Just one month ago Mozilla released 3.5 version of its web browser Firefox and just 3 weeks later they have released the screenshots of the next version of Firefox that is Firefox 4.0. The new version as can be seen in the images has a glossy new look that is very different from the previous versions. I must say that Mozilla’s engineers are working very tight as they have quickly managed to get the attention after the release of Firefox 3.5. They released these images at their Wiki. The two images released by Mozilla indicates that they cannot confirm whether the tab are going to be at the top or are going to be placed at the bottom or may be they give users the option to select either ways.
The images also indicate that Mozilla is working to make it more comfortable and compatible to work with Windows 7 that is releasing next year and i can expect that Firefox 4.0 would also be released near to it.
In addition, Mozilla summarizes the pros and cons of the two designs as
Positives:
- Save Vertical Space
- Efficiency/Remove Visual Complexity – Right now the tabs have to be connected to something. So we are adding an extra visual element for them to connect to.
- - Shorter Mouse Distance to Page Controls
Negatives:
- Breaks Consistency/Familiarity – Moving things confuses existing users.
- Title is MIA – With the space removed from the titlebar you only get the truncated version in the tab.
- Longer Mouse Distance to Tabs – Takes longer to mouse to a tab.
- Lost Space – Sandwiched in between the application icon and the window widgets you lose some space.
Here are the screenshots for you
