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Firefox 25 will get a major UI overhaul

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Re: Firefox 25 will get a major UI overhaul

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> Firefox UI is as busy as you make it For almost all Firefox users, the UI is as busy as Mozilla makes it.

I think that for almost all Internet Explorer and Safari users the UI is as busy as their developers make it.

I expect the average user of Chrome and Firefox to be able and willing to at least get to the "View" menu (or similar) and configure the interface as he/she sees fit.

Re: Firefox 25 will get a major UI overhaul

#173
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the Full Screen option in the latest version, on Ubuntu and I don't remember a time when it wasn't there. It's still in the "View" menu. I just press F11, the default shortcut. Furthermore, Firefox implements the HTML5 Fullscreen API, which gives the ability to websites themselves to request the full-screen mode, with a dialog pop-up that allows you to either deny, or to temporarily or permanently give this pr…

The fullscreen API works fine. A website can display itself without any other clutter on the screen (with user permission). Unfortunately, it is no longer possible for a user on Mac OS X to cause the switch to fullscreen. The view menu (Firefox 21.0, for example, on OS X) still offers an "Enter Full Screen" menu item. Unfortunately, all it does is hide some of the chrome (it hides the menu bar and the title bar), lea…

You might need to enable the "hide toolbar" option, which can be accessed by right clicking the toolbar in the right place while in full screen. I'm unsure if this option is available on OSX.

Re: Firefox 25 will get a major UI overhaul

#174
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about letting the user decide? I find myself installing addons to cut or move parts of the UI back to where it was when I was used to it. Starting with the location bar ending with status bars. Additional fumbling around in the config became the normal thing to do after an major update... I know it's nice if your are the developer and you can force stuff on your users because most of them can't do anything about…

The reason why X Windows was so much more popular than Mac OS X or MS Windows was because it was so configurable, right? As a matter of good design, configuration options should be used very sparingly. Yes they diversify the UX, but they also diversify the UX! Some decisions just have to be "made," like losing the title bar. > you will cross a border for another part of your customers and then somebody will come up w…

I went away from software because of that for so many times. I can't remember the names of the software of companies anymore. I'm pretty sure they are not there anymore.

Sure YOU say the decision to make something go MUST be done. You don't even bring a reason for it here. I don't see it. Why does it HAVE to be made? Is the title bar going to be forbidden or something? Is it banned in some countries? I don't understand. I don't understand even more why I shouldn't have the CHOICE to make such irrelevant decision by myself. Why not? Give me at least one real reason...

Most of the time (like here) I have the feeling we are in some kind of Fashion Show. Some design guru decides: this will be like that now. All the big fashin designers jump on the train. But the fact remains that people on the street won't dress like that...and sure you push it here and there through the discounters and you may reach a mass where it becomes a thing. But initaly nobody wanted that. It may be even a worse kind of clothing. It may be a shoe that hurts your leg muscels in the end but nobody is interested in that because it is Fashion.

I see it the same way here. Don't take me wrong. I appriciate changes that are useful. I appriciate it even more if there are options but I don't see any reason to force Fashion moves on me in software.

A word on Win8? Nah I guess you already know ;)

@X Windows: are you kidding me? Do you want to start a discussion about marketing methods now and then? I guess you've just missed the point on that one. I can sell you the most ugly crap software if I have the money or the right marketing strategy but it has nothing to do with the topic.

Re: Firefox 25 will get a major UI overhaul

#175
post #112
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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.

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.

Re: Firefox 25 will get a major UI overhaul

#176
post #166
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not on my Mac. Am I missing something?

What are you missing on your Mac? It has the system title bar, the system-provided x, -, and + buttons, and (on my Mountain Lion, at least), the system-provided full-screen button in the top-right. What more could there be?

> What more could there be?

A full height title bar with the title of the current tab in it that I can use to drag the window around. Having to precisely aim my mouse pointer in order to drag my window is extremely annoying.

Re: Firefox 25 will get a major UI overhaul

#177
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The window titlebar doesn't make sense in every application. In this case, the title is already displayed on the tab. Showing it in two areas that are very close to each other is just redundant. On Windows Vista, 7, and 8, explorer does not have a titlebar since the location breadcrumb trail makes more sense. On OS X, iTunes and the App Store also do not have titlebars, favoring other ways to show information that ma…

My tabs are all way too small to read the title.

Perhaps because you have an excessive amount open?

Re: Firefox 25 will get a major UI overhaul

#178
post #87
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a GTK issue.

Then what prevents Firefox from doing it?

It's as B-Com said. The window manager. I used to use Emerald. There was no way you could consistently draw in the titlebar across all the themes available for it.

Re: Firefox 25 will get a major UI overhaul

#179
post #66

And Firefox continues the inexorable march towards Chromeness by removing the actual title of the page from the window chrome. Don't get me wrong, I prefer Firefox. This just strikes me as wrong; the rest of the new UI is fine.

That's one of the things I despise about Chrome... plus the fact that it doesn't have a title bar at all. They taking exactly the things that make Chrome less usable to me and putting them in Firefox. /sigh

[Replying here due to HN's threading limits. This is in response to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5825892]

Anyway, I fail to see a significant difference between Finder and Chrome's appearance: http://i.imgur.com/sgfMXOy.png

If Chrome was full of tabs, the ~20px area to drag the window around is arguably a bit small, but it'd look ridiculous if there was a huge margin above the tabs.

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