UI: solutions that satisfy all usercases

Discussion about official Mozilla Firefox builds
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ferongr
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UI: solutions that satisfy all usercases

Post by ferongr »

I feel sad when reading comments about UI changes (see bug 695482). Why can't Mozilla devs rationally decide on the best solution that will please all usercases, and allow for personalization, instead of putting their egos first?
Last edited by ferongr on November 30th, 2011, 6:52 am, edited 2 times in total.
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mikedl
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Re: The Official Win32 20111130 builds are not yet out

Post by mikedl »

Well, ferongr, we still have .css code and a bunch of people that can make Fx do what you want. :)
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Re: The Official Win32 20111130 builds are not yet out

Post by LoudNoise »

Angst isn't on topic folks. Start a new thread please.
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Omega X
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Re: The Official Win32 20111130 builds are not yet out

Post by Omega X »

Heh, they locked it off. I guess I'll find out sooner or later.
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Binary Alchemist
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Re: The Official Win32 20111130 builds are not yet out

Post by Binary Alchemist »

Dunno... maybe ferongr mistyped the bug number? I cannot locate even a description for bug #694582, but bug #695482 is pinklisted above and matches his comment.

BTW, "... decide on the best solution that will please all usercases." Sorry, that only exists for very trivial problems. Not the case.

Edit: URL styling.
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LoudNoise
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Re: Ui: best solution that will please all usercases.

Post by LoudNoise »

Split off the nightly thread.
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Re: Ui: best solution that will please all usercases.

Post by Omega X »

Ahh, thanks Alchemist.

AFAIK, this is a parity change more than anything.

- Two out of the other four major browsers open the search in a tab and immediately focuses it. (Chrome/IE)
- The other two immediately does the search in the same tab. (Opera/Safari)
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ferongr
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Re: Ui: best solution that will please all usercases.

Post by ferongr »

(Never make posts when sleepy)

"OOB" parity, I have no problem with, but when someone changes something that has been working the same way for years, he/she should at least provide an about:config option that allows the user to return to the previous way something worked. No, options are not "extension territory, that's just a cheap excuse to prevent people from easily changing to the old behavior, making the original change unpopular resulting in a backout. The same happened with "Switch to Tab".
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Cheekeh Munkeh
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Re: Ui: best solution that will please all usercases.

Post by Cheekeh Munkeh »

I'd be happy with a config option, which makes the most sense to me. I never expected one in UI.

Trying to achieve the same thing with an extension requires 1) someone to write it, 2) someone to maintain it, and 3) the user to seek it out. And does Mozilla really want to rely on the often creaky and conflicted add-ons system to restore previous behaviors and other simple things? The UX people probably don't give much thought to it, but other folks might not welcome even more grist for the compatibility mill.

And finally, "parity" is a two-edged sword. I use Fx because I like the way it acts, not because it acts like Chrome, Safari, or what have you. Making it a pale imitation of the others only makes it more likely that I'll use them instead. There are deeper failings in Fx that are tolerable only because other traits make up for them. Remove enough of those traits, and it will become a case of "why bother?"
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Re: Ui: best solution that will please all usercases.

Post by Astrophizz »

Omega X wrote:Ahh, thanks Alchemist.

AFAIK, this is a parity change more than anything.

- Two out of the other four major browsers open the search in a tab and immediately focuses it. (Chrome/IE)
- The other two immediately does the search in the same tab. (Opera/Safari)

FWIW in Opera opening in a the current tab can be disabled by turning off "reuse current tab" in the settings. Also, ctrl+clicking the menu item opens it in a background tab and shift+clicking opens it in a new foreground tab. So there's an option + hotkeys to do different things with the default. It seems like Firefox could do something similar.
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Re: UX: solutions that satisfy all usercases

Post by sabret00the »

FWIW, if I open a search in a new tab, it's normally to be checked after I've finished with the current tab, not midway through reading whatever I'm reading.
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Re: UX: solutions that satisfy all usercases

Post by mattcoz »

sabret00the wrote:FWIW, if I open a search in a new tab, it's normally to be checked after I've finished with the current tab, not midway through reading whatever I'm reading.

I use it both ways, but it makes complete sense to me that the "open in background" preference would apply. I'm fine with them changing the default behavior, what I'm not fine with is them removing control over the behavior. What makes Firefox great is that control.
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Re: UI: solutions that satisfy all usercases

Post by qwerty017 »

While I understand that nothing will work for everyone I was mainly frustrated because it seems to me that they changed how everyone was used to working with the search option and negating the Background Tabs setting because a couple people thought that was how it was supposed to work. The fact that they didn't do any user tests just adds to it. Comment 15 for me just takes the cake in that the answer to a change was to use an extension to change it back. Why not use an extension to make the change in the first place? I mean that why things like Tab Mix Plus still exist.
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Re: UI: solutions that satisfy all usercases

Post by Cru_N_cher »

UI Suggestion: Http basic authentication user/pass input messagebox shouldn't block the whole Browser Interaction (fixed window) ;)
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Re: UI: solutions that satisfy all usercases

Post by patrickjdempsey »

Gah, another search-related change that is for people who only do one search at a time. If I'm researching a topic I may open 5 or 6 related search queries as I go and switch back and forth... but I don't want to have to manually go back to my original article after hitting search. If people can't figure out that the search opened in a new tab, then Mozilla needs to do what they should have done years ago... highlight unread tabs.
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