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ShareThisFirefox 4 will feature a significantly updated theme on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. In the last few days significant pieces of the new user interface have started dropping in:
- The Firefox button (called Minefield in the development builds) gathers the most frequently used menu options in a single point. The button is now on by default for Windows Vista and 7 users, but off for Windows XP users. For Windows Vista Basic users get the button is displayed in the tab bar. If you prefer the menu bar, just right click on the navigation toolbar and enable it to dismiss the Firefox button.
- Aero Glass interface.
- Customizable tab bar. Introduced some time ago, you can drag buttons to the tab bar at will.
- New bookmarks button, that opens the bookmarks menu and options to show the bookmarks menu and bookmarks sidebar.
- Tabs on top are now enabled by default as explained in yesterday’s video. To restore the classic layout with the navigation toolbar above the tab bar, right click on the navigation toolbar and uncheck Tabs on top.
This is not the end of changes: the status bar is about to be dismissed replaced by a temporary status bar, while extension icons would go to a dedicated movable toolbar.
App tabs, will be an option to make a tab sticky and with no navigation interface as the content in it is expected to be self contained like an email application, an online document editor, or some intranet application. First pieces have already landed but there is no UI to see yet.
Finally, Mac OS X and Linux will also get an important theme update.
Firefox 4 Beta 1 is targeted for sometime in the next couple of weeks with final released expected by years end.
I been looking forward to FF 4 for sometime now, mainly because of the UI, and I like where it’s going.
Can’t wait to give the beta a spin!
Not too thrilled with removing the status bar. Use that for a lot of my extensions (Brief, Greasemonkey, Stylish, WeatherBug, Vacuum Places Database, IE Tab+, Google Cache).
Jennifer Boriss has posted several articles on how to handle the many extensions that place icons in the status bar. The current proposition is that whenever a add-on in installed that requires space in the status bar, a “mini” status bar appears at the bottom of the window to house all extension icons.
See the full post and mockups at http://jboriss.wordpress.com/2010/06/16/removing-firefox%E2%80%99s-status-bar-and-rehousing-add-on-icons-part-3-of-2-wut/
Finally the Firefox 4 beta will be out. It’s been a long time since Firefox 4 has been in the news. Quick quick Mozilla.. can’t wait any longer :D
I am happy to see the status bar go away! It takes to much space, I want to see the web. I like the one in Chrome, but don’t know how to do something similar in FF, I only found this add on, autoHideStautsBar https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1530/
The “app tab” thing seems cool. I’m curious about the status bar and extensions using it…
The one big thing for me is that I can’t move the bookmarks button over next to the home button. The layout makes no sense… why arrows pointing to the right when the sub-menu opens to the left?
I’m fine with the new UX changes, and even with the status bar going away, but the one thing I do sort of miss is no title display. You can still hover over the tab and see the tab’s title, but it’s also nice to see it all at once somewhere on screen at all times (especially when I’m developing, where only some small part of the title string will change, say a version number or whatnot)
The nice part is, I’m sure there’s an about:config I can tweak somewhere to make it come back, and that’s really one of the best things about open source and Firefox, right?
I updated minefield today (3.7a6pre win32) and now the “Help -> Check for updates” item is missing.
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Just press ALT button
Or right click near location bar, and check show menu