FX2 Visual Update/User Interface Design
There is a proposal to modify the default chrome presentation in Firefox 2. It's currently being discussed in the newsgroup.
that discussion seems to have tapered off; I'm going to summarize the points here a little later this week' Beltzner 06:50, 14 Mar 2006 (PST)
Initial Proposal
This is our first pass at the redesign, as an ASCII mockup. Some design points have been called out and I'll go into detail about those below:
(1) -. .- (2) (5) -.
| | .- (3) (4) -. |
v v v v v
.----------------------------------------------------------------------.
| File Edit View History Bookmarks Help [_][=][x]|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|.--. .--. ,.--.-------------------.--,,--,. ,----------.---,, .i. |
||<-| |->| ( |^v| {} www.foo.com v |.)||=>| ) ( google G |.O |) -O- |
|'--' '--' `'--'-------------------'--'`--`' '----------'--v`' 'i' |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|(.O) (&) (BBC News v) (Mozilla) |
|.-----------,.-----------,.-----------,-------------------------------|
||{} Bar || {} Foo (x)|| {} Baz | |
|-------------' '--------------------------------------------|
| |^|
| |H|
: (page content) : :
. . .
: : :
| |V|
| //|
'----------------------------------------------------------------------'
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
' | | | |
(6) '- (7) (8) -' '- (9) (10) -'
(1) The reload button [^v] moves to be inside the URL bar so that it is directly related with page which will be affected by it
(2) The "Go" menu is renamed "History" as per the Places UI Design, and the contents will focus on navigating a user's session history
(3) The RSS [.)] and Go [=>] buttons move inside the URL bar, again to emphasize their direct relationship with the page. The Go button becomes a stateful button that is either "Go" or "Stop"; if a page is not loading, or if a user is typing in a URL, the button is "Go". If a page is loading and a user is not typing in a URL, the button is "Stop". The lock icon (not shown) and URL drop-down control (v) would continue to be rendered as they currently exist.
(4) The search engine selection drop-down button [.O] moves to the right and takes on a more button-like appearance with a general "search" icon (like a magnifying glass). The search plugin icon will appear in the search text field alongside text provided by the plugin (ie: [G] Search with Google); this text & icon may be rendered semi-transparent to make it lighter.
(5) The throbber will become the progress indicator as well as the progress meter, with a pie chart in the center filling up to indicate overall page load progress
(6) The bookmark search button (.o) is on the personal bookmark toolbar
(7) The Home button (&) moves to the personal bookmark toolbar
(8) Closebuttons appear on the active tab only in order to achieve the best combination of having closebuttons appear where users expect & preserving as much area as possible on background tabs for selection and display of tab names.
(9) Tabs are a fixed width
(10) The status bar is hidden by default, and the page resizer is in the bottom right corner underneath the scrollbar.