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Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top

By | June 25, 2010, 10:02am PDT

Summary: The Firefox User Experience team explains why the browser tabs are on top in Firefox 4.

Your web browser: tabs on top, or below the address bar?

The Google Chrome (top) vs. Mozilla Firefox (bottom, for now) debate rages on, but in a new video, the Firefox User Experience Team explains how they determined the default tab position in Firefox.

The quick take: top tabs aren’t arbitrary, and the change reflects the change of the Web as a whole.

Watch:

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Topics

Mozilla Firefox, Web Browser, Mozilla Corp., Web Browsers, Internet, Andrew Nusca

Andrew J. Nusca is editor of ZDNet and SmartPlanet.

Disclosure

Andrew Nusca

Andrew J. Nusca does not hold any investments in the technology companies he covers.

Biography

Andrew Nusca

Editor

Andrew J. Nusca is an editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet. As a journalist based in New York City, he has written for Popular Mechanics and Men's Vogue and his byline has appeared in New York magazine, The Huffington Post, New York Daily News, Editor & Publisher, New York Press and many others. He also writes The Editorialiste, a media criticism blog.

He is a New York University graduate and former news editor and columnist of the Washington Square News. He is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has been named "Howard Kurtz, Jr." by film critic John Lichman despite having no relation to him. He lives in his native Philadelphia with his wife, cat and Boston Terrier.

Follow him on Twitter.

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RE: Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top
gary47a@... 7th Apr 2011
@allanrockwell@...

1000% agree with you. The FFx designer didn't convince me one iota. If I can't find an addon to move the tabs to the bottom of the window (not just below the bookmarks, then I am reverting to FFx 3.6.
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RE: Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top
rossdav@... 25th Jun 2010
Go for it! Makes total sense! I say don't even allow the previous layout - unnecessary code.
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RE: Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top
Arm A. Geddon Updated - 25th Jun 2010
@rossdav@... And if this was Apple to do that you'd have people screaming here, "they're taking away are freedom!!"

As our resident troll around here would say, "CUE THE DOUBLE STANDARDS!!"

Btw, your idea is a great one!!
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RE: Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top
javajunkie@... 25th Jun 2010
@Arm A. Geddon
It's configurable. That's why nobody is saying that.
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RE: Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top
DeusExMachina 25th Jun 2010
@javajunkie
Um, you might want to reread the original post. It would NOT be configurable.
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RE: Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top
DeusExMachina 25th Jun 2010
Just for the record, Apple DID do it. The original Safari4 beta allowed tabs on top, but they went back to tabs on bottom. I really wish they hadn't but I understand the switch. That said, the video is a bit misleading, since that is not the real issue. The issue was not top v bottom, it was under the address bad v in the title bar. Apple chose to go back to the former method due to overwhelming user complaints. These in turn were due to a number of usability issues that arise from greatly narrowing the title bar.
Firefox gets around this by cheating, and just raising the entire title bar above the whole thing. This results in a huge amount of wasted screen real estate.
As with all things there are trade offs to each approach.

That said, I think that consistency of user interface can be over emphasized, and the beginning of the video is a perfect example of this. I very much doubt that extending conceptual groupings to this extent has any noticeable effect on overall usability.
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RE: Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top
Bob_DaBoob Updated - 25th Jun 2010
After looking at this video, it looks like i will be staying with Firefox 3 for a long time. Firefox 4 is full of nonsense that falls into the category of "making things different just for the sake of being different". Apparently the Firefox Developer motto is "if it isn't broken -- break it."
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If you have to explain it what is the point?
CowLauncher 25th Jun 2010
Good design is obvious.

Tabs on top is kind of like having the light switch for the bedroom out in the hallway.
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Meh
User 13 25th Jun 2010
Either way I don't care as long as I can get mouse gestures working I don't click on the tabs anyway.
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RE: Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top
The Rifleman 25th Jun 2010
So Firefox is ultimately looking to replace Windows Explorer / Internet Explorer now that the Anti-Trust Suit is done. So totally why I do not use a browser!! I don't launch apps of files with I.E. so why would I do it with Firefox?!

I prefer to browse my system via "My Computer" / "Computer" in XP or Vista respectively. I much prefer to "Drill Down" rather than use an Explorer Tree or some other unconventional method.

With a Web Browser, I simply want to browse the Web. I just don't need an over bloated browser trying to be all things to all users. Just let me surf!
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Firefox 4: My most anticipated software update for 2011
Cylon Centurion 25th Jun 2010
Bring on FF4! grin
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cool
CobraA1 26th Jun 2010
cool - Ever since picking up Google Chrome, I've always felt that tabs on top really made a lot more sense - but it's nice to know that it's more than just a feeling - there are justifiable reasons for it happy.
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RE: Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top
jorjitop 30th Jun 2010
This appears to be a ridiculous analysis. When I am within a tab, I tend to operate within the tab and seldom go up to the menu. Just want to be able to open and close tabs quickly and easily.

They do not even address a much bigger issue. As more and more people are using notebooks, and we have been forced to adopt the 16x9 screen format, we no longer have enough height to view most web pages efficiently. But, we have lots of width. So, I use Tree Style Tabs with all my tabs on the side. That is one option Firefox 4 should offer without an add-on.

In a similar vein, the whole title and menu bar takes too much space. To save more vertical height Firefox should integrate the Hide Menu Bar add-on. But, they should also do something to narrow the Title Bar, though that is not even defined as a manageable space.
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down under
allanrockwell@... 19th Mar 2011
I want my tabs at the bottom of the browser, so that it's not "top-heavy", especially that my screen is slightly below my eye's level. And i haven't found how to put them back down, as the add-on has been disabled... sniff.
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RE: Firefox 4: Why tabs are on top
gary47a@... 7th Apr 2011
@allanrockwell@...

1000% agree with you. The FFx designer didn't convince me one iota. If I can't find an addon to move the tabs to the bottom of the window (not just below the bookmarks, then I am reverting to FFx 3.6.

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