
Please keep the Bookmarks menu as in FF3.5... I have a lot of bookmarks and would be lost as how to use the menu in the current setups. Im sure that the menu or something to see the bookmarks will be in the new style but at the moment I can't see where and its not intuitive if it its there.
--Martinjh99 06:55, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
Good way to think about FF full screen mode as the future interface
I think that the proposed interface is very interesting and really breeze, but for me this proposition it too much like Google Chrome. Google Chrome is not bad for start to fink.
Yes, it is simple (we think should be simple), (?)clear (should be clear for sure) and very speed (FF interface is not, but definitely should), Chrome interface is not flexible but FF should be definitely for sure.
Than let me summarize what we "should" for the start:
1. Simple (FF F11 is simple)
2. Clear (FF F11 is clear with small aaahh...)
3. Speede (FF F11 probably is speede we will generate minimum object on screen)
4. Flexible (definitely is not)
What is our biggest problem with FF F11 concept? That is flexibility - we are still toking about interface.
What we have to do with that?
Very simple. Think about context menu, as the object oriented interface to FF accessed content management method (enter bar (address bar), forward, back, top, bottom, etc), FF configuration (access add-on manager, settings, bookmarks, etc), etc. to replace menu bar, and other bar and menu.
All of this interface functionality should be divided smart in separated threads, dynamically spawned on the request,not existing at start. Maybe we will be really speedy.
To simplify this, think about context menu as about start point to manipulate and manage everything in FF.
What we got?
Simple, clear, speede and flexible user interface for FF.
At the and little about a small "aaahh..." from point 2. At the start the FF should display the "How to start info" (twenty word no more) in the main window, in the second tab or in the pop-up. Maybe that should be short animated tutorial for firs start FF, with every time access to it and to full help of course, by F1. This tutorial should open automatically if nothing happen to FF and if FF is the active window in system (the FF is opened not first time in system/account and somebody do not know what to do).
And finally the FF F11 windows is scalable, is not only full screen.
20090729 ===========================================================
The FF F11 interface concept is the highly ergonomic concept (minimum mouse movement to manage content and configuration - every time you start right clicking just where the mouse cursor is).
The next think is to move the F11 TOP_ADDRESSandTABSBAR at BOTTOM and LEFT_SIDEBAR at RIGHT side of screen. Way? Because this eliminate screen shaking when they are dynamically opened - this higher the comfort of use.
This same is regarding any dynamic information and communication dialog bar and menu (save password, pop-up window dialog bar and etc) at BOTTOM and if at RIGHT. However I think that maybe better is to open it in the place, where the mouse pointer is (limiting mouse movement).
20090811==========================================================
Maybe thinking about the context menu as the starting point in FF F11 we should think about something like easyGesturte (link to project page http://easygestures.mozdev.org/ ) plugin, but more configurable, more flexible
Other official XP themes
There's a mockup for Luna Blue (ok) Silver (ok) Olive (ok) Royale (ok), but Zune theme ( http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=75078 ) is missing, it's similar to Royale but with a dark-grey/orange color scheme. Ekerazha 20:06, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
The appearance of the "tools" button
The tools button is touching the very edge of the window. I think it looks terrible like that. It would be better as a normal button. --Mephiles 20:29, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
- I Agree, it's ugly. Ekerazha 07:00, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
- Agreed, should be changed. --Domthedude001 17:59, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
Paste and go!
Please add "Paste and go" to the context menu in the location bar!
- Offered via an extension: http://pasteandgo2.mozdev.org/ --Domthedude001 23:22, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
What about dragging tabs out of the window?
Like Chrome to either become a new Fx window, or to dock into another existing Fx Window.
- You can already do that in Firefox 3.5. --Mephiles 12:59, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
Address bar inside the tab
Look this: address bar inside the tabs. The address bar should be inside the tab. While typing the tab will expand. After type, the tab restore to a default size. The address bar get space in the screen and it is not so necessary after accessing the site
https://wiki.mozilla.org/File:FF4_larini.jpg
- Don't recommend as default for many, many reasons. One big one confusing less-experienced users on how to enter a website. Another with cutting functionality to power-users by adding an extra click. However, this would be awesome as an optional extension - I like the idea that with this method, only *one* simultaneous bar is needed at once. -Domthedude001 17:34, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
- Yes i agree, it shouldn't be in the tab, leave it as how it is. --Superaktieboy 16:09, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
- It´s all about how it should be implemented. A good implementation will be very clear for the user. -larini 20:30, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
XP Themes
I've been wondering why the XP themes look different to the Vista/Windows 7 ones - the buttons aren't the same. The XP mock-ups seem to be using Google Chrome style page and settings buttons whereas the Vista/7 designs include a bookmarks button and drop-down tools button, in addition to a bookmarks button and a page button to the left of the tabs. Is this intentional? If so, why?
Wouldn't it be better to keep the user experience the same across all platforms? The revamp will be confusing enough as it is for some users, without the interface looking different on their (for example) XP laptop than it does on their Vista desktop.
--Pintsized 15:30, 4 August 2009 (UTC)
I don't like it
There's a reason why I still use XP and Firefox, and not Vista, Chrome, and/or IE. I think the IE in Vista, actually the entire explorer setup in Vista is horrible. It's been made to look pretty for people who are new to computers I suppose. This may be fine for them, but I build, repair, and tutor people on computers, so I know my way round them. I like how my Firefox looks, and I'll stick to 3.5 if 3.7+ is where things are going.
Just my 2 cents :)
- It might be easier for new users, but I don't think it's going to be easier for most others. My parents can get by with using the software they're used to, but if Firefox auto-updates and ends up looking like that, I'll have to try to disable the new look or uninstall the update for them or they won't know where to go for even simple features like print and print-preview. For me, I already hide the menu bar so it appears only when I press alt. But merging the functions of the menus into the Chrome-style buttons isn't likely to be a good idea for inexperienced users who've swapped from IE. They'll get annoyed that it's changed and they can't find anything, and go back to the browser that they understand.
--Pintsized 15:30, 4 August 2009 (UTC)
- I'm also very good with computers like everyone else in this wiki is, but I personally would prefer this new user interface. The menu toolbars are getting old now. However, I do agree with you. There needs to be a way to switch back to the "classic" interface. --Mephiles 20:16, 9 August 2009 (UTC)
Opera, anyone?
This new appearance reminds me of Opera.
Please keep it original! I don't have any other suggestions.
- In my opinion, it doesn't look anything like Opera's ugly interface. For starters, we don't have the menu bar. --Mephiles 09:50, 11 August 2009 (UTC)