Skip to content

Firefox 3: Why Tabs Are Upside Down?

Installing the new Firefox 3 was an easy task. The browser seems to work, on a Mac, better than the previous version. Although that, Firefox still has some usability issues. I don’t want to make a complete review but I would like to highlight the first issue I noticed: using the default skin, the tabs are upside down and not linked to the page they refer.

Tabs should be attached to pages. This is not a new idea, as you can see on the picture tabs has been used in this way for ages. When I have doubts about a new design I tend to look for ideas in the real world…

 

Files with tabs

Picture by Takashi

 

The Firefox 3 Approach

I think that Mozilla was just trying to copy the Apple Safari look without thinking if the Apple solution was perfect. In my opinion this tab design is not going to be a problem at all for old users. On the other side it could be troublesome for inexperienced ones: They just don’t notice that those are tabs.

 

Tabs are hanging from the Bookmarks Toolbar:

 Firefox 3 Tabs A

 

Changing tabs:

Firefox 3 Tabs Example

 

Tabs should be linked to the page, not to the menu. A simple mental model…

Firefox 3 Tabs Example B

 

9 Comments

Categories: Bad Design, Tabs, Usability, Web.

By Alexis Brion
— June 17, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Comment Feed

9 Responses

  1. I guess this is true on MacOSX only. I’ve just downloaded FireFox3 for Windows.
    Tabs are attached to pages.

    Regards, Uli.

    Uli — June 17, 2008 @ 6:33 pm —

  2. They may be emulating the behavior of Safari. It’s been a while since I’ve used a Mac, but I seem to recall that the tabs were upside-down in Safari too.

    Jake — June 17, 2008 @ 9:13 pm —

  3. They have been clear that they’re trying to match existing UI elements on each OS.

    Jeff — June 17, 2008 @ 9:21 pm —

  4. Yes, this is Mac only, and copies the behavior of Safari.

    Charles — June 17, 2008 @ 9:48 pm —

  5. Tabs are also upside down in Safari.

    Just finished a (unnecessarily?) long post about tabs, Firefox, and Safari here: http://thingsiknow.net/2008/06/firefox-3-and-the-mac-second-e.html . Sort of a response to this post.

    Robin Yang — June 18, 2008 @ 12:47 am —

  6. Erm, what? It’s supposed to be linked to the bookmarks; which they are.

    website design — June 18, 2008 @ 10:12 am —

  7. I agree totally with you, that’s the main issue for me with Firefox 3, they tried to have the same look as Safari, copying this ugly behaviour. They should have added a new theme and keep the Firefox 2 theme as well.

    Alain — June 18, 2008 @ 6:16 pm —

  8. http://www.takebacktheweb.org/

    Nice theme with tabs attached to the pages

    Marv — July 21, 2008 @ 2:31 am —



Some HTML is OK

or, reply to this post via trackback.

Continuing the Discussion

  1. [...] down tabs concept for years, and it seems to have been an effort to be consistent with the Safari browser [...]

    When innovation goes wrong — July 31, 2009 @ 9:27 am