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Guide to the new Firefox Version 29, with Australis

Discussion in 'Firefox, Thunderbird & SeaMonkey' started by psaulm119, 2014/04/26.

  1. 2014/04/26
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    Mozilla Firefox is planning a new release of the Firefox browser that has a radically changed user interface (UI), code named “Australis.” This new UI will be released with the release of Firefox version 29, which as of today (26 April 2014) is only days away. It is available now as a beta (http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/beta/). The following is meant partially as an introduction, partially as an FAQ of sorts for Firefox users who are using Firefox 29. The purpose of this thread is to make the new Australis UI of Firefox more livable. If you simply want to dump on Firefox or Australis, please start your own thread.

    Australis is a new look; I have used it since October 2013, in pre-release versions, and it is undeniable that it does take some getting used to. But there are some benefits to it. The major one that I can see for the end user is that the menu options are much more customizable. These options are accessed via the hamburger menu button on the far right corner of the browser window (sometimes referred to as the hamburger menu, as the three lines look a bit like a hamburger). With a few minor exceptions, you can determine which buttons will be in that menu, which buttons will be in the navigation bar, and which buttons won’t be visible at all.

    Changes in UI can be hard to deal with. I still recall the hassle of getting used to working with the new UI of Microsoft Office 2007 (which introduced the Ribbon). It took years, and three 60 day trial downloads, before I got used to it enough to permanently install it on my computer (in point of fact, by the time I got used to it enough to take the plunge, Office 2010 was released, which is what I have on my laptop now). The information below is not meant to imply a firm approval on my part, of all the changes involved in the new UI. But it is meant to make the transition easier. Overall, I'd say I'm in favor of the general direction Firefox has taken with Australis, and I'd rather use Firefox 29 than 28. The user of this newer version of Firefox has much much more ability to customize the user interface of Firefox, than that of any other browser on the market. The only addon I am using that changes the UI, is one that I'd be using with Firefox 28, PrefBar, which allows me to keep bookmarks immediately next to the URL bar. You can see a screenshot of what I’ve done with PrefBar here: http://paulrittman.com/Screenshot.png.

    The first section deals with modifications you can make to the current version of Firefox with Australis. The second section deals with other options, if you decide that you can’t stomach the changes and want to find another browser. The third section is essentially a set of links to discussions that let you see what the thinking was, behind these changes.


    I. WORKING WITH FIREFOX 29

    Where is the Firefox button (that used to be on the upper left corner)?
    It has disappeared. It has been replaced by the (hamburger) menu button, on the far right of the browser window, just below the red x. It is basically three horizontal lines that have a slight resemblance to a hamburger (whoever coined this term has obviously never eaten a triple-triple at In-n-Out). Click on that hamburger menu button, and you will see what has become of the Firefox button and all the options that it gave.

    How do I customize the hamburger menu?

    Click on the hamburger menu; then go down and select Customize. There, the Customization palette opens up. You can drag and drop items from the palette, onto the menu on the right, or onto the navigation toolbar. Likewise, you can move items from the menu onto the navigation bar, and items from the navigation bar onto the menu. Of course, any icons that you don't want, anywhere, can be moved onto the Customize palette. When you are finished with your customizations, click again on the Customize button, which turns green when you are in the Customize mode, and it will take you back to the browser window.

    Keep in mind that some items are not able to be moved. These are the items in the Hamburger Menu that are greyed out (Sign in to Sync, Customize, ?, and Power Off). Also, there are certain items on the navigation bar that can’t be moved either: the front and back arrow, the URL bar, and the stop/reload button. These navigation bar items can only be moved with an extension, Classic Theme Restorer. For more on this addon, see below.

    Where did the Bookmark star go?
    It has been moved from the URL bar, and is now connected to the Bookmarks folder icon; by default it is on the navigation bar. It functions just like it did before. When you are on a site that you want to bookmark, just click the star button. Clicking the other bookmark icon will open up your bookmarks menu.

    Where did the Stop/Reload button(s) go?
    This has been moved to the right side of the URL bar. As part of the URL bar, like the back/forward buttons, it cannot be moved. If you want to modify this, see the Classic Theme Restorer addon, mentioned below.

    Where are icons for my addons supposed to go? Where is the addon bar?
    The addon bar has been removed. You have three options if you want icons for addons to click on: (1) You can install the icons on the navigation toolbar (right next to the URL bar); (2) You can put the icons in the Hamburger Menu, which will allow you to access them after clicking on the hamburger menu button; (3) you can use Classic Theme Restorer to bring back the addon bar, where these icons can be placed.

    If you have a lot of icons in the Menu, a scrollbar will be created, allowing you to scroll up and down the list.

    What if I want the old Menu bar (with the File, Edit, View, History, Bookmarks, Tools, & Help menus)?
    Right-click on blank space on the browser toolbar, and select Menu bar.

    Help! I've played around with some of the customizations and now just want to get it back to where it was when I first installed it!
    No problem. Click on the hamburger menu. Then click on Customize. On the palette that opens up, right to the left of the green Customize button, is one that says Restore Defaults. This will restore Firefox to the exact same way it was when you installed it. Now all this Restore Defaults button will do is restore the settings for the icons (to their default state) of the UI. It will not remove bookmarks, themes, or extensions that you have installed.

    How can I get Firefox looking as much like it did before Australis?

    There is one extension that will help you out more than any other: Classic Theme Restorer, found here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fi...ction_id=8fc4fa17-1c60-4a44-8fed-a9eb7a7adfc8. There are a LOT of options to this, so if you install it, feel free to poke around and see what you can do. Although I used it in the early days of surfing the web with Australis, eventually I got used to the new look and I no longer use it. But with Classic Theme Restorer, you can do the following:

    1. Put separate backward and forward buttons onto the navigation bar, and then move them around.
    2. Put a combined stop/reload button onto the navigation toolbar (currently the reload button is fixed to the right side of the URL bar), and move it around.
    3. Put the old Firefox menu button back on.
    4. Eliminate the curvy tabs.
    5. Restore the Addons bar.​
    and much, much more.

    If you simply refuse to surf the web with a browser that has the Australis interface, your best option would be to continue to use the current version of Firefox, combined with this Classic Theme Restorer. If that doesn’t work, there are a few other options.

    First of all, as Firefox addon developers see Australis, there will be more and more extensions that allow the user to recover lost functionality and the UI of earlier versions of Firefox. There very well might be a slew of them; I will do my best to maintain a short list here, or perhaps a link to a thread or two in another forum that discusses that. But looking for addons at addons.mozilla.org (sometimes abbreviated AMO by Firefox users) isn’t a bad place to start a search.

    A second and more technical option is to use a Firefox addon like Stylish or Greasemonkey (go to the AMO site and search for those two). After installing, you can insert small bits of CSS code that can make changes in the browser UI. I have rarely used either extension, and have no relevant experience going this route, but there are Firefox devotees that are pursuing this. If this sounds like something you would like to try, you can go to the Mozillazine forum (forums.mozillazine.org) and get support there.

    A third option is simply to install another browser, which leads us to the next section of this document….

    II. SWITCHING FROM FIREFOX 29
    Are there current versions of Firefox that I can use that have the old UI?
    Yes, there is one---called Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR). It is available here: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/all/. Now keep in mind that the current version of Firefox (the first one to ship with Australis) is 29. The current ESR version of Firefox is 24. What you would be downloading and installing, would be Firefox 24, but with current security updates installed. Firefox ESR is supported on a seven-release cycle. The next version of Firefox ESR will be Firefox 31 (and then after that, would be Firefox 38). This means that you can use ESR to avoid Australis only until roughly speaking, October 2014. At that point, Firefox ESR 24 would no longer receive security updates, and would update to Firefox 31, which would have the Australis UI. The main advantage of this route is that you would have several months to continue to use an up to date version of Firefox that does not have Australis, and think about your options.

    Can I use this ESR version of Firefox, as well as one that has Australis?
    If you want to keep both versions on your computer, the recommended best practice is to install one version as a portable app (that keeps all of its settings in the installation folder), which you can install anywhere—on a USB drive, on your desktop, or even in your Program Files folder. You can easily switch back and forth between the two versions of Firefox this way. You can download a Portable App version of Firefox 24 ESR, and of Firefox 29, here: http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable. That page has download links to both the latest version of Firefox, as well as the ESR version. The major disadvantage of this approach is that a portable app installation means that you have to use a different profile, which means that all of your extensions, passwords, and bookmarks have to be copied over. For help on that, see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Recovering%20important%20data%20from%20an%20old%20profile.

    Can I just use Firefox 28 (the last version of Firefox not to ship with Australis)?
    No, because Firefox 28 is not going to receive any security updates, once Firefox 29 has shipped. You should only use a browser that is receiving current security updates.

    What about the SeaMonkey browser?
    The SeaMonkey browser has been around for years (a continuation of the original Mozilla Browser suite, before Firefox was formed). From comments by SeaMonkey developers, it appears that SeaMonkey will NOT be adopting the Australis UI. Now the SeaMonkey browser was formed out of the code from the Mozilla browser (the progenitor to Firefox) as it existed in 2005, and the UI of SeaMonkey has not radically changed since then. It might seem a bit old fashioned (although of course, that could be a plus for some). There is one modification of SeaMonkey that disaffected Firefox users can make. One addon creator has created an addon for people who want to use SeaMonkey, but make it look like earlier versions of Firefox. If this appeals to you, you can download SeaMonkey at http://www.seamonkey-project.org. Then install the Sea Fox addon: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/seamonkey/addon/sea-fox/?src=ss

    Aren’t there forks of Firefox?

    Yes there are, but they are typically one-man projects, and I honestly wouldn’t recommend using them as your everyday browser because of security implications. It is simply not realistic to expect these types of projects to be able to patch security holes in their versions of a browser with the same speed and skill that organizations with multimillion dollar budgets can. Additionally, these forks of Firefox are often abandoned (simply not further developed after a certain point in time). By far your best solution is to find a browser that is supported by an organization that can devote the manpower and financial resources required to maintain a secure browser.

    I heard that Mozilla was maintaining a non-Australis version of Firefox 29. Can't I use that?
    No. This was only a short-term project, in the event that the pre-release version of Firefox WITH Australis wasn't ready to be shipped. However, Firefox is shipping Firefox 29 with the Australis UI, and Mozilla hasn't maintained the non-Australis version for weeks now (as of the end of April 2014). It was never released to the general public and over time, just like Firefox 28, will have more and more security vulnerabilities.

    To summarize: if I don't want to use Firefox 29 at all, what would my only options be?
    (1) Firefox 24 ESR
    (2) SeaMonkey



    III. WHY DID THE FIREFOX DEVELOPERS GO IN THIS DIRECTION? WHY AUSTRALIS?

    Here are a few blog posts from the Firefox community explaining Australis, and why Firefox moved in this direction:

    https://blog.mozilla.org/ux/2013/11/australis-is-landing-in-firefox-nightly/

    https://blog.mozilla.org/ux/2013/12/whywhatiswhere/

    https://blog.mozilla.org/metrics/2010/04/23/menu-item-usage-study-the-80-20-rule/

    https://blog.mozilla.org/metrics/2010/04/14/menu-item-usage-study-an-update-to-the-initial-analysis/

    In addition to the comments in the above links, from the perusing of Firefox developer message boards, I've also seen concerns raised (by FF employees) of the older UI being too complicated to develop for ( "a moving target" was a phrase one developer used), in that there were too many factors that needed to be taken into account (because there were too many ways to do too many things). Also, the back, forward, and reload buttons cannot be removed because too many people were removing them (knowing or unknowingly) and then didn't realize how to bring it back--that is why those items are attached to the URL bar and cannot be removed (without an extension).

    One other point that was made in (some of) the blog posts linked to above deals with the 80/20 rule. This is a traditional rule in the business and everyday work world, that has been adapted to UI design, that 80% of the time, you will only click on a certain 20% of the icons and options available. These icons that you most often click on, should be easy to access (available on the navigation toolbar). The other ones, that you click on less often, would be available via the menu option, or even only in the Customization pallete. However irritating such a major UI change might be to Firefox users, the bottom line is that the increased amount of customization that Firefox users can do now, allows us to arrange the 20% of the icons that we use the most, on the navigation toolbar. This wasn't possible in earlier versions of Firefox, at least not without addons.

    In the words of one Firefox developer (Mike Conley):
    "We want *more* users to be able to customize their browser, not less. We want more users to feel comfortable moving toolbar buttons to where they want them, while at the same time, making it harder for them to break the browser." For more reading on Mozilla's goals in rolling out Australis, you can see some comments from Mike in the same discussion: https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/firefox-dev/2013-April/000209.html . Just for the historical record, that post was dated almost a year before Australis was shipped in a Release of Firefox (version 29), in April 2013. And you can see from the date of the earlier blogs (with "Metrics" in the title), just how long a project Australis has been.
     
    Last edited: 2014/04/26
  2. 2014/04/26
    antik

    antik Well-Known Member

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    Good info. Thank you. Appreciate the heads up.
     

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  4. 2014/04/27
    psaulm119 Lifetime Subscription

    psaulm119 Geek Member Thread Starter

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    You're welcome.
     

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