346135 - Use icons only on toolbar by default

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Camino Graveyard :: General, enhancement)

Description

[Ben Goodger (use ben at mozilla dot org for email)]

So, pink told me the toolbar is the way it is because "that's the default config for OS X toolbars". OK, but it's still too large for a browser. 

I think you should consider hiding the text by default. 

Like I said in my earlier bugs, pretty much every browser does this now, and users have a good enough command of the buttons they use most often, namely "Back" to be able to figure it out. 

As it stands, a stock Camino needs to have some surgery done on the toolbar by way of the context menu and the customize dialog to make it look as svelte as it does right now on my computer ;-)

Comment 1

[Samuel Sidler (old account; do not CC)]

I can agree with this. If we weren't a browser I could see leaving text labels, but most of the buttons are self-explanatory (there might be a question about "bookmarks"). This is Mike's call though...

Comment 2

[Mike Pinkerton (not reading bugmail)]

let's give it a shot and see how folks react.

Comment 3

[Smokey Ardisson (offline for a while; not following bugs - do not email)]

Although I use the main toolbar like that (and with small icons, no less), I'm not completely convinced it's the best way to start out ;)  Not changing it would keep all of our toolbars consistent in appearance, too.

However, we might want to debate the merits of adding the "Customize" button to the default set while we're messing with toolbar config.  There seem to be a fair number of people who can't find "Customize Toolbar…" in their View menu :P

Comment 4

[Chris Lawson (gone)]

(In reply to comment #3)
> However, we might want to debate the merits of adding the "Customize" button to
> the default set while we're messing with toolbar config.  There seem to be a
> fair number of people who can't find "Customize Toolbar…" in their View menu :P

Agreed 100% with this. There are at least 10 feedback e-mails a week concerned with this topic, which is right up there with spell-check and RSS.

Comment 5

[froodian (Ian Leue)]

AFAIK, no app includes the customize... icon by default.  I know people have a tough time finding it, but maybe the solution is to slim down the FAQs and make the explanation more prominent, rather than add an essentially useless icon.

As I see this bug, the idea is to make the toolbar usable at its default settings.  Users should be able to customize, but they shouldn't *have* to to have a good user experience.  Adding the customize... icon makes them customize, if only to get rid of it.

I'm very hesitant to break the OS standard here (Icons + text), but people are really familiar with the basic browser toolbar buttons at this point, and it'd make the default configuration so much nicer.  We don't even use icons + text in the screenshots on cb.o.  If we're not willing to advertise it, why should we ship like that?

Comment 6

[froodian (Ian Leue)]

Attachment: Makes the main toolbar icon only by default

Just to make sure the talk doesn't die down. ;)

Comment 7

[Smokey Ardisson (offline for a while; not following bugs - do not email)]

Heh, I just discovered a good reason to do this: the split bar looks like utter crap with text (even in a window as narrow as 800px) :P  

(Fixing bug 331330 would help)

Comment 8

[froodian (Ian Leue)]

Comment on attachment 231884 [details] [diff] [review]
Makes the main toolbar icon only by default

Yeah, it really does.

Comment 9

[Nick Kreeger]

Comment on attachment 231884 [details] [diff] [review]
Makes the main toolbar icon only by default

r=me ;-) (That was an easy one)

Comment 10

[Nick Kreeger]

Oh, do we only want to do this on the Browser Window, how about the download manager?

Comment 11

[froodian (Ian Leue)]

Comment on attachment 231884 [details] [diff] [review]
Makes the main toolbar icon only by default

Browser only, I'd say.  The downloads toolbar items aren't immediately recognizable to your average user.  Plus, icon+text isn't ugly as all get-out on it.

Comment 12

[Mike Pinkerton (not reading bugmail)]

Comment on attachment 231884 [details] [diff] [review]
Makes the main toolbar icon only by default

yes, browser only.

sr=pink

Comment 13

[Håkan Waara]

Checked in