Talk:Firefox/4.0 Linux Theme Mockups

Note: Mockups created by the wider community belong in the discussion page.

Progressbar and Icons

Wouldn't it be better to use the pie chart throbber instead of the progressbar? Also, aren't there a little too many icons? That could be distracting while browsing. Sure one could condition theirself to ignore them, but that situation is avoidable. The focus should be more on browsing and less on the browser for the user.--— Edson Ayllon ^[twitter] 19:55, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Combo Stop/Reload/Go Button at Right End of Address Bar

This is one annoying Internet Explorer feature that I would not like to have permanently set in for Firefox. It is rare that I ever use the extraneous Go button when typing in the address bar, since it is just more efficient to hit the Enter key and let the page download during the interval it takes to move my hand back to the mouse, which means that the Refresh button is more important and should not be moved to some location it does not belong (away from the other primary navigation buttons: Back, Forward) just so that the less useful Go button gets to be at the end of the address bar.--Gnraetaet 08:21, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Theming should be chooseable by user

It would be better to let the user choose if he wants a other layout especially in the case of this tabs-on-top crap. Some people work the whole day with the browser and if the UI changes there will be a break in the daily routines of working. For some people the "stop-loading" button is essential. I hope the whole tab-on-top story get an overthinking maybe in favour of a more flexible theming system which allows a user to set his favourite layout of the browser window . 1 November 2009

Thinking over

Maybe it would be a good idea to think over thinking over.

Some users happily use a menu-bar-hiding addon, others like s single custumizable menue entry, some are missing horizontal lines between bars, some would miss vertical rulers separating groups of buttons, some would be glad to chose if/where a "reload" and/or "stop" button appears, some would really want to keep their chosen favorite theme unchanged, some beleive "Tabs-to-Top" being the worst idea ever, some would be very unhappy without a status bar, etc.

Therefore IMHO it would be a wonderfull idea to import all the fine new changes as options for a more customizable Firefox that lets you choose where to have which bar, which style of seperators, buttons and colours, etc.

Less wonderfull would be that famous "take it or leave it" mentality already to be found on other widely-spread browsers - for some users Firefox would stop being an alternative then.

Great Ideas

I'm not sure why the "tabs on top" idea is less popular, as it appears to me to make far more sense for new users. In Firefox 3.5, the location bar is visually separated from the tab, and the connection between the two is totally lost. Placing the location bar under the tab obviously creates a far better visual connection, making the relationship between the two more clear.

I work with several people who aren't computer savvy to say the least, and I appreciate any change to the UI that makes some concept, like tabs representing different web pages, easier to grasp. I know many techies who use a web browser all the time will think it's crazy that other people don't understand tabs, but believe me, they're out there, and there's a reason Safari has (or at least had) the tab feature turned off by default. It confuses people who don't understand the concept, and I think they don't understand it because the whole relationship between the location text and the tab aren't clearly related.

I think having the progress bar in the tab like that is a great idea for users like me. I'm not sure new users would understand it, but as often as I have multiple tabs opening, I appreciate the change. Is there a way to make a tab grayed out or receding into the background until it's fully loaded? When I open up several tabs at once, I'd like to see them sort of fade into a darker font or something like this to indicate it's fully loaded and ready to go.

I rarely use the menu bar, and when I do it's just to use the "Tools" menu, so moving "Tools" to a button would free up space and work well for me.

Are there any mockups for how the bookmarks button would behave?

While it does add clutter, the bookmarks toolbar is useful for me, but it's noteworthy that I only use the bookmarks toolbar for little javascript tools, such as Readability, Share on Facebook, and Hootlet. Some of these mini-tools even tell you to drag a button to the bookmark toolbar (perhaps such web page buttons or links could be dragged to the bookmarks button instead to accomplish the same thing).

I don't have any ideas for how to make the "bookmarks toolbar + mini-tools" combination better, but I do know my right-click menu is already overloaded from additions made by extensions, so unless the right-click menu can be cleaned up, I wouldn't consider that a great option. Obviously the bookmark toolbar isn't the only way to deal with them.

Speaking of the right-click menu, could the right-click be used to bring up a more visual window instead of a plain text menu? As it is I have trouble finding what I want from it, so any help in that area would be appreciated.

Vogateer 14:06, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Tabs on top

While I understand some people's preference for the tabs on top - and I admit, it does make the layout look cleaner - I sincerely hope that there will at least be an option to keep the tabs on the bottom. First, having the tabs closer to the page content makes switching between tabs with the mouse much faster. I switch between tabs quite a lot - mostly while using the mouse within a tab - and having to move all the way to the top of the window (not necessarily maximized) adds up to a lot more mouse travel time. Second, it fits in better with most other tab-using applications' layouts - with the tabs underneath the menu/tool bars (nautilus, gedit, geany, dolphin, konquerer, etc.) Lastly, from the mockup, the amount of space given to the window decoration title bar looks pretty small - it seems like it would be very easy to accidentally select a tab instead of grabbing the titlebar to move/resize/whatever the window.

If it really is easier for new users to grasp the tab concept with the tabs on top approach, then it is fine to have this as a default layout but it would be wonderful to allow the option of tabs on the bottom for those who prefer that (and this doesn't seem like it would be particularly difficult since that is the current layout).

One implication of Fitt's Law is that having the tabs flush with the top of the screen when the window is maximized gives them an infinite surface area and they can be clicked on faster.

If there is a desktop environment taskbar at the top of the screen or the window is not maximized, this is clearly not the case. Obviously some stats and numbers are needed. In my own completely anecdotal and unscientific experience, selecting a tab in Chrome seems to be faster because the tab is more visually distinct, not being sandwiched between two major UI elements. But, as I said, anecdotal. Bring on the usability testing! --Jamesgecko 06:06, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Non native theme elements

I'm surprised by the move to non-native looking tabs and toolbar buttons. Firefox has been making steady progress towards emulating Gtk widgets in Linux throughout the version 3 series. Many people were extremely unhappy about the Radiant Core makeover of Firefox 2 which recycled non native theme elements from the Windows XP theme for the Linux theme, and this looks like the same thing all over again. Are we going to see it flip-flop back to a more native look in Firefox 5?

I wish Firefox could make up it's mind whether it wants to look native or like windows XP with a clown suit on.

Qt4 port / KDE Integration

Finally recongnize that Linux is not just GTK+ and Gnome. There was a Qt4 port done by Nokia merged to Mozilla and it was more or less working and would need just some final polish and attention. With every next Firefox release we get more and more Gnome HIG stuff ... For example I do want to have Tools>Options instead of Gnomes Edit>Preferences. That's just not possible. The gtk+ file chooser is also horrible and the Cancel/OK scheme is not what KDE does.

If maintaining 2 toolkits on Linux is not possible then just switch to Qt4 as this toolkit integrates nicely in both Gnome and KDE4. It also does the same nice integration on MacOSX and Windows so with it there could be actually just one toolkit for all platforms which would save development resources.

An idea for the App button

The complexity of the list to be branched to other lists Making it difficult for users to access the options. Therefore,Google chrome solve the problem Using 2 lists So I suggest using a single list containing all the options It may seem impossible or ugly because the number of options is more than 20 So I thought to offer options on the form of icons As in the picture

App Button and Desktops with no titlebar

Most workmates use pekwm or compiz with no titlebars. Personally, my maximized windows have no titlebar (though non-maximized ones do).

Has anyone considered where the app button would be in these cases, and what it would look like? It could be a severe issue leaving users with NO app button in 4.0.

Re:App Button and Desktops with no titlebar

I agree that putting the app button in the titlebar is a bad plan for the reason mentioned above. Not to mention the fact that it is a very non-standard way of doing things and will likely require every WM developer to make some special case for Firefox.

The app button should go in the tab bar, a la Opera. This also looks great with tabs-on-top.

Firefox should have the FIREFOX BUTTON

Firefox button is very usefull Especially if the application of this proposal https://wiki.mozilla.org/Talk:Firefox/4.0_Windows_Theme_Mockups#2-pane_Office_2007_.2F_Win7_Style

and for the desktops with no titlebar they can view the menu bar to solve their problem

I think that opera will move Menu Button to the title bar when it is able to do .