Firefox 29 Beta Arrives With UI Overhaul And CSS3 Variables 256
An anonymous reader writes "Following the release of Firefox 28 just two days ago, Mozilla today updated its Firefox Beta channel to version 29 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. This is a massive release: Firefox Sync has been revamped and is now powered by Firefox Accounts, there's a new customization mode, and the major user interface overhaul Australis has finally arrived. Release notes are here: Desktop and Android."
Of interest to developers: Firefox 29 will feature the first implementation of CSS3 variables. Yes, variables for CSS (15 years later).
New UI? (Score:4, Insightful)
So... It looks like chrome now?
Don't get me wrong... I like the look, but it seems somehow.... unfirefoxy...
Re:CSS sucks (Score:3, Insightful)
No, you don't. Setup your divs, then learn how to use CSS
#container { display: table; }
#row { display: table-row; }
#left, #right, #middle { display: table-cell; }
No tables are required for the infamous three-column layout. This isn't new. You've been able to do this everywhere for more than a decade.
Re:CSS variables? (Score:5, Insightful)
The very existence of SASS and LESS prove CSS needs to be fixed. Introducing variables in CSS is one step in the right direction of making SASS/LESS obsolete.
Re:CSS sucks (Score:0, Insightful)
You don't need tables... As long as you use tables. Thanks, that's really helpful.
Re:New UI? (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason I use Firefox is because it DOESN'T have the horrible Chrome interface. I've run out of curse words to describe my anger at all the interface overhauls over the last few years. MS Office...Unity...Firefox...Windows 8...*cough* Slashdot...
Re:use this extension when you cannot stand austra (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't care what it looks like, I'm just worried about what "rarely used" features I depend on they're going to take away this time.
Re:been using accounts in aurora for a month alrea (Score:5, Insightful)
Fuck 'em both. There really needs to be a method for syncing to a server of one's choice instead of relying on third parties.
Self hosting FTW.
No respect for the HIG (Score:5, Insightful)
These days, interface designers think a HIG [wikipedia.org] should be printed on toilet paper. Browsers now always look "alien" to whatever environment where they're run. Here's a tip, you dolts: cut this "too cool for rules" bullshit. Each system gives you standard windows, standard buttons, standard decorations, standard everything -- use them, always! Regard the HIG as a holy bible! Make the program belong with the system!
Re:No respect for the HIG (Score:4, Insightful)
Tell that to Mozilla, who have been working ceaselessly to get Firefox to behave more like OSX users expect it should behave for years now, not to mention porting it to GTK3 and QT, and slowly trying to use what time they have to improve the Android and Windows 7 releases. They even made a Metro interface that was pretty excellent compared to Chrome just taking over and turning it into ChromeOS.
Some things just don't happen as easily as you'd like. Browsers aren't simple programs, they have their own UI that doesn't fit cleanly into every OS's HIG guidelines. Yes, there are a thousand papercuts left to fix, but don't try to tell me that Mozilla isn't working hard to fix them because I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary. What? You don't like the new tab bar? Then install a skin like the rest of us. Or will you also complain about having to customize Firefox to work exactly the way you want it to?
Re:Countdown to Extinction (Score:3, Insightful)
Holy. I might actually change back to Firefox just to spite you selfish idiots on principle. It's easy to call Mozilla assholes and ignore how much of an asshole you're being yourself. I've been monitoring this "discussion" about Australis for months now, and have learned a lot about it just by osmosis. Now I just tried it out, and I have to say: stop being such a prissy little drama queen.
Australis isn't "changing everything". Firefox was never popular because of it's ancient-looking UI. It won't be impossible to replace the "lost" customizations, someone who cares just has to actually get off their loud-mouthed ass and fucking do it, instead of whining about it and using a third-party browser that relies on Firefox anyway. If you're not going to help out, then stop humming and hawing like an entitled little shit. "Wah! Firefox isn't 100% the way I want it anymore! Wah! I have to install more addons now because I hate all change I dislike like I'm a little baby!"
Christ, I still remember Firefox 3 and this version is more customizable than it was. Just because you have to install an addon to get a toolbar back or swap the placement of a couple of buttons is not the end of the world. Us Chrome users can't change jack shit about the UI. It's like the Twilight Zone listening to you pricks lament all this "loss" instead of pooling your efforts to do what you're supposed to do and make a fucking addon or skin. Australis even makes that easier for you, but all you can do is point fingers at Mozilla while still using a knock off of their hard work.
Re:New UI? (Score:4, Insightful)
Um, he uses Firefox. That entitles him to talk like Mozilla owes him some consideration. The funding Mozilla gets from Google is premised on Mozilla having market share after all - if everyone stopped using Firefox, Mozilla would have no money.
*sigh* (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's a list of all the new UI features I've enjoyed that have come along in browsers since I first used Netscape 2, 18 years ago:
- tabs
- URL autocomplete/history search
- built-in search box (NEXT TO the location box, thankyouverymuch)
- being able to resize a <textarea>
- download manager
... and I think that's about it.
Dear UX/UI "experts" everywhere: the next best thing to an "intuitive" UI is a FAMILIAR one. If you're working on an established product, whenever possible, simply LEAVE THINGS WHERE THE FUCK THEY ARE.
Ask yourself this: if a study was done and it found that 51% of the time that people use sinks, it was right-handed people wanting to turn on the hot water spigot, would that mean that we should start making sinks with the hot water tap on the right? NO! Because 1) we've spent a LONG ASS TIME with this convention, and 2) there would be a LONG ASS TRANSITION PERIOD where people would have to deal with BOTH systems, which would SUCK INFINITELY.
You know the old Abe Lincoln adage, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt?" Well, it's better to leave good things alone and have people thing you're not much of a designer, than to fix it until it breaks and remove all doubt. The best designers (and this goes for many other fields, including I.T. and stage crews) are the ones you don't know are there. Shit should JUST WORK. And then CONTINUE to work.