Firefox 7 UI Change

Update: First off thanks for the comments. Looks like I missed something, like the fact that I was running Firefox 7 Nightly maximized. Normally I only have the browser window only partial of the screen-width.  But this does bring up an interesting question, why not have everything on one row even if the browser window is not maximized? The first screenshot while a partial screen size, is almost 800 pixels wide which would be for those running 800×600 would be maximized. Just seems like wasted space in that title bar.

While I was trying out the different versions of Firefox to see which ones would allow me to add toolbar icons next to the tab bar, I noticed a slight change on the UI in Firefox 7. The Firefox (or in this case Nightly) button has been placed to the left of the tab bar. Currently the Firefox button is by itself up in the underutilized title bar in Firefox 4, 5 and 6.

Above is from Firefox 5 Beta. Firefox button is isolated on the old title bar. This is the same placement as in the current Firefox 4.0.1 as well as Firefox 6 Aurora.

Below is from Firefox 7 Nightly. Tabs have been shifted up and to the right of the ‘button’. Further the Minimize, Maximize and Close (window) buttons are now to the right of the tab bar.

Have to admit this is a nice change as there is a lot of wasted space currently between the ‘button’ and the window buttons. I suppose this was Mozilla’s solution to no longer using the title bar to display the title of the current tab. Interestingly though, I took a look at IE9, Chrome and even Opera all of them still have the window buttons by themselves on the title bar and like Firefox they don’t make use of the title bar (except Opera which does display the current tab’s page title in the title bar).

8 Comments on Firefox 7 UI Change

  1. Second screen is maximized state. Same view on Firefox 4 and up.

  2. Thanks for the heads up. I’m surprised that I hadn’t heard about being able to move toolbar icons to the title bar. I have some userchrome that keeps tabs in the title bar even when not maximized. Sorry, I wish I remembered who to give credit to.
    /*Setting FF4’s Tabs to Always be in the Title Bar.*/
    #main-window[sizemode=normal][tabsontop] #appmenu-button{padding-left: 8px !important;padding-right: 8px !important;height: 22px !important;}
    #main-window[sizemode=normal][tabsontop] #toolbar-menubar[autohide=”true”]{ margin-top:-20px;
    -moz-padding-start:80px!important; }
    #main-window[sizemode=normal] #navigator-toolbox[tabsontop] > #toolbar-menubar[autohide] ~ #TabsToolbar {
    -moz-padding-start:80px!important; -moz-padding-end:110px!important; }

  3. Go fullscreen with Firefox 4, and you’ll see the same behavior.

  4. saturn744 | June 7, 2011 at 5:20 AM |

    For me, starting in Firefox 4.0 (and also in FF5), the tabs have always shown up next to the Firefox button (as shown in the second screenshot). They only display below the Firefox button (as shown in the first screenshot) when the Firefox window is not maximized. Maybe in FF7 they display next to the Firefox button regardless if the Firefox window is maximized or not.

  5. Been using the Movable Firefox button and Personal Titlebar extensions since 4.0 came out to have ALL of my buttons on the Titlebar, and the TreeStyleTab extension to put the tabs on the left side where they belong…

  6. Well this was silly, just showing two UI changes identical on full screen.
    Opera has had that UI layout since 2008, Firefox came in v4. This year.

    I’d like to know the changes between FF5, 6, 7

  7. Andrew "Hovis" Biddle | July 20, 2011 at 9:59 AM |

    Personally, having the tabs up on the bar kind of annoys me. I totally appreciate the efficient use of space, but now it’s difficult to “grab” the window to move it around (I really like the new window management tricks in W7, and they necessitate grabbing the title bar with the cursor).

    My personal workaround has been to add blank spaces to my Firefox UI bar with the UI customization, so that I have somewhere to grab it easily. It works pretty well for me.

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