Form over function
Ben Eficent
annoying. So why would you want to have the Stop button as the
Refresh button on your browser?! The only reason I can think of is
that it looks kinda slick. But if, say, you're on Hotmail and
experiencing the constant refresh bug on a new received message, you
now have to keep clicking the button hoping you'll manage to get a
click in while it's a Stop button.
Want to see the full long link you're thinking of clicking? Well, you
can no longer view it in the status bar. You can no longer right-
click and select properties. You now have to paste it into another
app and look at it there!
Want a new tab? You're options for doing that are getting fewer and
fewer, when it would actually be very useful to be able to be able to
add a new tab next to the currently selected one:
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla-labs-testpilot/browse_thread/thread/ef20f4ef8c5b3c9
Looking for the status bar RSS subscribe button? Too bad.
Want a warning before you exit the program? Well you’re now out of
luck there, too.
I’m all for genuine design improvements, and I think faaborg and co
are doing good things with the doorhanger notifications -
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/Doorhanger_notifications/Design
But, well, I’ve been using the Firefox 4 Betas for some time, and I
find myself lamenting the loss of feature-rich Firefox 3, even if it
was a little less slick. There’s no reason you can’t have your cake
and eat it – the new transitory status messages, bottom-left are a
good example of this. But just culling good features for the sake of
aesthetics is never a good solution.
Alex Faaborg
> But, well, I’ve been using the Firefox 4 Betas for some time, and I
> find myself lamenting the loss of feature-rich Firefox 3, even if it
> was a little less slick.
>
These decisions were made based on the interaction design as opposed to the
visual design. By making the stop button contextual, we can give it a much
stronger visual styling (so that users actually see it), and it is also self
describing since it only appears when it is actually a valid command. The
VCR example isn't directly analogous because the remotes couldn't actually
change their state (being physical), and it also isn't always as obvious
what state the VCR is actually in.
I find myself lamenting the loss of feature-rich Firefox 3
>
Designing for a mainstream audience of 400 million people, and then debating
the changes with a few thousand software developers often generates this
reaction.
-Alex
> _______________________________________________
> dev-apps-firefox mailing list
> dev-apps...@lists.mozilla.org
> https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-apps-firefox
>
Ben Eficent
different buttons different times. Interesting for writers of
instructions: "Click the button to the right of the status bar." And
woe betide anyone who's colourblind!
I can see that the task of designing for such a large, diverse group
of people must be problematic. But I don't think the best solution is
giving them one little button to replace three big ones.
I also have no idea why so many of the most useful features have
simply been removed.
On Feb 22, 6:53 am, Alex Faaborg <faab...@mozilla.com> wrote:
> > But, well, I’ve been using the Firefox 4 Betas for some time, and I
> > find myself lamenting the loss of feature-rich Firefox 3, even if it
> > was a little less slick.
>
> These decisions were made based on the interaction design as opposed to the
> visual design. By making the stop button contextual, we can give it a much
> stronger visual styling (so that users actually see it), and it is also self
> describing since it only appears when it is actually a valid command. The
> VCR example isn't directly analogous because the remotes couldn't actually
> change their state (being physical), and it also isn't always as obvious
> what state the VCR is actually in.
>
> I find myself lamenting the loss of feature-rich Firefox 3
>
>
>
> Designing for a mainstream audience of 400 million people, and then debating
> the changes with a few thousand software developers often generates this
> reaction.
>
> -Alex
>
> On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 7:34 AM, Ben Eficent <beneficent...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > Remember those old VCRs where the Stop key was also the Eject? Very
> > annoying. So why would you want to have the Stop button as the
> > Refresh button on your browser?! The only reason I can think of is
> > that it looks kinda slick. But if, say, you're on Hotmail and
> > experiencing the constant refresh bug on a new received message, you
> > now have to keep clicking the button hoping you'll manage to get a
> > click in while it's a Stop button.
>
> > Want to see the full long link you're thinking of clicking? Well, you
> > can no longer view it in the status bar. You can no longer right-
> > click and select properties. You now have to paste it into another
> > app and look at it there!
>
> > Want a new tab? You're options for doing that are getting fewer and
> > fewer, when it would actually be very useful to be able to be able to
> > add a new tab next to the currently selected one:
>
> >http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla-labs-testpilot/browse_thread/t...
>
> > Looking for the status bar RSS subscribe button? Too bad.
>
> > Want a warning before you exit the program? Well you’re now out of
> > luck there, too.
>
> > I’m all for genuine design improvements, and I think faaborg and co
> > are doing good things with the doorhanger notifications -
> >https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/Doorhanger_notifications/De...
>
> > But, well, I’ve been using the Firefox 4 Betas for some time, and I
> > find myself lamenting the loss of feature-rich Firefox 3, even if it
> > was a little less slick. There’s no reason you can’t have your cake
> > and eat it – the new transitory status messages, bottom-left are a
> > good example of this. But just culling good features for the sake of
> > aesthetics is never a good solution.
> > _______________________________________________
> > dev-apps-firefox mailing list
> > dev-apps-fire...@lists.mozilla.org
> >https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-apps-firefox
Ben Eficent
easily have been addressed in Fx3 by adding something to the status
bar such as 'Previous Session', with options to restore or delete. By
not having one in Fx4, nor any space on the navigation bar, you're
limiting your options. The remaining options - button on about:home,
doorhanger, message in release notes - are not standard solutions to
this standard problem, and all have issues. Even the home tab won't
be on screen most of the time.
Removal of the status bar means a reticence to inform the user, and
reinstatement of status messages happened over after strong voicing by
beta users. It remains hard to see the URL of the link you're about
to click, when web safety experts are constantly urging users to think
before they click.
I understand the desire to evolve Firefox, and I think back to early
software versions in general which seem so clunky now. But I would
still hope function would drive any design decisions rather than
form. I fear you're paintings yourselves into a corner.
On Feb 22, 6:53 am, Alex Faaborg <faab...@mozilla.com> wrote:
> > But, well, I’ve been using the Firefox 4 Betas for some time, and I
> > find myself lamenting the loss of feature-rich Firefox 3, even if it
> > was a little less slick.
>
> These decisions were made based on the interaction design as opposed to the
> visual design. By making the stop button contextual, we can give it a much
> stronger visual styling (so that users actually see it), and it is also self
> describing since it only appears when it is actually a valid command. The
> VCR example isn't directly analogous because the remotes couldn't actually
> change their state (being physical), and it also isn't always as obvious
> what state the VCR is actually in.
>
> I find myself lamenting the loss of feature-rich Firefox 3
>
>
>
> Designing for a mainstream audience of 400 million people, and then debating
> the changes with a few thousand software developers often generates this
> reaction.
>
> -Alex
>
> On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 7:34 AM, Ben Eficent <beneficent...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > Remember those old VCRs where the Stop key was also the Eject? Very
> > annoying. So why would you want to have the Stop button as the
> > Refresh button on your browser?! The only reason I can think of is
> > that it looks kinda slick. But if, say, you're on Hotmail and
> > experiencing the constant refresh bug on a new received message, you
> > now have to keep clicking the button hoping you'll manage to get a
> > click in while it's a Stop button.
>
> > Want to see the full long link you're thinking of clicking? Well, you
> > can no longer view it in the status bar. You can no longer right-
> > click and select properties. You now have to paste it into another
> > app and look at it there!
>
> > Want a new tab? You're options for doing that are getting fewer and
> > fewer, when it would actually be very useful to be able to be able to
> > add a new tab next to the currently selected one:
>
> >http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla-labs-testpilot/browse_thread/t...
>
> > Looking for the status bar RSS subscribe button? Too bad.
>
> > Want a warning before you exit the program? Well you’re now out of
> > luck there, too.
>
> > I’m all for genuine design improvements, and I think faaborg and co
> > are doing good things with the doorhanger notifications -
> >https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/Doorhanger_notifications/De...
>
> > But, well, I’ve been using the Firefox 4 Betas for some time, and I
> > find myself lamenting the loss of feature-rich Firefox 3, even if it
> > was a little less slick. There’s no reason you can’t have your cake
> > and eat it – the new transitory status messages, bottom-left are a
> > good example of this. But just culling good features for the sake of
> > aesthetics is never a good solution.
> > _______________________________________________
> > dev-apps-firefox mailing list
> > dev-apps-fire...@lists.mozilla.org
> >https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-apps-firefox