The New Look of Mozilla Firefox on 4.0 Version

The Mozilla Company has just released some mock-ups of the new interface of Firefox 4.0. Interesting changes have some Firefox followers excited, but modifications also have some Firefox 3.5 fans speculating doubtfully about the final product. Overall, changes made by Mozilla in any of its products are almost always anticipated by Firefox users who still believe that Firefox is the way to go in internet browsing.

Two mock-ups have been released for the perusal and critiquing of Firefox users. These mock-ups serve as a sneak preview into what to expect with Mozilla Firefox 4.0. The first version shows the classic layout of the address bar with the tabs placed beneath it.

The second version has the address bar with the tabs placed above it. Although this version seems to look cleaner and is a space-saver, the title bar is no longer. All in all, this layout allows for increased vertical space, lessened travel for the mouse pointer to reach the page controls, and enhanced efficiency by eliminating visual clutter.

However, there are also some down-sides to having the tabs above the URL bar. First, people will feel weird first using it since it is not a familiar layout; second, the title bar is gone which makes it strange to use initially; third, the travel distance for the mouse pointer to get to the tabs is much further; and last, there is little or no more space between the window widgets and the application icon.

There are also hints to Mozilla combining the stop, refresh, and go buttons into one key. The main goal of Mozilla is to make the browser more simplistic and reduce the complexity in the functions. It also aims to allow more page space for the different webpage displays to allow users to have a cleaner presentation of website layouts and information.

In general, the new layout of Firefox 4.0 is quite attractive and different. As long as functionality is not compromised (like allowing for long drop-down menus from single icons), this new streamlined look seems quite agreeable, for the time being.