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Firefox 29 beta arrives with easy Sync tool....

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Re: Firefox 29 beta arrives with easy Sync tool....

#3

Post by userbinator »

In this new version, Mozilla presents a major user interface overhaul Australis that makes it easy to customize your browser.

The amount of doublespeak Mozilla has been putting out recently is astounding. Read the comments here for example (I don't know if they've changed anything since then, but I doubt it): https://blog.mozilla.org/ux/2013/11/australis-is-landing-in-...

All they appear to be doing is chasing Chrome's design decisions.

Re: Firefox 29 beta arrives with easy Sync tool....

#5

Post by spindritf »

You can always use Aurora which is Firefox two versions ahead of release. So you would have had those features about a month ago.

I was for a long time hesitant thinking that it would be unstable, or cause compatibility issues with my favourite extensions... Nothing like that. At least in my experience. New sync worked completely flawlessly. I now use it on both Ubuntu[1] and Android[2] almost exclusively.

On Android it's faster than Chrome beta, perhaps partly due to AdBlock, and it has a nicer interface, especially closing tabs is much easier. It's not available from Google Play but it updates itself so you only need to download the .apk manually once (make sure you do it over ssl).

On desktop some changes brought by Australis are, let's say, not to my taste. Of course, there's already an addon to fix it[3]. You can keep whatever you like from the new UI, and revert whatever you don't. For example, I like the drawer but didn't like the inability to move back and forward buttons to the right of the url bar. They're back on the right[4]. Same goes for rounded corners of tabs, or any other control issue.

[1] https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mozilla-daily/+archive/firefox...

[2] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/aurora/

[3] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/classicthemer...

[4] http://i.imgur.com/LE8UZHY.png

Re: Firefox 29 beta arrives with easy Sync tool....

#6

Post by moystard »

dagurp wrote: post #2

So.. can I disable australis somehow?

Have you at least tried it or are you simply change averse?

I have done the move a few weeks back, and I don't regret my decision. The toolbar and my add-ons located there still work very well, also the new menu gives a quick access to useful features.

Re: Firefox 29 beta arrives with easy Sync tool....

#8

Post by moystard »

SquareWheel wrote: post #4

Australis is such an improvement that I'm tempted to come back from Chrome. Everything feels very fluid and fast. I'd be curious to see the latest benchmarks on startup time, Javascript performance and such.

I don't know how long you have been a Chrome user, but Firefox has felt snappy and responsive for a few months now. Australis re-design shows that often speed is more a matter of impression than benchmark results.

Re: Firefox 29 beta arrives with easy Sync tool....

#9

Post by shock »

moystard wrote: post #6
dagurp wrote: post #2

So.. can I disable australis somehow?

Have you at least tried it or are you simply change averse? I have done the move a few weeks back, and I don't regret my decision. The toolbar and my add-ons located there still work very well, also the new menu gives a quick access to useful features.

I, for one, have tried it and it makes things I do frequently, more difficult: there's no longer available a bookmark button to open the bookmarks sidebar, there's no longer a menu item to show all bookmaks, when I bookmark something I click the bookmarks star twice in order to enter tags but the second click is only sometimes registered. For me, the previous theme worked much better than australis. I struggle to see the improvements in australis.
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