eWorld.UI - Matt Hawley

Ramblings of Matt

Netscape 8 BETA

March 3, 2005 23:15 by matthaw

Get Netscape 8 BETA, or wait FireFox 1.0, no it is Netscape 8 BETA…or is it FireFox 1.0 – hmm, boy, just what I want to do, get Netscape which roots from FireFox…glad they can rebrand their products successfully. Reading the release notes indicates that it is truly that, just a rebranded FireFox browser (sure, with some added features – what about putting those into FireFox!)…see for yourself.

Side thought – didn’t Netscape have their own search engine at some point? Now they’re using Google’s search engine. Personally, I think Netscape as a product in entirety is merely just a brand that’s dying. Live long Netscape they say – nah, FireFox’s name sounds cooler.

Okay, back to Nutscrape 8 – ohh boy does this thing look like the MSN browser, thank goodness for skins…

Nutscrape8

So as you can see, it breaks all the normal windows user interface guidlines just like Apple does with iTunes. Yippie! Now I can learn a completely new way of surfing the internet, or just closing the application down. Note these oddities:

1. The main menu is on the right hand side.
2. The search section is in the middle, with only the option to search Netscape (Google?)
3. The location bar is small and on the right hand side of the search.
4. Where’s my STOP button!
5. The “Personal Toolbar” is pretty sweet, but  getting rid of it makes the browser look like crap.

So yeah, what are they thinking? Seriously? “Lets build a better browser than IE” – haha, right, thats not going to happen with this crap. Your thoughts? BTW, I’m promptly removing this rechid thing after this post is done. Ohh, thats now, good…



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Comments

March 3. 2005 23:44

Google (yes Google) for "Brand Necrophilia".

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March 3. 2005 23:55

I agree with the above comments, but from a joe blow regular user's point of view, nobody cares about interface guidelines. As long as it looks "fresh", "pimped" or whatever you want to call it, ordinary users will use it. Marketing has something in it.



Although personally, I still prefer the standard UI look and I'm really annoyed by beveled edges, gradients, and blinking lights.

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March 3. 2005 23:57

That's where I disagree. If the general user interface strays from the 'norm' as we so like to call it, most users will feel out of place and get frustrated with the application easily. Thats why abiding by standard guidelines is so important in windows applications. Yes, this means abiding by Microsoft standards, but you know what, its not such a bad thing after all.

Matt Hawley

March 4. 2005 00:23

That's what I mean, and ordinary users do not realize this. Let me know if I'm out of touch with the times, but from my experience with these types of users, they prefer fancy skinned interfaces because they look cool to them. Just go to any windows xp theme site (e.g. themexp.org, skinbase) and check out the top-rated skins to see what I'm referring to. I'm aware of user interface guidelines and the benefits of adhering to them, but I'm not sure if those principles are timeless or if they do change with the collective consciousness. Surely, Microsoft had spent significant resources studying these guidelines, but sometimes the decision to take advantage of them are overridden by other factors within the company.

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March 4. 2005 00:38

Using your example, the users visiting ThemeXP aren't your "mom" or "pop" users, they're advanced users that understand how things work and enjoy making things look different. The problem is that most "advanced UI designs" adhere to the select few users (like us) who can handle such a drastic change in how their applications work.



Take for example, my grandmother (pushing mid-70s) just got a new computer. Her old one was about 10 years old and running Windows 95. She was easily able to "upgrade" her skills to use Windows XP because the UI design of all her general applications had remained in tact from what she originally learned.



That's the key...the fact that this is how it has been, and how it should be is so important. You go start changing things now, and users will get frustrated, or worse, unwilling to use your application. I agree, that some UI changes are pretty awesome, however its too much too late. If we as developers are to change the way our moms, dads, and grandparents use applications we build, we need to gradually bring them over or not at all.



Now, all of this is relevant to Netscape, because that is what the "older" (and I'm using this term loosely in the sense that everyone that was apart of the 80% usage rate of Netscape years back) crowd is familiar with. You tell my grandma that Netscape 8 is just to be released, and she'll recognize that brand because she used Netscape 3 & 4 for so many years. FireFox or Internet Explorer are dormant terms for these users because they've never had a reason to use them, until now. However, if you throw Netscape 8 onto my grandmother, you're darn near going to scare her, and by her merely using IE will make her feel most comfortable.

Matt Hawley

March 4. 2005 00:46

I can remember Windows 3.1 users here using the Hot Dog color theme *by choice*, combined with that 256 color balloon background tile on a 16-bit display.



Ugh.



And for some reason that Netscape toolbar picture reminds me of Epcot Center's vision of "the future".



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March 4. 2005 10:41

I like the way you can switch individual sites to display in either the IE engine or the Firefox engine - first time I've seen this done

Martin

March 24. 2005 02:40

Typical Mozilla - Hotrod browser - ugly theme

Why they don't just put a clean looking theme on

something I'll never know.  Another botched job.



Dan

March 30. 2005 03:07

I for one, find the blue default interface unreadable.

Usability is one thing, but accessibility is an entirely new level.

Dyslexics often change colours in order to better read the text. The words can "swim" so you can't read them. Bizarre as it may sound, simply by changing colours (or wearing glasses of a particular tint) the words stabilise on the page.

It is not just dyslexics - other mental disabilities or mental illnesses benefit (or suffer) from colour issues. Ever been "blue"? Manic depressives often have a "happy colour". Blue might not be it.

People with ADD/ADHD also benefit from colour therapy - there are calming colours and there are colours which make you crazy.  Everyone is different.

Personally for me, blue is NOT MY COLOUR.

I would like to see a traditional UI which uses my system colours. After all, I chose my system colours for a very good reason. A reason that needs to be respected.

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March 30. 2005 21:53

I like Netscape Browser 8.0 Beta, I like the Netscape Comet theme it comes with.   Right now I am using Netscape Browser 8 Beta as my default browser.  You can make the the location (URL) bar larger in custimize.  You can add Google Search to the search bar by downloading Mozdev's Mycroft Top 30 at downloads.mozdev.org/mycroft/MycroftTop30.xpi">downloads.mozdev.org/mycroft/MycroftTop30.xpi .  You can move the location (URL) bar to the left of the search bar in custimize.  You can make Netscape Browser 8 Beta default the rendering engine to "Netscape" (Gecko). I have made Netscape Browser 8 Beta set to default sites to the "Netscape" (Gecko) Rendering engine.  I like that you can change it to the "Internet Explorer" (Trident) rendering engine when I need to.  I prefere "Gecko" over "Trident", but I'm glad the choice is there for sites that require Trident.  I like that requested pop ups open in new tabs instead of windows.  There are a few bugs in Netscape Browser 8 Beta, but Netscape Browser 8 Beta is currently my favorite browser with Mozilla Firefox in second place.  I think that this is Netscape's best browser they have ever made.  

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