Comments on: Theme Review

By: WalterK

WalterK — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 17:44:32 +0000

Today the folders are back to being yellow. But I have to agree with James on how much I liked the way the blue folders opened when they were expanded / moused over. I just hope they can change blue to yellow colors, but leave all other aspects of the folder image the same.

I use small buttons, and they are not of the same quality (yet) as the regular ones. The two buttons I have problem with are Reload and Home. While Reload colors appear too dark with not enough shine compare to Back/Forward, the main problem that the button is missing a few pixels on the left – the left-most side of the blue circle looks cut off. The same is true for the large version of the button, but it’s less noticeable. My take on the Home button is the same as most others have – it’s too dark and it looks like it bleeds a bit.

On the plus side, I like the new blank doc icon

By: James

James — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 12:24:13 +0000

The XP icons (as described in a Microsoft design guide) become *more saturated* on mouse over. They don’t just brighten.

It seems that the Firefox designer created the “bright” icons for the mouse-over state, then made them pastier for the regular set, possibly with something as crude as a translucent white overlay. The upshot is that, in their usual state, the icons seem lifeless and washed out. They actually don’t look too bad against your darker background, but they look weak against any of the Luna styles, and even against the classic style with default colours.

The recent tweaks have fixed the smudgyness of some of the icons, so I’d say that rather than looking as though Firefox has been left in the rain, it now looks as though it’s been left in direct sunlight… which is an improvement. The super-combo-buttons on the address bar and search box still need work though (I can barely distinguish the borders of the buttons), and as you say, the blue folders are grotesque (what’s that dark blue smear?).

By: Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 11:05:36 +0000

The menu bar thing is the way IE does it. Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer actually present their menu bars differently. When it was submitted it matches Windows Explorer though.

– Chris

By: rakaz

rakaz — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 10:51:20 +0000

Firefox 2 theme updated…

I was in the process of finishing the second instalment of “More theme problems for Firefox 2�? when I read that the new Firefox theme received a big update. Time to investigate……

By: Richard Jenkins

Richard Jenkins — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 10:27:35 +0000

The good thing about the new reload button is that it’s more representative of what’s actually happening – you end up where you started. It’s like a circular progress bar.

By: James

James — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 09:20:08 +0000

I really like how the folders open when you mouse over them! The reload button immediately bothered me. I think it’s because all the other buttons are squared and it’s rounded. Sometimes you just have to live with things for a little while until you appreciate them, though. I actually like it more now that I’m writing about it.

By: gandalf

gandalf — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 09:13:24 +0000

I really don’t like the new home and reload icons. Those are two most important ones, because those are the two ones that are ALWAYS active. When you launch a browser, and see the default start page, all other icons are grayed out. Then, the user will also see the back button active. In result those three (reload, back, home) are usually the only ones that are not grayed out for the user.
And look at the colors of those three buttons. Does it make the “unique” theme that would be nice for the user and make the Firefox recognizable?

I summarized my thoughts here: http://groups.google.com/group.....7f06ff058d

By: tahlyn » New theme for Firefox 2 updated

tahlyn » New theme for Firefox 2 updated — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 08:25:59 +0000

[...] The new theme for Firefox 2 (version 2 is still in beta) is coming along nicely. A few things to work out, but still nice. Check out a mini-review of the upcoming Firefox 2 theme over at Robert Accettura’s Blog. [...]

By: Richard Jenkins

Richard Jenkins — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 07:28:42 +0000

Yeah, I agree about the blue folders. I’m glad they’re going to be changed.

The fact that the menu’s highlight extends to the full height of the bar (try moving a large toolbar button next to the help menu) has annoyed me so much I’ve fixed it myself with userChrome.css.

I’m not sure what you mean about the gradient mouseovers. Mine look different to your screenshot so I assume it depends on the theme you’re using.

Regarding the contrast issue with the Go & Search buttons, I think the outlines should be much darker when the mouse is over them and perhaps a little darker when it’s not. The search engine select dropdown doesn’t look quite right either.

Other than that, I agree that there’s been a big improvement over previous versions.