Firefox 2: Safer, Faster, Better

Ben Goodger

Note

This is a filter of the Firefox2 requirements page. It represents some of the things I find most interesting about the Firefox 2 release. See this blog post for more information.

Background

Firefox's tag line is "Safer, Faster, Better". So far, we have delivered two releases that underline this philosophy. Now we look to Firefox 2, a new user-feature oriented release. Firefox 2 should continue to uphold these pillars, in the following ways:

Safer

Firefox's architecture has always helped prevent users from making the wrong decisions online. Now Firefox 2 actively warns users about shady parts of the web with Identity Fraud Protection.

Faster

Firefox 2 builds on its foundation of efficiency and simplicity with key new features that aid user efficiency when searching, browsing and multitasking.

Better

Firefox 2 has many new features which make it easier to have fun and be productive on the web.

Features

Firefox 2 will have the following banner features: (It goes without saying that a clear migration path for existing data sets is a requirement)

Searching

Firefox 2 will make it easier for users to discover and use the integrated search field to search, and make the ability to customize it to suit their tastes more obvious.

P1: Larger search box

P1: Show text containing the search engine name in "gray/disabled" when the field is empty that disappears when the user focuses it

P1: Make an explicit search button like "Go" that appears to the right and a dropdown that shows search engine choices.

P1: Reduce the work for users adding engines to this field, by supporting additional engine formats (IE7 OpenSearch plugins) and by noticing patterns of usage (frequent form submissions).

P2: Support quick searching using keyword shortcuts in the search box and in the location bar.

P3: User interface for adding, removing and updating search plugins.

P3: Resizable search box

Retracing Your Steps

Firefox 2 will make it easier to add, find and manage bookmarks, and make improvements to history search and navigation. The emphasis is on reducing the overhead to bookmark pages quickly, adding value to the action of bookmarking a page, making finding visited and bookmarked pages easier, and provide sophisticated tools to power users and extension developers to truly customize the capabilities of their browser.

P1: One-click add to default folder from Toolbar. Button for this in default toolbar configuration.

P1: Save a snapshot of bookmarked pages for purposes of receipts, etc. With UI for showing later.

P1: Useful navigation for pages visited very recently (i.e. session history) with "chapter stops", History Menu

P2: Ability to open "recently closed" documents, and restore a previous tab set after starting.

P1: In-page combined bookmarks and history view that appears in flow of navigation. Button to bring up this view in default toolbar configuration.

P1: Useful set of default "virtual folders" populated in the left pane e.g. "Top 10 visited sites" "New Today" etc. Useful "virtual folder" on the Bookmarks Toolbar, too.

P1: Basic title/URL search capabilities

P1: Firefox 1.x parity with Bookmarks Menu and Toolbar capabilities, Live Bookmarks, Bookmark Add/Properties UI.

P2: Ability for the user to construct interesting queries and bookmark them as "virtual folders"

P2 (A/R): Full text search of bookmarked pages (stretch: visited)

P2: API for extensions to provide special container types, page annotations (stretch: search).

P3: Dynamic Bookmark Toolbar buttons (Microsummaries)

Multitasking

Firefox 2 will enhance the user's ability to manage multiple tasks with improved tabbed browsing.

P1: Tabs are "default" for new window open requests

P1: Tabs follow improved close-reselection heuristics

P3: Tabbed browsing scales well when there are very many tabs open allowing the user to quickly switch to another tab.

Being Informed

Firefox 2 will make it easier to subscribe to sites with dynamic content, either through the browser's Live Bookmarks system, or using the user's choice of reader (whether it be a desktop application or a web reader).

P1: Clicking "all kinds" of feed links should result in a preview/ subscription page.

P1: User should be able to subscribe from this page in their favorite client or web reader, or Live Bookmarks.

P1: Clicking the Subscribe button on the toolbar should take the user to the preview/subscribe page or automatically susbcribe them with their default reader based on a pref.

P2: Specialized type handling for different feed types (standard feed vs. video/audio vs. images)

P3: Nice solution for handling pages with multiple feeds.

Being Productive

Firefox 2 helps reduce the barrier between desktop and web applications by providing powerful functionality that had previously only been available to desktop applications.

P1: Spell check for web text areas.

P2: Spell check option for text fields.

Comfort & Convenience

Firefox 2 will have subtle improvements to several areas of the browser that make it "just work better":

P1: Fewer user prompts for the Application Update Service, e.g. no prompt on update, just wait for them to restart on their own time.

P2: Where possible, restore the user's session after a crash or an application induced restart.

Fraud Protection

Firefox 2 will protect users from identity theft and other fraud by alerting them when they visit a site that is known to be suspicious.

That New Car Smell

Firefox 2 will feature an updated visual appearance that instantly tells users they are using a new version of their favorite browser.

P1: Updated icons for the browser window

P2: Updated system integration for Vista

P3: Updated system integration for MacOS X, GNOME

Other Activities and Features

Omitted are features that aid other users such as institutional deployment, extension authors, etc.

4/18/2006