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Firefox 4.0: New Design Changes Revealed

24 points by iiijjjiii 17y ago

ryandvm 17y ago
Very Chromish. I'm glad they're not too proud to borrow good ideas when they see them. Now if they can just improve stability and speed I may switch back from Chromium.
- andyking 17y ago
  The Firefox menu in the top-left corner looks remarkably similar to the O menu that's appeared in the latest Opera alpha (http://goo.gl/Chfb http://goo.gl/Chfb). I like the way a lot of the cruft from 1990s Windows applications is starting to disappear from programmes that really don't need it like modern browsers.
  - mcantor 17y ago
    Out of curiosity, why did you post a shortened link here instead of the canonical one? Does goo.gl give you some kind of clickthrough monitoring, or was there another reason?
  - rlm 17y ago
    And those menus look a lot like the Office 2007 menus or MS Paint in Windows 7. ;-)
samdk 17y ago
This makes me very, very happy. I use Chrome on my netbook for two reasons: it's faster, and it takes up significantly less screen space. It's nice to see Firefox beginning to compete in at least one of those two areas.
- uggedal 17y ago
  If you need to maximize usable window space, try vimperator for Firefox. Works wonders on my netbook.
  - thehigherlife 17y ago
    do you know of a way to set certain UI elements to load on every launch so that i don't have to type in 'set guioptions' every time i launch the browser?
    - uggedal 17y ago
      create a ~/.vimperatorrc file with your specific settings
- barrkel 17y ago
  It's odd. The UI of Chrome is precisely one of the reasons I don't use it - in particular, the lack of a menu bar and especially the Bookmarks menu.
nopassrecover 17y ago
Some of the sample back/forward button mockups are quite nice and subtle but the one they use in the final 4.0/3.5 comparison image is terribly chunky.
d0m 17y ago
Do you remember in the comics of chrome, they said they were doing it to help other browsers. They also said they'd really like to have their ideas borrowed to make the web a better place.
- MikeCapone 17y ago
  Indeed. It would be even better (and noble) if they mentioned Chrome by name somewhere.
  - jm4 17y ago
    That's absurd. Why would anyone publish a list of upcoming features and then mention which competitor they're borrowing them from?
    - MikeCapone 17y ago
      It's certainly not unheard of in the open source world to say that you've been inspired by another project. I recently watched an official video by Googlers about the Chrome extensions, and they mention Firefox by name many times.
      - pavs 17y ago
        Yup, even on chrome blog, on recent videos they have mentioned webkit/safari/apple contributions several times.
        jm4 17y ago
        That's not an accurate comparison. That's an improvement to the rendering engine that's shared between them. They all have the feature. It's a different story when you're talking about a feature you're planning to implement and then mention the competitor who already has it. It's just plain stupid.
      - jm4 17y ago
        Yes, but, unlike some open source projects, Mozilla is out to make money from the project and their income is generated almost exclusively through a search deal with this particular competitor.
rlm 17y ago
Non-linkjacked: http://blog.stephenhorlander.com/2009/12/21/windows-themeui-update/ http://blog.stephenhorlander.com/2009/12/21/windows-themeui-... (which I submitted earlier: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1007484 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1007484)
- tengkahwee 17y ago
  Mashable doesn't seem to enjoy giving others credit. The only link to the author is just a tiny link with the word "share". Even the name isn't mentioned. The original author deserves more than that.
  - Mystalic 17y ago
    I'm sorry about that. I've added a [via] tag at the bottom and expanded the link text to make sure credit is given where it is due. - Ben (Co-Editor)
    - pavs 17y ago
      Thanks for this. I was about to write a comment dissing Mashable for this. Also, please consider doing it more often. Mashable rarely links to the original source (if at all), many times I have to Google to get more information; an extra step that can be easily avoided. Its in good form to link the original source.
      - Mystalic 17y ago
        We link regularly to the original source, I'm sorry if it's not as visible, but I assure you we do regularly. The exception are ones coming in the form of company announcements, but even then we often link back to their blog posts. I'll try to make it more visible in the future.
        pavs 17y ago
        OK, I should have said "from my experience". That was my experience most of the time when I was subscribed to mashable RSS, most of the time posts were deep linked to more mashable posts, instead of original source. It was a quite bit frustrating. Anyways, I just checked the last couple of post you guys had they all seem to link to the source. The fact that you come here to reply to readers opinions, clearly means you guys care. That's good enough for me. Thanks.
metra 17y ago
How is this saving space? How is this Chrome-ish? Chrome saved space by getting rid of the title bar (a bar that would just say "Chrome"). From these pictures, Firefox still has a whole bar that just says "Firefox." Why? Mozilla, please allow us to place tabs on the Title bar! And if you really want to blow Chrome out of the water, explore innovative vertical tab options. Tree style tabs is an immensely popular extension for a reason.
albemuth 17y ago
For those people that said it was pointless for google to enter the browser market, here's why.
- ghotli 17y ago
  I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Chrome showcased multiple innovations in browser technology. Things like a single process per tab, a much tighter security model, and proof that javascript implementations could be much faster. By doing this they have set trends in how browser technologies should progress and thus had an influence on their ability to implement "html 5" webapps in the future that work cross browser. It was much more than "check it out we put tabs in the title bar guys".
Luyt 17y ago
I wish they'd optimize for vertical space instead of eye candy. Most applications use way too much vertically stacked menubars, toolbars, bookmarks bars etc..., nibbling away precious display space from the document.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
yason 17y ago
All I ever wanted from Firefox 4.0 is the user interface latency (or rather, lack thereof) of Chromium and the process-per-tab / process-per-plugin model. The latter would probably help a lot with the former. The screenshot mockups don't tell.
dirtbox 17y ago
Hey, that's just like Opera! Again.

24 points by iiijjjiii 17y ago

Very Chromish. I'm glad they're not too proud to borrow good ideas when they see them. Now if they can just improve stability and speed I may switch back from Chromium.

andyking 17y ago
The Firefox menu in the top-left corner looks remarkably similar to the O menu that's appeared in the latest Opera alpha (http://goo.gl/Chfb http://goo.gl/Chfb). I like the way a lot of the cruft from 1990s Windows applications is starting to disappear from programmes that really don't need it like modern browsers.
- mcantor 17y ago
  Out of curiosity, why did you post a shortened link here instead of the canonical one? Does goo.gl give you some kind of clickthrough monitoring, or was there another reason?
- rlm 17y ago
  And those menus look a lot like the Office 2007 menus or MS Paint in Windows 7. ;-)

samdk 17y ago

This makes me very, very happy. I use Chrome on my netbook for two reasons: it's faster, and it takes up significantly less screen space. It's nice to see Firefox beginning to compete in at least one of those two areas.

uggedal 17y ago
If you need to maximize usable window space, try vimperator for Firefox. Works wonders on my netbook.
- thehigherlife 17y ago
  do you know of a way to set certain UI elements to load on every launch so that i don't have to type in 'set guioptions' every time i launch the browser?
  - uggedal 17y ago
    create a ~/.vimperatorrc file with your specific settings
barrkel 17y ago
It's odd. The UI of Chrome is precisely one of the reasons I don't use it - in particular, the lack of a menu bar and especially the Bookmarks menu.

nopassrecover 17y ago

Some of the sample back/forward button mockups are quite nice and subtle but the one they use in the final 4.0/3.5 comparison image is terribly chunky.

d0m 17y ago

Do you remember in the comics of chrome, they said they were doing it to help other browsers. They also said they'd really like to have their ideas borrowed to make the web a better place.

MikeCapone 17y ago
Indeed. It would be even better (and noble) if they mentioned Chrome by name somewhere.
- jm4 17y ago
  That's absurd. Why would anyone publish a list of upcoming features and then mention which competitor they're borrowing them from?
  - MikeCapone 17y ago
    It's certainly not unheard of in the open source world to say that you've been inspired by another project. I recently watched an official video by Googlers about the Chrome extensions, and they mention Firefox by name many times.
    - pavs 17y ago
      Yup, even on chrome blog, on recent videos they have mentioned webkit/safari/apple contributions several times.
      - jm4 17y ago
        That's not an accurate comparison. That's an improvement to the rendering engine that's shared between them. They all have the feature. It's a different story when you're talking about a feature you're planning to implement and then mention the competitor who already has it. It's just plain stupid.
    - jm4 17y ago
      Yes, but, unlike some open source projects, Mozilla is out to make money from the project and their income is generated almost exclusively through a search deal with this particular competitor.

rlm 17y ago

Non-linkjacked: http://blog.stephenhorlander.com/2009/12/21/windows-themeui-update/ http://blog.stephenhorlander.com/2009/12/21/windows-themeui-... (which I submitted earlier: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1007484 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1007484)

tengkahwee 17y ago
Mashable doesn't seem to enjoy giving others credit. The only link to the author is just a tiny link with the word "share". Even the name isn't mentioned. The original author deserves more than that.
- Mystalic 17y ago
  I'm sorry about that. I've added a [via] tag at the bottom and expanded the link text to make sure credit is given where it is due. - Ben (Co-Editor)
  - pavs 17y ago
    Thanks for this. I was about to write a comment dissing Mashable for this. Also, please consider doing it more often. Mashable rarely links to the original source (if at all), many times I have to Google to get more information; an extra step that can be easily avoided. Its in good form to link the original source.
    - Mystalic 17y ago
      We link regularly to the original source, I'm sorry if it's not as visible, but I assure you we do regularly. The exception are ones coming in the form of company announcements, but even then we often link back to their blog posts. I'll try to make it more visible in the future.
      - pavs 17y ago
        OK, I should have said "from my experience". That was my experience most of the time when I was subscribed to mashable RSS, most of the time posts were deep linked to more mashable posts, instead of original source. It was a quite bit frustrating. Anyways, I just checked the last couple of post you guys had they all seem to link to the source. The fact that you come here to reply to readers opinions, clearly means you guys care. That's good enough for me. Thanks.

metra 17y ago

How is this saving space? How is this Chrome-ish? Chrome saved space by getting rid of the title bar (a bar that would just say "Chrome"). From these pictures, Firefox still has a whole bar that just says "Firefox." Why? Mozilla, please allow us to place tabs on the Title bar! And if you really want to blow Chrome out of the water, explore innovative vertical tab options. Tree style tabs is an immensely popular extension for a reason.

albemuth 17y ago

For those people that said it was pointless for google to enter the browser market, here's why.

ghotli 17y ago
I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Chrome showcased multiple innovations in browser technology. Things like a single process per tab, a much tighter security model, and proof that javascript implementations could be much faster. By doing this they have set trends in how browser technologies should progress and thus had an influence on their ability to implement "html 5" webapps in the future that work cross browser. It was much more than "check it out we put tabs in the title bar guys".

Luyt 17y ago

I wish they'd optimize for vertical space instead of eye candy. Most applications use way too much vertically stacked menubars, toolbars, bookmarks bars etc..., nibbling away precious display space from the document.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

yason 17y ago

All I ever wanted from Firefox 4.0 is the user interface latency (or rather, lack thereof) of Chromium and the process-per-tab / process-per-plugin model. The latter would probably help a lot with the former. The screenshot mockups don't tell.

dirtbox 17y ago

Hey, that's just like Opera! Again.