Comments on: Firefox 3.0 Skinning Update

By: David McRitchie

David McRitchie — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:49:03 +0000

Don’t mind the listing of back and forward being combined into a single list with the currently active page being marked accordingly. Would want that drop down on the right side of the total button. And I want the arrows
to be the same size, I put no more importance on one of them vs the other.

The combined history has an advantage if you were dumping all of the items into a listing or into tabs. So that is fine with me, in being able to see everything at once.

What I do object to is the fact that with small icons that it is higher than
a standard 16×16 icon. I also would like to see the distinctive separate
green (/gray) arrows to show if there is anything in that direction (or not).
Green means go — there is something there. The Nightly has this as a little white scroller type arrows in a HUGE blue blob instead of fully formed green arrows. I normally only use the icons to show me if there is something else back or forward, I normally use the mouse or keyboard shortcuts if I’m not sure of exactly what it was.

My specs: (and it had been this way for a while)
Green arrow if something in that direction, gray if nothing in that direction, and a clear vertical (not curved) separation between the two arrows with list scroller on the right side of the pair.

By: Orrin

Orrin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:33:31 +0000

I like the icons but I don’t like that back and forward are now combined. I would normally remove the forward button completely, I rarely ever use it (normally I don’t use back that much either but I find that it is more useful then forward, If I go backward I tend to go a different direction, hence I never use forward).

I’d like it if I could remove the forward button again without removing back.

Thank you.

By: Thomas Stache

Thomas Stache — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:40:02 +0000

Geez, people! Don't forget that this is an open source project. If you can do better, get out your GIMP or Photoshop and lend the pros a helping hand! Designing 111 icons in both XP and Vista flavours is no piece of cake.

By: stuart

stuart — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:51:06 +0000

I’m sure there’s always lots of debate around any new design but I’m disappointed that better native integration with Windows has been discarded. The following link brought great hope that Firefox would look great on Vista and especially this quote: “Visual integration with Windows and OS X is our primary objective for the Firefox 3 refresh.�?
http://blog.mozilla.com/faabor.....tegration/

Personally, I don’t like the new default style. I think it would be fine as an optional skin, but by default the browser should just blend into the desktop and look as native as possible.

By: ChrisJF

ChrisJF — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:34:18 +0000

I think the Home icon should have a white roof to be environmentally friendly to reflect sunlight…lol. People, it is a colour. It’s not that big a deal.

Btw, speaking of unrecognizable icons (re: win-privacy icon) I still have a hard time recognizing the windows New Tab icon. To me, it looks too much like a New Window icon. I can’t really tell that there is a tab in the icon. I think the small shape is major problem with the New Tab icon.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:45:51 +0000

I would recommend that you make the back part of the forward/back button on the Mac a bit smaller. This will reduce the amount of wasted space and still get the keyhole idea across. I think the forward to back relative sizes on the XP is just about right and the Mac on is disproportionately big.

I also think there should be some color on the Mac buttons but this seems to be falling on deaf ears.

By: A.T.

A.T. — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:12:42 +0000

Chris, that’s exactly whatI think/hope. I’m on Mac OS and all the icons are so round it’s hurting my eyes. They are so different from all the other icons on OS X that they have to be temporary icons, otherwise I don’t see where platform integration would be.

By: lfirefox

lfirefox — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:37:50 +0000

Great Look for XP.

Vista is the same?

By: John Drinkwater

John Drinkwater — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:00:43 +0000

A funnier issue with the Main icon is a localisation problem – over in Britain it indicates the switch is in the off position [and probably other countries, but I can’t speak with authority]

By: David Naylor

David Naylor — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:49:56 +0000

All in all I think the XP changes look great. I don’t mind the yellow roof and the stop and reload buttons look much better now that they are a little fatter, to match the back and forward arrows.