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by crazygringo 5152 days ago
For me, this is step backwards, because it breaks existing UI paradigms.

Why is it a good thing for the preferences pane have to appear in a different place from where it does in every single other application on my OS?

And this deliberately confuses application content versus Internet content. Do you have to scroll down to click "OK"? What if it isn't visible? Or should it be labelled "save"? Why learn a new dialog-style interface? And why on Earth does this need to be a tab -- are people going to be tabbing between their stock quotes, news, and browser Preferences tab?
2 comments
mhansen 5152 days ago
I daresay by now users are more familiar with web-based UI paradigms than traditional OS paradigms.

I think they'd spend more time interacting with web-based applications than traditional OS applications.

If that's the case, then Firefox is actually adapting to people's expectation of the UI.

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crazygringo 5152 days ago
I dunno... people still use word-processors, spreadsheets, sometimes e-mail clients...

For me, this still makes as much sense as Excel opening up its preferences as a new spreadsheet, or a 3D rendering program asking you to edit a 3D wireframe to change options. Content is content, application is application -- I don't understand why confusing the two could ever be a good thing.

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idleloops 5152 days ago
While there is room for innovation with web-based UIs, they are just really inconsistent. In fact Firefox sticks out like a sore thumb compared to other apps on my OS. And I find it a real annoyance. That's why there is a niche for a browser like Camino, that feels more native than Firefox on OSX.

When I use MS Windows I really notice this, installers, application control panels, window titles and controls - seem to be all over the place. It's a minefield. Linux desktop suffers this too with different GUI toolkits - QT, GTK etc. There's a part of you that just adapts and gets used to it. But ultimately it's a pain.

Compare the popular web browsers. Despite their convergence, the UI's are quite different.

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gcp 5152 days ago
And this deliberately confuses application content versus Internet content.

This might well be by design. As I understand it's a Mozilla goal to reduce the barrier between native apps and web apps. The Firefox GUI itself is even some sort of webpage (XUL)...

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