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Firefox 4.0 early screenshots get released

by on28 July 2009

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More UI transparency, eye candy

Today
, the Mozilla development team decided to give another open preview into the future of its highly embraced Firefox browser. Last week, it gave an open preview of upcoming Firefox 3.7 and the various UI design aspects it has embraced. The team is now giving us an inside look at some early brainstorm designs in Firefox 4.0.

At first sight, it seems as if the team is taking some design wins from Google Chrome by implementing more UI transparency in the tab bar as well as two positioning options. Tabs can either be positioned below the address bar as they are now, or they can be placed above it similar to Chrome. According to the development blog, the “tabs-on-top” concept effectively saves vertical space, requires shorter distance to page mouse controls and removes visual complexity as the tabs usually have to be connected to the rest of the window.

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Unfortunately, the drawbacks with this Chrome-like design is that it breaks user familiarity with the classic Firefox layout and some pixel space is lost between the application icon and window widgets.

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The Mozilla team is also working on a combo Stop/Refresh/Go button that will be implemented sooner in Firefox 3.7 and includes a few new features. The idea behind this is that it saves application pixel space by integrating all three actions into a single button. For the visually-oriented type who enjoy eye candy, the button changes colors based on the user’s actions. For instance, typing will turn the button green with a “Go” while webpage loading will turn it into a red "Stop".

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These are all very user-friendly brainstorming ideas and we are pleased that the Mozilla team is maintaining its open frame of mind as usual. However, there is still no solid news regarding any engine-specific features or internal improvements.
Last modified on 28 July 2009
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