Mozilla unveiled plans for a radical transformation of the Firefox graphical user interface since 2009, and slowly worked to catalyze the evolution of the UI. The UI redesign is now taking shape, and users can already get a taste of what Mozilla plans to bring to the table
with the Candidate builds for the first Beta of Firefox 4.0 (See the update at the bottom). Offered at the end of June 30, the pre-release nightly build of
Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 features the redesigned user interface according to Mozilla’s plans.
Firefox 4.0 has yet to reach the Beta 1 development milestone, but the early nightly build does come with a new look and feel, as you can see through the screenshot included below. Early adopters will be able to notice immediately that Firefox 4.0’s UI is now tailored to Windows Aero and Windows 7 and Vista, with a new Glass translucency effect.
Major changes also include the repositioning of the tabs. Whereas until Firefox 3.6 the tabs were placed under the Address Bar, they have now been moved on top, per the same model as Google Chrome. Mozilla has even done away with the classical menu, and opted for a Ribbon/Fluent approach, that is already featured by the recent releases of
Opera. Essentially, users will access the Firefox 4.0 menu via the Menu button at the top, with no elements placed on the actual surface of the browser.
Despite the overhaul, it is clear that Firefox’s UI will continue to evolve throughout the development process. When asked what design elements will be changed in Firefox 4.0 Beta 2, Mozilla’s Director of Firefox Mike Beltzner noted: “Great question - we'll be in a better position to answer once we've shipped the first beta.”
Firefox 4.0 Alpha 1 (Mozilla Developer Preview 3.7 Alpha 5) is available for download here.
UPDATE (July 8th): Firefox 4.0 Beta 1 is available for download here.
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