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Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment

blog.mozilla.org

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101–110 of 184 posts

Re: Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment

#101

Post by acdha »

bane wrote: post #9

At first I thought "oh no, another distraction for Mozilla", but then I sat through the presentation and thought there was some really cool ideas (amazebar!). In fact, I think it can be simplified and paired down even more. Even better, some of the assumptions here even make the software portable (as in doesn't really need to be installed and could just run off a usb drive/out of my dropbox). Automatically being in a…

Current versions of Windows and OS X have a standard download folder. Following that convention makes a lot of sense for their target audience since it's what the other browsers do, in the default Explorer / Finder sidebar and avoids confusion with all of the things the average user saves to the desktop.

Re: Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment

#102

Post by gsnedders »

bane wrote: post #9

At first I thought "oh no, another distraction for Mozilla", but then I sat through the presentation and thought there was some really cool ideas (amazebar!). In fact, I think it can be simplified and paired down even more. Even better, some of the assumptions here even make the software portable (as in doesn't really need to be installed and could just run off a usb drive/out of my dropbox). Automatically being in a…

> - get rid of loved sites/bookmarks altogether. Frequent usage should just percolate autocomplete suggestions to the top. This design doesn't really need them, and tbh I've barely used bookmarks in any browser in a long time.

Opera tried getting rid of bookmarks with Opium, and very much was forced to go back after the initial release.

Re: Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment

#103

Post by acdha »

Pacabel wrote: post #84
weavie wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to just asking the user where they want to save it? To download a file I now have to download it, then open Finder, navigate to Downloads and copy the file, navigate to the folder I want to place the download, paste the file. Then navigate back to the folder and delete the file from Downloads .. because Macs don't give you a Cut option.

You make a very good point. That sensible and effective approach has become yet another victim of the failed quest to "improve the user experience" by throwing away or changing stuff that was working perfectly fine before. The new approach is almost always far worse than whatever minor flaws might have existed with the earlier approach. And allowing the old, working approach to be toggled back on through some prefere…

> When I start using a fresh installation of Firefox, I have to spend at least a good 10 minutes installing various extensions and reconfiguring it just to get a minimally usable experience out of it. That's not acceptable, and it's not justifiable.

You're assuming that this is widely applicable — very few people have spent a decade building a highly customized browsing experience and most people don't customize much at all. Ever walk around the office and notice how few people even removed Microsoft's default bookmarks from the toolbar so they spend all day staring at links to a service which they don't use?

I would also note that the history of computing is littered with loaded descriptions of things which were reflexively described as a "bad change" and a complete non-issue a year later. Mouse wheels, tabbed browsing, fonts and later CSS, JavaScript, all got the kind of grumbling you made above from a few people. Sometimes it's worth asking whether you really benefit from the old way or are just reacting to something being different.

Re: Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment

#104

Post by WorldWideWayne »

quesera wrote: post #99
weavie wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to just asking the user where they want to save it? To download a file I now have to download it, then open Finder, navigate to Downloads and copy the file, navigate to the folder I want to place the download, paste the file. Then navigate back to the folder and delete the file from Downloads .. because Macs don't give you a Cut option.

To move a file in the Finder, Mac users just drag and drop. You can nav to the destination folder by hovering the intermediate folders, they will open to reveal contents. To copy instead of move, just hold Option while doing the above. I know old habits die hard, but if you've decided to move to a new part of the world, it really is worth learning the local language.

If I moved to a new part of the world where everybody hopped on one foot instead of walking...I'd find a way to teach them to walk though. Wouldn't you?

Re: Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment

#105

Post by jonstewart »

mkohlmyr wrote: post #73

I was surprised to see this rise on the front page. Am I the only one who didn't get excited at all by this? When I see a post titled "a browser experiment" from mozilla.org I tend to think I'm going to get more than some wireframes and talk about "busybees". It will be an experiment once some (any) of it has been built. In any case from what I did see in the video I would say: 1) Bookmarks are broken, but removing t…

Concur about use of the word "experiment". I started watching this last night, then realized it was just a dude talking about some crude drawings.

I'd love to switch back to Firefox. Make it as fast and as stable as Chrome, and I will. Until then, Firefox should go back to being called Mozilla...

Re: Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment

#106

Post by zawaideh »

Bookmarks should be replaced by "app/website" drawer that shows up on your homescreen. They are useless when they are hidden in a separate window and you have to always remember to go to them. It is faster to search for them or have the them come up in the amazebar.

Instead if the new tab window provided a list of "installed/bookmarked/recently used" webapps/websites, then it will make the experience of bookmarking a lot more relevant.

Re: Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment

#108

Post by izzydata »

The one thing I find very weird is how this guy designing this and other people are saying "Well, I can't use this for work of course because I have hundreds of tabs open." Wouldn't make so much sense to try and solve that problem in particular? It seems like everyone does this, but it seems worthwhile to ask why everyone does this.

Do you have a tab open because you don't want to lose unsaved data? Do you want a tab open because it is faster switching to that tab than reloading the page? There must be some reason and I believe it can be integrated into a much simpler navigation than looking at hundreds 16 pixel icons squeezed side by side horizontally.

Re: Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment

#109

Post by nsmartt »

Pacabel wrote: post #82
nsmartt wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla is comprised of a lot of different people working on a lot of different things. There are people focusing on various memory and speed issues, but they can't (and shouldn't) allocate all their resources to focusing on just a few issues.

yarou obviously didn't say that they should focus everyone only on reducing Firefox's memory usage and performance problems. I'm not sure how you mistakenly got that impression, because that's clearly not what that comments suggests. The main issue here is that we've been hearing that these problems will be fixed, or even that they supposedly have been fixed, yet they're still present years later. Whatever work is be…

yarou's comment is in response to a presentation about unrelated features, and his/her response suggests knowledge that Mozilla isn't focusing on memory and performance problems.

Many of the memory leaks have been fixed over the years, benchmarks suggest [Firefox can compete with Chrome in terms of speed](www.tomshardware.com/reviews/chrome-27-firefox-21-opera-next,3534-12.html), and Mozilla, realizing their UI still feels sluggish, launched a project (called Snappy) to fight this UI sluggishness.

Many improvements have been made over the years on all counts.

Re: Lightspeed – A Browser Experiment

#110

Post by [deleted] »

Pacabel wrote: post #82
nsmartt wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla is comprised of a lot of different people working on a lot of different things. There are people focusing on various memory and speed issues, but they can't (and shouldn't) allocate all their resources to focusing on just a few issues.

yarou obviously didn't say that they should focus everyone only on reducing Firefox's memory usage and performance problems. I'm not sure how you mistakenly got that impression, because that's clearly not what that comments suggests. The main issue here is that we've been hearing that these problems will be fixed, or even that they supposedly have been fixed, yet they're still present years later. Whatever work is be…

[deleted]
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