An Early Look at Firefox 3.7

by Sam Dean - Jul. 22, 2009Comments (5)

Want to take a very early peek at themes for Mozilla's Firefox 3.7 browser? Initial Windows theme mockups for it are now available for viewing via Mozilla Wiki. The mockups come very early in the Firefox 3.7 development cycle and aren't final, but they provide glimpses of the kinds of interface implementations that Mozilla will probably pursue. Version 3.7 is slated to arrive next spring, and here are some of the things Mozilla is working on.

As seen in example #1 below, Mozilla is working translucent, glossy buttons that will "meld with the toolbar," as well as 3D concepts for toolbars. Arrow #2 below points to a Page button that is to be directly connected to the page, at the left side of the tab area. Arrow #3 illustrates Connecting the Tools button to the side of the Window to emphasize the fact that it is used for customizing and changing the UI. Mozilla may add a button next to that to toggle the Bookmarks Bar, which is turned off by default.

Mozilla has also been running an ongoing Design Challenge, aimed at ushering in new interface ideas. As one branch of that effort, the Design Challenge has prompted developers to submit their best ways to reinvent tabs in the browser. Out of 128 submitted concepts, a panel has decided on four Best in Class concepts, as well as a People's Choice award. You can view video demos of the award-winning concepts by scrolling down this page.

Some of the Design Challenge concepts seem to be more focused on looks than anything else, such as Cubezilla, seen at left. Still, tabs are so central to the Firefox experience that it seems like a good idea to explore new concepts. As we've noted before, the functionality in the Ubiquity Firefox extension will also make its way into Firefox 3.7 natively. It allows users to type command line instructions for common tasks. For example, you might type "ema" to pop up a series of email-related tasks you can execute in the browser. There is a video demo of how some of this works available here. and a screenshot of Ubiquity's pop-up suggestions is below.

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by an anonymous user on Jul. 22, 2009

BFD...

0 Votes

by Ronald Carlos on Jul. 22, 2009

The rate at which Mozilla is innovating their browser is amazing. I think it was only 2-3 weeks ago that I downloaded 3.5 and it has been working flawlessly since. Assuming that 3.7 is out in a couple (2-3) months, I don't think there is anyone out there (Google included) that can release .point upgrades at this rate. Microsoft is a whole other story - it takes 2 years for them to plan a product and when it is released the market has already moved onto the next level.

0 Votes

by yonkeltron on Jul. 22, 2009

I am excited about this new release but concerned about the integration of Ubiquity. The last release was a major rewrite which increased the potential quality of commands but it also introduced quite a few problems. The performance has taken a serious hit and numerous UI glitches were introduced. Now, I know that 3.7 isn't right around the corner but if Ubiquity is going to make it in, then the community has a great deal of work to do.

That being said, I could not imagine going back to browsing without it!

0 Votes

by Richard Carmody on Jul. 22, 2009

@anon - it is a BFD you tool. Given that Firefox has pretty much singlehandedly forced Microsoft back into the game and has continued to push innovation is something that should be respected. And, with a rapid pace of innovation, it will continue to keep the Chrome, IE, Opera and Safari (not to mention the several other browsers) honest.

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by an anonymous user on Jul. 29, 2009

@Ronald Carlos

I somehow doubt that 3.7 will be out in just a few months. These things take several months, up to a year.

On the other hand, Google Chrome is soon at version 3...

0 Votes