Slashdot Mirror
Firefox 4 Beta 9 Out, Now With IndexedDB and Tabs On Titlebar
surveyork writes "''Mozilla today officially released Firefox 4 Beta 9 and it's a big improvement over previous betas and a parsec beyond the Firefox 3.6.x experience. At this stage, after months of development, Mozilla developers are clearly nearing the end of this development marathon.' After Firefox beta 9, a beta 10 and a single RC are scheduled (this road map can change, of course). The main features of Firefox beta 9 are IndexedDB and tabs on titlebar (just like Chrome and Opera). IndexedDB allows sites to store data on your computer (with your prior authorization). Tabs on titlebar is self-explanatory. Old-schoolers can always turn on the 'show menu bar' to get their familiar GUI back. Oh, and Fx beta 9 is fast and starts fast. Firefox beta 9 available here and in lots of official mirrors."
Yes, although it's moved to a more logical spot (the URL bar)
The plan you're talking about is Mozilla's post Firefox 4 plan.
Does it have a status bar at the bottom?
If not, then it's still EPIC FAIL.
The status bar is gone for good. Why? Because the developers said so, and like many other decisions, they couldn't care less what the users think and apparently have so much free time on their hands that they constantly look for ways to fix things that don't need fixing. Fortunately there's an extension that adds the status bar back in. Of course it's horrendously stupid that you now have to resort to extensions in order to get back things, like the status bar, that have existed in every browser ever made since the beginning of time. The issue here is not resistance to change. The issue here is removing functionality and actually making things less useful.
Fortunately the stupid and pointless "Tabs on Top" and equally stupid and useless big orange Firefox button in place of the normal menu bar are both optional. However, I have a bad feeling about this, given all the other stupid changes they've made, and I wonder how long it be be until they are forced on us and we will have to rely on yet more extensions in order to have a decent browser.
The more it copies Chrome, the less reason there is to use it, and more motivation to switch to Chrome instead.
I don't even use tabs at the top; I use tree-style tabs. Hopefully they'll still work.
In other news, I do like the status bar being visible. The primary reasons I don't use Chrome are the missing menu and status bars.
One thing that confuses me about tabs on top is that it implies that everything below the tab is associated with that tab. Ok, I get that part. I watched the video by Alex Faaborg and it makes sense.
But I therefore expect that if I rearrange any items below the tab, such as customizing the layout by adding or removing buttons or moving the home button to the right side, or resizing the size of the address bar versus the search bar, that those changes would be limited only to that tab and be sticky for that tab. That doesn't happen and visually it's confusing. All of those elements are grouped underneath the tab and when I switch tabs, the changes are there too. Huh? It's completely counter to what I was expecting and doesn't make sense. The only thing that changes from tab to tab is the text in the address bar.
I would think this would be very important due to the ability to save app tabs. I might want to save an app tab to a specific site and have the navigation toolbar customized a certain way just for that tab.
Note: I'm using beta8 and haven't upgraded yet so maybe this bug has been fixed.
Cory Doctorow talking about cloud computing makes as much sense as George W Bush talking about electrical engineering.
Yes, although it's moved to a more logical spot (the URL bar)
When I hover over a link, there's a few things I'm expecting to see. I want to see the protocol, the domain, and finally the end of the link that would have the actual page/file that the link is pointing to. When the status bar is at the top next to the URL, there isn't enough space to display all of those things. I much prefer the status information at the bottom because the available horizontal space is much larger, and there's a better chance I'll be able to see all the info I need. In that sense, I believe locating the status information at the bottom is much more logical.
there's already an extension to add the status bar functionality back
bite my glorious golden ass.
I'm using Firefox because I prefer it over Chrome and such. I don't want the layout changed every major release.
We are all God's parents.
Because the developers said so, and like many other decisions, they couldn't care less what the users think
Or maybe they do care what users think, but not all users agree with you...?
If your complaint were simply, "I don't like the design," then I think I'd say, "fair enough." But you seem to be complaining that the developers are making design decisions about the project, as though it's somehow improper. Like they're supposed to just take a vote on everything, and literally design by committee? But it's not even that, it's more like you think the developers should cede their own tastes and judgement and do things the way you would personally like them to, and if they don't, then they're committing some abusive act.
Developers need to make decisions, and no, sometimes those decisions won't adhere exactly to your personal tastes. If you don't like the decisions, maybe you could get more involved? Or you could help to create a fork somehow? If all the users are really being alienated by these changes, then it should be possible to get a fork going. A lot of people didn't like it when Mozilla dropped the old suite, and so Seamonkey development has been going on this whole time.
there's already an extension to add the status bar functionality back
But, why remove it in the first place? For a decade or more, the status bas has been useful to check what that link you are about to click on actually points to. Removing it just opens people up to all sorts of things.
To me, that is kinda like having a mod to my car to add back the rear view mirror. I just don't see why removing it in the first place is 'progress' ... I am beginning to fear Firefox may have jumped the shark.
Which is annoying, because IE still sucks, Safari is annoying, and I can't even begin to care about Chrome.
The last cool innovation in a web browser that I actually found useful was tabs. Quite sad, really.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I figure after home 3D flops, next they'll introduce home simulated IMAX wrap-around TV, with a 16:1 aspect ratio. Look for 1280 x 80 netbooks.
Attention zealots and haters: 00100 00100
The status bar can be hidden with two mouse clicks. Were people really having so much trouble with the "View->Status bar" option that the devs needed to take matters into their own hands?
Worse, they knew it was controversial and was going to piss off a lot of people but they did it anyway.
No sig today...
1) You can hide it with two mouse clicks in the current version.
2) It's impossible to get in the new version.
Which of those options makes any sense to you...?
No sig today...