Firefox 3 is scheduled to be finished in the next month or two, and with it users will begin seeing a completely redesigned interface that is tailored to the operating system that they are using. This version of Firefox has already made significant advances in terms of performance, and it seems as though the only thing people have been criticizing in Firefox 3 are the new themes. When it comes down to it there is a different theme available for Vista, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows XP.
Alex Faaborg, the user experience designer at Mozilla, put together a rather comprehensive review of how they visually tied Firefox 3 into the different operating systems. Personally the only thing that I really dislike in the themes is the “keyhole” design for the back/forward button. All of the themes, except for Linux, have this type of button. I find it to be gaudy and not flow well with the other aspects of the themes.
Luckily you can easily ditch the keyhole-styled button by enabling small icons. Just right-click on the navigation bar, choose Customize, and then check the Use Small Icons box. Notice how the oversized keyhole design is nowhere to be found?
I was really looking forward to Aero Glass integration in the Vista theme, but that won’t be happening this time around. For the time being we’ll have to rely on an extension to get that job done, that is until the next version of Firefox arrives:
On Vista we do a great job visually integrating with icons and with our set of secondary windows, although the main window is notably missing support for Aero glass. Users will hopefully be able to get this functionality using an extension during the life cycle of Firefox 3, and we will have glass support added to XUL for the next release of Firefox.
Faaborg even went as far as to say that “Safari 3.1 does a number of [visual] things wrong that we get right.” An example he gave was how the navigation buttons are not grayed out in Safari 3.1 when the window is not selected, which isn’t consistent with some other Apple applications. One commenter who goes by the name Superdotman called Faaborg out by saying:
Apple’s attention to detail is huge. If you see something that seems inconsistent, there’s usually a good reason.
Safari glyphs remain dark because when the window is deselected, they still accept click-through. Finder’s don’t.
Aqua controls are used for webclips because webclips are done with a modal dialog. Inline find uses the appropriate textured controls.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that you guys are trying to integrate more with OS X! Just tone down the ego a bit until you have some more knowledgeable Mac guys to back it up.
Mozilla definitely deserves some credit for being one of the first cross-platform browsers to developer OS-specific themes. I’m curious as to how many of you like the new themes, and how many of you will actually go hunting for a new one to use.
Thanks to “Change” for the tip!
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Tags: Firefox, Freeware, Software, Windows, Browser, Firefox 3, Linux, Mac, Screenshots, Themes
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I’m using MacFoxIIgraphite and I think I’ll stick to it even if Firefox 3 gets a new default theme.
Assuming that it gets updated for the new Firefox.
To me, Superdotman sounds like the typical Apple fanboy “Omg you dare to criticize the Messiah111!?!?!”
Anywho, the XP/Vista themes are HIDEOUS. The huge back/forward buttons are uneccesary. I prefer the Linux theme, flows better.
I’m not sure if they are hideous, but they aren’t as good as they could be. The Linux one definitely looks the most integrated though.
I was disappointed that I couldn’t install the xp/vista theme for linux. I’m not really a fan of the linux theme. :/
Yeah, it would be cool if you could switch between the themes for the various operating systems, but I’m guessing that would mean even more work for them. Then they would have to test each theme on each operating system.
Still ugly compared to IE7. And that is the only downside
WHY DO THEY KEEP ON CALLING IT THE LINUX THEME? It’s a Gnome theme. It looks like crap on KDE. The tabs aren’t even rendered properly. Wonderful for Gnome users, but they should at least ship Mostly Crystal with it for KDE users.
In the Linux “GNOME” theme it uses your current icon set for all icons etc… which is pretty good unlike other OS i think. I can’t say on the KDE problem as find KDE 3.5.x completely disgusting and don’t like using it. KDE 4 is better but i quite like GNOME may that’s because i when from Windows to Linux
I use Windows Vista and don’t like the new theme very much. It looks ok in the screenshots with just the default buttons but I always add the new tab button next to the home button and some extension buttons to the toolbar as well, which obviously don’t fit with the default buttons and the end result is pretty messy.
I’ve previously used a theme called Aquamarine which is pretty similar to the Firefox 2 default theme with brighter colors, but it’s not compatible with Firefox 3 and I doubt it will be updated. I’ll try to find a new theme to use but I’ll probably switch to Firefox 3 full time when it is released because of the new features and better performance even if I don’t like the look of it.
He did make valid points, but he came across as a typical Apple fanboy:\
The part that makes it hideous is the huge back/forward buttons. Why don’t they scrap it or replace it? I’m sure they could do a lot better.
These days I was visiting someone and I noticed how my minimalistic computer settings are boring. That’s why I’m now using Red Cats (Blue Flavor), much more customized, much more me; no default theme will get hold of my computer anymore
The FF3 theme is an improvement over FF2 but a lot more polish is still needed. I don’t think theme developers have any thing to worry about with FF3.
NASA Nightlaunch Theme FTW
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4908
Lately, I’ve just been using backspace and shift+backspace (or mouse gestures) to go back and forward, so I’ve removed buttons from my firefox.
Anyhow, Ubuntu’s looks the best, and Vista and XP both look like ass. OSX is in the middle ground.
I do rather like the Mac and Linux themes. However, both of the Windows themes are terrible. I did not realize Mozilla was capable of making something that horrible. They are ugly on so many levels; the keyhole is stupid, the other buttons are too small, and some of the colors are off. I much prefer the Firefox 2 theme, and I was never a fan of it. They should have stuck with that as the XP theme, as it does work fairly well. For the Vista theme, they would have done well to emulate Blue Ice or something similar.
As for the keyhole, I feel it violates the basic minimalistic principals upon which Firefox was created. Lopsided, it stands out far more than it should; it breaks the tradition of uniformity between the buttons. Also, it removes the option of only having a back or a forward button, which is how some people have it set up. It is not Mozilla-like to take options away from the user. Like a couple of the other new “features”, this is a step in the wrong direction, away from the principals upon which this project was founded. Mozilla is starting to sell out; they want to be all things to all people, to gain as much of the mainstream market-share as possible. By prioritizing new features over stability, security and standards compliance, they are beginning to alienate some of their earliest supporters, to whom they owe all of their success.
I use, and have always used, the “small icons” version of any theme. Default just seems way too big for me even on a 1680×1050 resolution. So the keyhole doesn’t bother me.
That fanboy should at least be glad that Firefox integrates into OSX - even before these new themes Firefox’s top bar would still be relevant to whatever OS one was using. Can’t say the same for any of Apple’s Windows products - Safari and iTunes refuse to integrate with Vista in typical Apple stubbornness. As far as the back button goes its just something different and people will likely get used to it. Apart from me, as the back and forward buttons have vanished from my browser (yes, including the customise box) entirely.
For the ones disliking the Vista theme on Vista: I heard you could get Fx3 to show/use the XP theme if you select compatibility mode in the shortcut startup settings. Can anyone confirm this? (no Vista here)
I must be one of the few who actually likes this theme (in a Windows Classic environment). I agree that the keyhole is violating some rules, but I do understand why they’ve done it. The browser *does* become recognizable visually this way. Since I’m using small icons, it doesn’t bother me when using it either, and I love the small icons compared to all previous Fx themes. Did you guys know that Mozilla hired the company that also did the official Windows icons? (afaik)
As for Linux, I thought I read that the icons will change depending on the flavor of Linux used. Reading the comments, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Also reading these follow-up posts from the Fx guys, it seems I, unfortunately, misunderstood:
* Visual Refresh & Linux (and you?)
http://steelgryphon.com/blog/?p=108
* Giving the penguin a makeover
http://www.beltzner.ca/mike/ar.....eover.html
Frankly, themes quality in Firefox has been going downhill since 1.0, I still miss the first Winstripe. And the only one who feels more or less right is the Linux one, and still I think the previous one was better.
They could claim this is done in name of visual consistency, but they don’t feel “native” at all.
And yeah, what they were thinking with Places? I mean, that should be the default theme in Vista
i guess there are pretty much arguing but the Firefox theme for Vista is looking good that’s the fact, and BETTER than any other Browser there including IE7/8 .. i do modify it a bit with stylish, glasser, smart bookmarks bar and fission extensions
Well, it’s called the Linux theme because that’s what all Linux users see. That’s a very good point you’ve made about it not looking so hot on KDE though.
Yeah, that’s kinda where I’m at as well. The new themes don’t look that great, but the performance is a whole heck of a lot better. For that reason I couldn’t imagine using Firefox 2 anymore.
That’s what I say as well. Unfortunately they wanted to do something that would distinguish the browser from the others, so that someone peaking over your shoulder would know at a glance what browser you were using. They just didn’t pick a very nice way to do that.
Definitely one of my favorite themes, but I’m a space shuttle fanatic.
That never even crossed my mind. I used to remove the forward button all of the time because I never used it, and so that’s a very valid point.
I still think the forward and back buttons look a little silly even when using small icons, but it is much better than normal.
He gave Mozilla credit for designing a Mac theme, but just didn’t want them criticizing details that they apparently didn’t fully research.
With a little work you can even get the Mac theme on a Windows machine, but I’ve read that some things don’t work properly like the scrollbars. So I’m sure it’s possible to get the XP theme on Vista, and visa versa.
It does look nice with that black toolbar, doesn’t it?
If you add Glasser it makes the theme look way better.
I know, and that’s the problem. It shouldn’t be called “Linux”. It should be called “Gnome”.
Oh yeah… any word on when Blue Ice for FFX 3 comes out? I seriously can’t wait for that.
The Linux example you posted is not what all Linux or Gnome users see as it can very by a wide margin in colours and icons and style of tabs and form controls depending on the gtk and icon theme used and Gnome version where you can change colour. 3.0 is not themed by KDE themes as to why it may still be blah after changing KDE them.
examples.
GTK 2.x themes http://www.gnome-look.org/inde.....ntmode=100
Icons http://www.gnome-look.org/inde.....0×121
It seems as though theme developers are slow to update their themes, and so I wouldn’t expect the update until after the browser is released. There aren’t too many good themes out there that work well with Firefox 3 right now.
I did realize that the Linux theme varies based on GTK, which is pretty cool. But as you pointed out Firefox 3 is not themed by KDE which doesn’t make it nearly as exciting. Thanks for the info though!
i dont think the themes are bad at all….