Firefox Mobile, which has been seriously in the works since at last October, is finally starting to take shape. In the video below, Aza Raskin, head of user experience at Mozilla Labs, goes through some prototype concepts for the user Firefox Mobile’s user interface. Raskin, the young founder of Songza and Humanized, was hired by the Mozilla Foundation in January.
The user interface shown in the video is a working prototype and will change, but there are some worthwhile concepts—some borrowed from Apple, some borrowed from Firefox. The mobile browser is built for a touch screen and allows scrolling with a flick of the mouse like on the iPhone (although it is single-touch, not multi-touch). The need to type is minimized by displaying any number of pre-defined buttons at appropriate moments, such as “search Google”, “send email,” and “map this.”
Firefox Mobile Concept Video from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.
The mini Web page takes up the entire screen until you pan across to reveal the control buttons (back, forward, bookmark, page info). You can “throw” the page and zoom out to see all your open tabs/pages arranged in thumbnails like the Expose feature on Apple desktops. And you can always add more tabs or pages by clicking on a big plus button.
I like the direction this is going. (So does Greg Kumparak at MobileCrunch, who says it “rocks my face off”). Mobile browsing needs its own metaphors and vocabulary of interactions that are suited to small devices with no keyboards or poor ones. Pan, throw, zoom, one click, and you should be done.
Developers can download the open-source code, or play with an online demo.
♥♥ ♥♥ ♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥ ♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥ ♥♥ ♥♥
I like to use firefox browser!!
http://www.tallchat.com , has many people there talk about some technical problems!!!!
Some interesting aspects but it’s pretty poor overall. It’s just not as elegant as iPhone.
Wow, this is really great!
Great stuff. It’s really time for better mobile browsers beyond the iphone.
Yes!! Firefox (i mean Fennec
) trumps Safari yet again! hehehe… I didn’t think it could be.. but I want this browser on my IPT yesterday!!!! hehehe.
I just know this team will even improve on this 10 fold… as if that’s possible.. but you know what, this team will be able to do just that. I’m excited.
this a great site could you please post information at http://www.ibontv.com
That’s awesome.
Why don’t we try to get Firefox tabbed browsing down before moving to mobile?
Looks cool.
Looks really interesting. Anyone else notice that it is designed for touch screen? Does that mean non-touch screen phones (like Blackberry’s) are out of luck?
Not a bad thing, but telling about the future of phones…
This looks very promising and was more advanced and simple than I would of though. This is something that I would use now in its current form. Opera and IE on mobile devices is cumbersome and something that I use as a last resort.
Ill be on the lookout for the beta release.
@DaveS - it’s just early concept, the graphics, colours, animations, etc. are nowhere near what they would be in final release. I can imagine this being much more elegant than the iPhone once final touches have been applied…
I think back is the most common action, so the pan to the right should automatically do back button. It also naturally mimics the common metaphors (going back to the previous page, as in flipping the pages of a book).
It would be better to see if there is an extended gesture that can bring up the forward, bookmark and other buttons. Like pan and hold maybe? Multi touch would solve this pretty easily, since back can be similar to scrolling on the Macbook trackpads (enabled using two fingers).
They could use a pop-up menu - if you ‘click’ (push down) and hold it, a circular menu comes up, then you move your finger over the icon (back, forward, bookmark, etc.) and release to activate it… A lot like the controls for Full Throttle worked.
I had been wondering why firefox was not mobile. Usually wondering while browsing with Opera on my BB. I am sure what was shown will not work with a BB but I am sure my next phone… with android will run it! Oh wait, will this compete with android… I don’t think so! Could it be one in the same?
this is really great!
It seems that they are a long way out. I’m quite happy with my Opera. It will take a log of convincing to have me consider switching.
innovative
They are actually working on prototypes for both touchscreen and non-touchscreen devices simultaneously, and there’s mockups for both:
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/User_Experience
It looks great. They done big work. I hope to see it on my gadget very soon.
I think Ubuntu Mobile includes a custom mobile version of Firefox. Will that code be incorporated into this release?
http://www.ubuntu.com/products/mobile
But what can you “browse” on a screen the size of two postage stamps?
Seriously. I have a smartphone with 3G and Opera and all the rest, but I’ve never managed to do anything remotely productive fiddling with it. And it’s not for want of trying. So what are you guys, with your little Nokia screens and even littler buttons, actually doing?
Until mobile *content* adjusts for mobile devices, the user experience of the mobile web will continue to suck donkey balls.
That said, this is a good use of a zui to put lipstick on the piggy, and good on Aza Raskin for carrying his father’s ideas into the real world some more.
The two main concepts which must be embraced with this mobile browser in my opinion are: (1) K.I.S.S. and (2) Open Platform. Launch a base browser which allows for kinetic scrolling, tabbed browsing and requires as little memory as possible. (That’s the K.I.S.S. part.) Open platform will allow for what will come next to meet user needs. Just as water will find its own level, Firefox found its own path - with as many branches as was needed. Allow this mobile browser to do the same. Remember, as an open source mobile browser Firefox is not in competition with Skyfire. Keep the kitchen open.
How the page zoom out to get out and get to a new page is to pan right.
Why don’t you pinch in / out to move on to another page instead?
to me, panning looks somewhat unclear.
How I cannot wait for this when it finally gets released. If it is anything as good as the PC version, It’ll wipe the floor with the rubbish browser bundled with my Nokia N95
The link “play with an online demo” ( http://aza.googlecode.com/svn/.....atial.html ) has the look of ScreenPlay ( http://www.symbian.com/symbian.....nplay.html ).
It will be GREAT to run Firefox on the N95 - can’t wait!