• Narrowed direction and focus for Firefox 3.7 and 4.0 Theme/UI changes

Next Steps:

• Menu item trimming/sorting
• File bugs related to implementation
• Start implementation

Specifics:

Had a lot of great progress this week. The UX team had a chance to narrow focus for future Theme/UI work. This resulted in a very productive design lunch talk by Alex Limi and Alex Faaborg. We also had some great meetings about needed platform capabilities (posted to the Wiki by Alex Faaborg).

We currently have some working directions for 3.7 and 4.0. Not set in stone of course, but a firm direction to start with.

Firefox 3.7:

• Hide menubar by default(on Vista and 7, not XP).
• Sort existing menu items into something like Page/Tools buttons (actual implementation to be determined).
• Move the bookmarks menu item to a bookmarks widget. This can live on the bookmarks toolbar(default) or on the navigation bar.
• Create a home tab. Loads homepage in 3.7 to have expanded functionality in 4.0.
• Combine stop/reload into one button. Optional separate stop and reload buttons in the customization pane.
• Progress “line” under location bar on active tab. At the top of the tab for background tabs.

Firefox 4.0:

• Introduction of “App” tabs
• Combine location bar and search bar (separate location and search items can be customized).
• Tabs-on-top option (possibly left/right as well).
• In bar search “button” with drop down of other types of search.
• Ability to attach stop/reload/go to location bar (TBD).
• Expanded home tab functionality.
• Disable bookmarks bar by default if it has not been altered from default.
• Remove status bar. Create a place for extensions.
• Profile/identity UI.

I have put togther some wireframes to illustrate how this might be handled in various configurations.

In either a tabs-on-bottom or tabs-on-top configuration there are some challenges:

• Can the titlebar and the menubar be shown separately?
• If the menubar can be shown alone where does it go? Can it go in the titlebar?
• How do you handle this on Glass while retaining legibility but without breaking it visually?

Menubar Wireframes (Tabs-on-Bottom)

Finding a way to maintain the large areas of glass is a specific challenge in this configuration.

Menubar Wireframes (Tabs-on-Top)

Aside from hierarchical concerns, adding tabs-on-top has a large focus on vertical space reduction. What is the best way to allow a traditional Menu Bar while retaining that goal?