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Firefox's tablet UI looks promising

Summary: Mozilla outlined some UI choices for Firefox for tablets.

Larry Dignan

By for Between the Lines |

Mozilla's Ian Barlow on Tuesday outlined a version of Firefox for tablets and the biggest takeaway is that the browser isn't merely being ported over.

In a blog post, Barlow, a UI designer for Mozilla, outlined a few key design items for Firefox for tablets. Barlow described the Firefox tablet UI as "an evolution of its phone based predecessor."

Indeed, there are some nice features to ponder. For instance, Firefox for tablets blends in well with the Android 3.0 operating system. Barlow also outlined a tabbed menu for its "Awesomebar," which synchronizes bookmarks, history and desktop browsers.

Barlow added that Firefox is bringing back tabs, something hidden on the phone version, because tablets offer larger screens.

Couple the tablet version with the new Firefox beta for Android and it's clear that Mozilla is stepping up its mobile game.

Topics: Hardware, Browser, Laptops, Mobility, Tablets

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7 comments
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  • Let's hope they add

    a native sandbox mechanism. (Actually, they should do that on all versions). .. just sayin'.<br><br>That aside, it looks good.
    thx-1138_
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Firefox's tablet UI looks promising

      @thx-1138_@...

      Nobody cares about the sandboxing hype except the obsessive geeks here on zdnet. The average user out there would probably care less and not know what you're talking about.
      ScorpioBlue
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Firefox's tablet UI looks promising

    Indeed... looks promising.

    But... "Awesomebar"???? Couldn't they find a grownup to come up with a name for that feature???
    SbySW
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Firefox's tablet UI looks promising

      "RighteousBar"!
      GulleyJimson
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Firefox's tablet UI looks promising

    I am using Firefox on my Acer A500. While I like some of the UI, I still find myself using the built in browser more often than FF.<br><br>One of the biggest issues is that FF on Android 3.1 doesn't do a great job of handling plugins. It identifies that a plugin is needed and leads you to the marketplace to download it, but it never actually showed up in FF. The plugin in this case was Adobe AIR, so we aren't talking some minor tweak from a small player. I have had the same issue with other plugins.<br><br>Other issues are simple things like "where the heck is the back button????"<br><br>FF has not crashed or been unstable. Just doesn't recognize plugins and has some flukey UI issues.
    sbf95070
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Firefox's tablet UI looks promising

    Testing it out on my tablet with the latest alpha build. Very promising!
    Zc456
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Firefox's tablet UI looks promising

    It identifies that a plugin is needed and leads you to the marketplace to download it, but it never actually showed up in FF.<a href="http://sazkove-kancelaree.cz">sazkove tipy</a>
    marco5811
    Reply Vote
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