Courtesy of Mozilla

Mar 24, 2009 14:50 GMT  ·  By

Back in 2008, following rivals Microsoft and Google, Mozilla set out to customize the white space associated with a new tab opened in Firefox, in order to put the empty screen real estate place to good use to the advantage of the end user. IE8 and Chrome are long offering various options via new opened tabs. In the same manner, the cognitive shield is a potential solution proposed by Mozilla for its open-source browser in the design process of the New Tab for Firefox. Asa Raskin of Mozilla Labs, indicated that the New Tab in Firefox had to offer end users exactly the content/websites they wanted to navigate to, while being as less distracting as possible. It's not really a matter of striking a balance, as it is one of a clear black and white delimitation.

“We believe that the new tab screen should have two main functions: (A) To show you the sites you are most likely to be interested in going to, and (B) to not distract you. That’s the paradox: by design success is when the pages we show are maximally interesting/distracting, but an explicit goal is to not interrupt your flow,” Raskin explained.

Enter the Cognitive Shield. Essentially, Mozilla is struggling to have the contents of the New Tab page in Firefox not disrupt the cognitive flow of the end user. In this manner, the company produced the 8 circles cognitive shield ring design. Each circle will feature a favicon and will permit end users to effortlessly access their favorite website. The Cognitive Shield is now available for download and integration with Firefox 3.1, which has reached Beta 3 stage.

“If you are typing a destination into the navigation bar, then your locus of attention is on the place you are trying to go — so we should stay politely out of your cognitive way. On the other hand, if you are using the mouse then you will probably benefit from the mouse-based navigation aid, so show it,” Raskin added. “Whether you are using the mouse is a good indicator of whether you are in a cognitive flow or not. That realization resolves the paradox: the links are there when you need them, and not when you don’t.”

Firefox 3.1 Cognitive Shield is available for download here.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 for Windows is available here.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 for Linux is available here.

Firefox 3.1 Beta 3 for Mac OS X is available here.

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