Anybody see a Chrome Fox in these pictures? javajolt
(http://img.neoseeker.com/n/7/firefox_4_thumb.jpg)
Fresh off its major 3.5 release for Firefox, Mozilla begun the design phase for version 4.0, as well as 3.7. Both look pretty similar, under Windows 7 at least, so we'll just take a look at the latter here today, for which the corporation has released some drafts. Keep in mind these are for "brainstorming and exploration" only; the final look could be wildly different.
First is presented a couple of ideas for tab placement -- above or below the address bar?
(http://wiki.mozilla.org/images/0/0a/Mockup-4-0-Vista-%28TabsBottom%29.png)
For 'below', a Bookmarks widget (pictured here) is considered as a replacement for the current menu/toolbar implementation, with an option to restore it.
'Above' brings its own complexities:
(http://wiki.mozilla.org/images/7/7e/Mockup-4-0-Vista-%28TabsTop%29-%28LocBarSearch%29.png)
Positives
•Save Vertical Space
•Efficiency/Remove Visual Complexity - Right now the tabs have to be connected to something. So we are adding an extra visual element for them to connect to.
•Shorter Mouse Distance to Page Controls
Negatives
•Breaks Consistency/Familiarity - Moving things confuses existing users.
•Title is MIA - With the space removed from the titlebar you only get the truncated version in the tab.
•Longer Mouse Distance to Tabs - Takes longer to mouse to a tab.
•Lost Space - Sandwiched in between the application icon and the window widgets you lose some space.
The Location Bar is getting its own reexamination; the team proposes a combining of the stop, go and refresh buttons, with more colour and customization likely added later, to these and the progress bar.
(http://wiki.mozilla.org/images/c/c3/Mockup-4-0-Vista-%28TabsBottom%29-%28LocBar%29.png)
All this wouldn't be of much use without some feedback of course, so head over to the MozillaWiki's discussion page (http://wiki.mozilla.org/Talk:Firefox/4.0_Windows_Theme_Mockups (http://wiki.mozilla.org/Talk:Firefox/4.0_Windows_Theme_Mockups)) to let 'em know how you feel about the new Foxy.