This may be an old school rant but I'm old school so...
There has been a bothersome trend in software in general lately to strip things down. It used to mean that a new version of software contained new features on top of those you already had but lately there has been a push to remove things that are viewed as used by only a small percentage of the user base. Sadly many of those things are used by the more 'advanced' segment of the user base.
FF4 is removing the RSS icon and also the bottom status bar which are the two that irk me. Not just turning off, removing entirely. The status bar functionality has to be restored by a plug-in now, which only serves to bog the browser down. The RSS functionality I'm sure will be the same but again, more plugins to replace what was native functionality.
I fully understand catering to the bulk of the market but this should apply to default settings, not removing features entirely. Default them to off if you want an uber clean interface, don't gut existing features.
I have always avoided Chrome (even with its speed) because I can't stand its UI but once FF4 ships I may just make the leap since really I'm not seeing much difference anymore. (though FF does let me put the tabs back down where I like them) Just a word from one old school guy... if you have features, don't remove them just for the sake of streamlining. Someone out there relies on that... and that someone may just be one more rat that jumps ship.
I'm using FF4b8 and the status bar is in "off", but you can easily turn it on.
It's not removed entirely, it's just hidden. And that's what I love about Mozilla. Even if they remove it entirely, there will always be an extension to put it back.
And that's a thing Google will never let you do with Chrome because they thing they know better about how you use your browser than you.
I'll be impressed if you can find a status bar in Beta 8 since it was removed in Beta 7 ;) There is now an Add-ons bar under tool bars that is used to contain plug-ins that used to sit on the status bar. But the new bar doesn't have the actual status label anymore that shows you what the browser is doing.
Status-4-Evar plugin restores the functionality in the way it should have been done from the start. Make the Status bar a full toolbar, and make the Status Label an element you can drag in and out like every other toolbar element. No functionality lost, no plugins required, native code, and lots of choice for the user.
I don’t really understand why removing the bottom status bar is a problem for you. Firefox will still display where hovered links are pointing to. (I would argue that displaying that information in the address bar is a great solution that’s much easier to understand.)
I also don’t understand why you have a problem with turning the RSS button into a toolbar button that’s not on the default toolbar.
And I don’t understand how you go from that to the conclusion that removing features is always a bad idea.
I really like that the status bar has moved to the address bar. The extra screen space is great. I still have Firefox 3 on my laptop and it feels like there is too much in the way now.
I even like that the menu bar has been rolled up into the Firefox button. There is no reason to display those menus all of the time.
FF4 did not remove the Feed icon entirely, it's been removed from the awesome bar, and defaulted to off, but it exists as a positionable toolbar icon, you just have to configure your toolbar, and add the icon whereever you want to regain access to it. My recommendation for the position is the very right end of the awesome bar, for familiarity's sake.
Thanks a bunch for pointing this out. I was annoyed they removed it but not yet to the point of searching for it (although I did hope for a comment like yours when coming).
> FF does let me put the tabs back down where I like them
I don't understand how putting tabs above the location bar can be equated to stripping the browser down. It just makes more sense, because the location bar is specific to the tab, so it should be contained "within" the tab.
Yeah, they over-lay it on the URL bar now, doesn't work well IMO. There is however no way to monitor individual requests while a page is loading. I.e. you can't see that your favourite website isn't loading because their Ad provider is down.
There has been a bothersome trend in software in general lately to strip things down. It used to mean that a new version of software contained new features on top of those you already had but lately there has been a push to remove things that are viewed as used by only a small percentage of the user base. Sadly many of those things are used by the more 'advanced' segment of the user base.
FF4 is removing the RSS icon and also the bottom status bar which are the two that irk me. Not just turning off, removing entirely. The status bar functionality has to be restored by a plug-in now, which only serves to bog the browser down. The RSS functionality I'm sure will be the same but again, more plugins to replace what was native functionality.
I fully understand catering to the bulk of the market but this should apply to default settings, not removing features entirely. Default them to off if you want an uber clean interface, don't gut existing features.
I have always avoided Chrome (even with its speed) because I can't stand its UI but once FF4 ships I may just make the leap since really I'm not seeing much difference anymore. (though FF does let me put the tabs back down where I like them) Just a word from one old school guy... if you have features, don't remove them just for the sake of streamlining. Someone out there relies on that... and that someone may just be one more rat that jumps ship.