borrows ideas from Microsoft and Google
Recent reports indicate that Mozilla 3.5 has emerged as the most popular browser surpassing the charts for IE7.
The latest updates indicate that Mozilla is planning a major overhaul to Firefox’s interface. The changes will be pushed to customers as Firefox 4.0 and the major release is expected to ship by the end of next year.
The revamp for Firefox’s look and feel will be a two-step process. A part of redesign will debut in Firefox 3.7 and the major release will follow in version 4.0. The plans to tweak the interface has caught the attention of many as it is assumed that open source community will borrow ideas from graphics concepts of Microsoft’s Windows 7 and Office 2007.
The center of attraction for Firefox 4.0 will be “App Button”; it will replace the long existing menus seen in Windows applications. It would replace the idea of a dual-button concept and would appear at the top left of the Firefox window.
Also, Firefox will have something called “tab-on-top” feature that allows users to move tabs on the top of application display, similar to Google Chrome.
It is also being confirmed that users who are uncomfortable with the change can roll back to the conventional menu bar. A public review of Firefox 4.0 is expected to ship in June 2010, and final code in Q4.
Below is a demonstration of an idea for combining the go, refresh, and stop buttons into a single context-sensitive button.
Two main versions are displayed, one showing the tabs beneath the address bar and one with the tabs above it. The tabs-on-top look is nice and clean, and saves space, but eliminates the title bar.
As with the proposed changes to Firefox 3.7, the Firefox 4.0 changes are aiming to reduce interface complexity, increase page space, and hopefully increase clarity for the user while integrating more naturally into Windows. What do you think of the changes? Let us know in the comments.
