The release of Firefox 3 is expected to be later this year, and with it will come new features and possibly even a new look. The user interface just got revamped last fall for the release of Firefox 2, so are Firefox users ready for another change?
I’m a huge advocate for change and never get tired of seeing something new, but what about all of the people who like to keep things the same? I guess they can just stick with the older versions of the browser, but I think that Mozilla needs to make sure that they don’t lose focus of the simplicity that people often associate with Firefox.
With that being said, below are some mockup images for what Firefox 3 might include later this year when it is released. I’m excited to see the tagging system make its way into the bookmarks, and I can’t wait to see how close the final product stacks up to these mockups.
- Bookmarks and Tagging
I already gave you a glimpse of what Mozilla was tossing around for a bookmarking system that also supports tagging, but this is a new look that is a little more extensive. I think that I would agree with everything that is implemented in this screenshot.
- Saved Searches and Bookmarks Sidebar
With the new bookmark system comes a new sidebar. One that is complete with Saved Searches feature, which can be used to provide one-click access to any search or to common items like "Recently used Bookmarks." Seeing that I’m a sidebar freak, I give this ten-thumbs up (well, if I had that many thumbs)!
- New Malware Warning
If the previous method for notifying you of a suspicious website didn’t work so well, then this is sure to catch your attention:
- New Program Handler
A huge thumbs up for this one! Firefox will list all available programs that are compatible with what you’re downloading. So say you’re opening an iCal file, which is used to subscribe to an online calendar, it will ask what program/service you want to use with it.
- Visually Enhanced Domain Name
I think this might be good for the sake of security, but some people will definitely want to disable it. Removing the website icon from the address bar is a big no no though.
- Private Browsing
This is a cool feature for those who use other people’s computers, because in one-click it will prevent Firefox from storing their information. So now they are looking at ways to notify users that they are in a private browsing state, but I think the second option might be a little too drastic?
Judging by the comments on the article there are a lot of people excited about the new release. However, there are also a few individuals concerned with Mozilla losing site of simplicity. In my opinion Mozilla is just enhancing the things that they already offer in Firefox. Sure there will be some new things added, in this release it is Places, but aside from that Mozilla is just making existing features more usable.
The thing that I’m most excited about, as I previously mentioned, is the new system for managing bookmarks. It seems like it will be quite powerful with the incorporated tagging system, which will make it easier for extension developers to create things that interact with services like Del.icio.us and Google Bookmarks.
Keep your eyes peeled, because there is a lot of cool stuff coming our way in the name of progress!
Thanks to Claus and Jack of all Trades
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Tags: Firefox, Pre-Release, Software, Firefox 3
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I don’t see the above mentioned items as changes but more like enhancements.
It’s not like there is a major change to the UI coming (colors, fonts, graphics, location of common elements).
I think that most Firefox users will be please with the updates.
For the most part, the new UI elements will actually enhance the simplicity of Firefox. For example, a single click on the site icon to bookmark and security warning that are easier to see.
I think that with each release of Firefox the UI becomes more polished and will appear to a broader range of users.
Well I like new look, and I am hoping they would keep it. The way it is purposed makes the whole program seem slick and nice, which I like. It might take a little time to get used to it, but in the long run it shouldn’t be to hard and people should be used to it.
Another upgrade - another painful wait for some of the can’t-live-without extensions to catch up… some never do. Even now I’m running a couple of extensions which aren’t officially supported by FF2.
Also, my Firefox already looks kinda different, I’d hate to have to customize all over again. Check out the screenie (notice the minimize button that’s replaced the close
)
Darn - got chopped off - here’s my stroke of sheer genius again - the minimize button in all its glory…
I like the program handlers a lot. That’s the kind of flexibility every browsers needs.
“Only download this file if you trust IT’S source”
I guess knowing how to spell isn’t one of the required skills a mozilla programmer has to have….
I think some of the stuff is capable of changing the UI quite a bit, such as switching into private browsing mode. Firefox, in my opinion, will look like a more polished browser that is ready to kick butt if they got these kind of graphics in place.
I’m hoping that this kind of stuff will make it into the final release as well, but all I can do is hope. Mozilla has a lot of stuff on their plate that they want to get into that release so I’m not sure if they will have the time to change the graphics around as well.
I hear ya! Some of my favorite extensions (including Gmarks) just got updated but they actually broke in the latest nightlies. I’m hoping that extension developers will start to jump on the update bandwagon a little earlier than in the past, but most of them never seem to get updated until the Firefox release candidates make their way out.
No doubt about that. After seeing this I began wondering why no other browser has ever thought about that. I mean really, Internet Explorer doesn’t even have it and it is so tightly integrated with Windows?
Na, no programmers need to know how to spell. I guess it is technically spelled right, just used in the wrong context.
So at least they know how to use a spell checker.
Again, mixed feeling with the progression of Fx. I like some of the enhancements but yes it getting away from the simplicity that Fx was know for. In some ways I think the ‘market’ for Fx has changed as power users are looking for an alternative to IE that gives them a lot of features. May be Mozilla doesn’t want to lose this market share to Opera. Goes back to a discussion we had here a couple weeks back about a ‘lite’ version of Fx.
The most exciting feature for me is the new bookmarking system. I’ve always liked how Flock and Epiphany had tagging built in…I’m glad Firefox is coming around.
The single-click on the favicon is also huge…Can’t wait!
If you ask me, Locationbar² does a way better job than that proposal of highlighting the domain. You can check it out here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4014
Yeah, there is no doubt that Firefox wants to cater to the Opera crowd as well, because those are very dedicated people. Those are the type of people who go all out to get other people to switch to their browser.
Mozilla will probably start getting enough grief that they’ll also begin making a more lite version of the browser. The coolest thing is if you could pick and choose which features you wanted before downloading, but that would require lots of servers to handle the processing.
I couldn’t agree with you more. The tagging in Flock is very nice and it is something that Mozilla obvioiusly saw as useful. I’m sure we’ll start seeing more things in Firefox that makes interaction with social sites easier. We’re not talking anywhere on the level of what Flock has, but Mozilla will probably make it super easy for extension developers to add services like Del.icio.us, Google Bookmarks, and My Yahoo!.
Then in the future they will probably also do things with other social sites making it easy for developers to interact with live information provided by sites, such as with Digg. While things like this can already be done, Mozilla can make doing it much more effecient so that there are less problems caused by extensions.
Oh yeah, nothing matches up to that Locationbar. I wish Mozilla would just add something like that into the browser instead of beating around the bush to come up with something different.
I think the new UI looks very clean but I don’t think they should make it too complicated.