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Here are some very detailed mockups(?) on major platforms whose links are kind of tucked into the parent link: Linux: http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/fil

Here are some very detailed mockups(?) on major platforms whose links are kind of tucked into the parent link: Linux: http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/australis-designSpecs/australis-designSpecs-linux-mainWindow.html http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/australis-design... Windows 7: http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/australis-designSpecs/australis-designSpecs-windows7-mainWindow.html http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/australis-design... Windows XP: http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/australis-designSpecs/australis-designSpecs-windowsXP-lunaBlue-mainWindow.html http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/australis-design... OSX: http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/australis-designSpecs/australis-designSpecs-osx-mainWindow.html http://people.mozilla.com/~shorlander/files/australis-design... I personally think it looks nice and welcome the update. I haven't really been using Firefox all that much mainly due to how busy the interface is, so maybe leaning it out will make me a regular user again.

tambourine_man 13y ago
This is Chrome's definitive legitimation as the standard browser UI. I personally think it sucks (on OS X, that is). How anyone can think that a 10px window dragging area is fine is beyond me. I just hope Apple can step up its game with Safari.
whichdan 13y ago
FYI, these demos only work properly on Firefox.
saratogacx 13y ago
Why does it seem like everyone is moving to those curved tabs? They've always seemed like a waste of space and the overlapping bits make for an inconsistent tab UI.
- thezilch 13y ago
  I'm not sure what you mean by inconsistent, but I imagine the point is to give a slight depth -- better highlight the foreground tab.
  - saratogacx 13y ago
    The inconsistency is based around a scenario like this. Open 4 tabs. click tab 1 and then tab 3. What order do you display the tabs in? Does tab 1 overlay tab 2? If closing tabs don't to the last open tab this now means that the visual stack is not accurate to how the program operates. I understand the depth but there are better ways to show it that don't take up as much space nor have to deal with issues like visually showing the tab's z-order
    - gluxon 13y ago
      The Australis inactive tabs don't overlay. Take a look at the mockups. Only the active tab has a background and border styling.
    - ximeng 13y ago
      Chrome stacks away from the currently focused tab. If tab 6 of 10 is focused, 6 will be in front of 7, which is in front of 8, and so on; similarly 6 is in front of 5 which is in front 4, and so on. There is a subtle visual lead to the focused tab. If you then select tab 2 for example, tabs 3 to 6 will be restacked for consistency.
      - Nick_C 13y ago
        I loathe that behaviour, it was one of the things that bugged me about Chrome. If I close a tab, I want the focus to go back to the previously viewed tab, not the previous tab in the z-stack.
    - rorrr2 13y ago
      You are assuming tabs are a stack. They aren't.
- rcthompson 13y ago
  Non-vertical tab edges make it easier to see which tab is on top.
- Osmose 13y ago
  Note that only the active tab is curved; the other tabs have nothing but a line between them. Here's a comparison using the latest UX Nightly: Old: http://cl.ly/image/221j3J1j3R2Q http://cl.ly/image/221j3J1j3R2Q New: http://cl.ly/image/1b1j1m2K2k24 http://cl.ly/image/1b1j1m2K2k24 The old one is showing 13 tabs, the new one is showing 12 tabs and the edge of the 13th one. However, the new one is way less cluttered and easy to read IMO.
spindritf 13y ago
> I haven't really been using Firefox all that much mainly due to how busy the interface is Firefox UI is as busy as you make it[1]. It's very customizable without much effort. Not that it couldn't use a refresh but I quite like it the way it is. EDIT: The commenters below get it right. Tree Style Tab[2] add-on is responsible for the tabs and you can remove the clutter by right-clicking the refresh button for example, choosing "customize..." from the context menu and just dragging all the unused stuff away into the box (a window that will appear). Toolbars can be hidden from View → Toolbars. Enabling integration with Ubuntu also thins it a bit. [1] http://i.imgur.com/zdIy63Q.png http://i.imgur.com/zdIy63Q.png [2] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-ta...
- srijan4 13y ago
  What are you using for those side tabs?
  - yohui 13y ago
    Probably 'Tree Style Tab': https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-ta...
  - cpeterso 13y ago
    Or the Vertical Tabs add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vertical-tabs/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vertical-tabs...
- imalolz 13y ago
  Just saw your post after posting myself. Please share how you got rid of some of the clutter.
  - jasondenizac 13y ago
    Menu > Customize. This puts the chrome in "edit" mode where you can add and remove UI elements.
imalolz 13y ago
I love firefox and use it daily on all platforms. What bothers me a bit (just a bit) about the design is that only on linux the menu bar row sticks out [1], while on Windows or Mac they were able to collapse it or hide it quite well. I suppose this is due to the GUI implementation constraints on the platform, but it is still very noticable when I switch from my mac to ubuntu. [1]: http://i.imgur.com/qDUuOXH.png http://i.imgur.com/qDUuOXH.png
- msujaws 13y ago
  Right-click on your Home button and uncheck the "Menu bar" :)
- trotsky 13y ago
  I'm not on ubuntu right now, but this should be done by an ubuntu specific extension that places the menu bar in the global menu bar area that unity creates in essentially the same place it is on a mac. Should be installed by default on untuntu+unity, perhaps you disabled it?
- gluxon 13y ago
  Yeah, check if you have the firefox-globalmenu apt package installed. If so, check for "Global Menu Integration" in extensions.
- shmerl 13y ago
  I'd say let them switch to using Qt on Linux instead of GTK, and that problem could be solved.
  - gluxon 13y ago
    It's not a GTK issue.
    - shmerl 13y ago
      Then what prevents Firefox from doing it?
shmerl 13y ago
I think Firefox should switch to Qt, since it allows more flexible management. For example GTK prevents it from drawing in the title bar.
- bkor 13y ago
  That's called client side window drawing and GTK has it. Needed for Wayland. Maybe good to investigate a little bit before saying things that aren't true.
  - shmerl 13y ago
    Not in GTK2 which Firefox uses. It doesn't use GTK3 yet. Qt port of Firefox already exists anyway, but Mozilla didn't find much interest to support it.
  - shmerl 13y ago
    Also, I'm not sure how Wayland is going to solve that, since Wayland protocol doesn't mandate for the window manager to use client side decorations. May be you are talking about Weston (which is a reference compositor of the Wayland project). But in practice each major DE will probably create their own compositors which won't necessarily use client side decorations.
huhtenberg 13y ago
And the point of having curved tabs is... ?
- scott_karana 13y ago
  Imitating Chrome, of course.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
ars 13y ago
Those tabs look nice when you have 3 or 4 of them. But I have 26, and it won't look so good then. (I tweaked my chrome to shrink the minimum tab size, so I can get lots of them without having to scroll the tab bar.)
- baby 13y ago
  Try Tree Style Tab, it displays tabs on the left. It's a bliss.
  - ars 13y ago
    I tried it about a year or 2 ago and my browsers wouldn't stop crashing. It also had a memory leak. Maybe it's better now and I should try again.
jeltz 13y ago
> I haven't really been using Firefox all that much mainly due to how busy the interface is, so maybe leaning it out will make me a regular user again. Those mockups are busier than the current interface, at least for OSX. The new OSX UI gains some vertical space in exchange for losing horizontal and making the UI more cluttered. EDIT: Actually it only gains about 4 pixels of vertical space despite all the downsides, including the loss of the title.
achughes 13y ago
Its really basic things like not lining the window management buttons with the rest of the icons that really piss me off as a designer. Is this really too much to ask for? http://imgur.com/zD8lUYW http://imgur.com/zD8lUYW

tambourine_man 13y ago

This is Chrome's definitive legitimation as the standard browser UI. I personally think it sucks (on OS X, that is). How anyone can think that a 10px window dragging area is fine is beyond me. I just hope Apple can step up its game with Safari.

whichdan 13y ago

FYI, these demos only work properly on Firefox.

saratogacx 13y ago

Why does it seem like everyone is moving to those curved tabs? They've always seemed like a waste of space and the overlapping bits make for an inconsistent tab UI.

thezilch 13y ago
I'm not sure what you mean by inconsistent, but I imagine the point is to give a slight depth -- better highlight the foreground tab.
- saratogacx 13y ago
  The inconsistency is based around a scenario like this. Open 4 tabs. click tab 1 and then tab 3. What order do you display the tabs in? Does tab 1 overlay tab 2? If closing tabs don't to the last open tab this now means that the visual stack is not accurate to how the program operates. I understand the depth but there are better ways to show it that don't take up as much space nor have to deal with issues like visually showing the tab's z-order
  - gluxon 13y ago
    The Australis inactive tabs don't overlay. Take a look at the mockups. Only the active tab has a background and border styling.
  - ximeng 13y ago
    Chrome stacks away from the currently focused tab. If tab 6 of 10 is focused, 6 will be in front of 7, which is in front of 8, and so on; similarly 6 is in front of 5 which is in front 4, and so on. There is a subtle visual lead to the focused tab. If you then select tab 2 for example, tabs 3 to 6 will be restacked for consistency.
    - Nick_C 13y ago
      I loathe that behaviour, it was one of the things that bugged me about Chrome. If I close a tab, I want the focus to go back to the previously viewed tab, not the previous tab in the z-stack.
  - rorrr2 13y ago
    You are assuming tabs are a stack. They aren't.
rcthompson 13y ago
Non-vertical tab edges make it easier to see which tab is on top.
Osmose 13y ago
Note that only the active tab is curved; the other tabs have nothing but a line between them. Here's a comparison using the latest UX Nightly: Old: http://cl.ly/image/221j3J1j3R2Q http://cl.ly/image/221j3J1j3R2Q New: http://cl.ly/image/1b1j1m2K2k24 http://cl.ly/image/1b1j1m2K2k24 The old one is showing 13 tabs, the new one is showing 12 tabs and the edge of the 13th one. However, the new one is way less cluttered and easy to read IMO.

spindritf 13y ago

> I haven't really been using Firefox all that much mainly due to how busy the interface is Firefox UI is as busy as you make it[1]. It's very customizable without much effort. Not that it couldn't use a refresh but I quite like it the way it is. EDIT: The commenters below get it right. Tree Style Tab[2] add-on is responsible for the tabs and you can remove the clutter by right-clicking the refresh button for example, choosing "customize..." from the context menu and just dragging all the unused stuff away into the box (a window that will appear). Toolbars can be hidden from View → Toolbars. Enabling integration with Ubuntu also thins it a bit. [1] http://i.imgur.com/zdIy63Q.png http://i.imgur.com/zdIy63Q.png [2] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-ta...

srijan4 13y ago
What are you using for those side tabs?
- yohui 13y ago
  Probably 'Tree Style Tab': https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-ta...
- cpeterso 13y ago
  Or the Vertical Tabs add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vertical-tabs/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vertical-tabs...
imalolz 13y ago
Just saw your post after posting myself. Please share how you got rid of some of the clutter.
- jasondenizac 13y ago
  Menu > Customize. This puts the chrome in "edit" mode where you can add and remove UI elements.

imalolz 13y ago

I love firefox and use it daily on all platforms. What bothers me a bit (just a bit) about the design is that only on linux the menu bar row sticks out [1], while on Windows or Mac they were able to collapse it or hide it quite well. I suppose this is due to the GUI implementation constraints on the platform, but it is still very noticable when I switch from my mac to ubuntu. [1]: http://i.imgur.com/qDUuOXH.png http://i.imgur.com/qDUuOXH.png

msujaws 13y ago
Right-click on your Home button and uncheck the "Menu bar" :)
trotsky 13y ago
I'm not on ubuntu right now, but this should be done by an ubuntu specific extension that places the menu bar in the global menu bar area that unity creates in essentially the same place it is on a mac. Should be installed by default on untuntu+unity, perhaps you disabled it?
gluxon 13y ago
Yeah, check if you have the firefox-globalmenu apt package installed. If so, check for "Global Menu Integration" in extensions.
shmerl 13y ago
I'd say let them switch to using Qt on Linux instead of GTK, and that problem could be solved.
- gluxon 13y ago
  It's not a GTK issue.
  - shmerl 13y ago
    Then what prevents Firefox from doing it?

shmerl 13y ago

I think Firefox should switch to Qt, since it allows more flexible management. For example GTK prevents it from drawing in the title bar.

bkor 13y ago
That's called client side window drawing and GTK has it. Needed for Wayland. Maybe good to investigate a little bit before saying things that aren't true.
- shmerl 13y ago
  Not in GTK2 which Firefox uses. It doesn't use GTK3 yet. Qt port of Firefox already exists anyway, but Mozilla didn't find much interest to support it.
- shmerl 13y ago
  Also, I'm not sure how Wayland is going to solve that, since Wayland protocol doesn't mandate for the window manager to use client side decorations. May be you are talking about Weston (which is a reference compositor of the Wayland project). But in practice each major DE will probably create their own compositors which won't necessarily use client side decorations.

huhtenberg 13y ago

And the point of having curved tabs is... ?

scott_karana 13y ago
Imitating Chrome, of course.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

ars 13y ago

Those tabs look nice when you have 3 or 4 of them. But I have 26, and it won't look so good then. (I tweaked my chrome to shrink the minimum tab size, so I can get lots of them without having to scroll the tab bar.)

baby 13y ago
Try Tree Style Tab, it displays tabs on the left. It's a bliss.
- ars 13y ago
  I tried it about a year or 2 ago and my browsers wouldn't stop crashing. It also had a memory leak. Maybe it's better now and I should try again.

jeltz 13y ago

> I haven't really been using Firefox all that much mainly due to how busy the interface is, so maybe leaning it out will make me a regular user again. Those mockups are busier than the current interface, at least for OSX. The new OSX UI gains some vertical space in exchange for losing horizontal and making the UI more cluttered. EDIT: Actually it only gains about 4 pixels of vertical space despite all the downsides, including the loss of the title.

achughes 13y ago

Its really basic things like not lining the window management buttons with the rest of the icons that really piss me off as a designer. Is this really too much to ask for? http://imgur.com/zD8lUYW http://imgur.com/zD8lUYW