296584 - Browser content should have 1px inset border

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 252389

(SeaMonkey :: Themes, defect)

Description

[Dave Frailey]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511 Firefox/1.0.4
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050511 Firefox/1.0.4

The interior borders of the Firefox browser window don't have the 2 (or 3)
pixeles of dark shading that creates the appearance of a recessed (3D) window.

When browsing content with Firefox the impression is that the client window is
raised to the same level as the toolbar and menubar.  In IE, the client window
is "sunken" or "recessed" -- and the horizontal and vertical scrollbars are
recessed as well (e.g. their sliders raise to the same height as the raised
borders).

In Firefox, web content appears to be at the same elevation as the toolbars, and
window borders.  Scrollbar sliders appear to be elevated even higher than the
application borders (e.g. the status bar, link bar, toolbar, etc.).

This may seem a bit picky.  But user interface is one area that MS does spend a
lot of time on and they seem to get right with most of their apps.  To compete
with them, I think you need to spend just a shade more energy in making Firefox
aesthetically correct in this regard.

David G. Frailey, MCSE
Williamstown, WV

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open Firefox
2. Open any web site.
3. The content window appears to be raised to the same level as the application
borders, toolbar, link bar, status bar, etc.

Actual Results:  
Significant irritation.

Expected Results:  
SpecialEffect of the content Window should be "2 - frmSpecialEffectSunken".

Comment 1

[djpohly]

Oh, the good old days of VBA.  Resummarizing.

-> Core / Themes

Comment 2

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

This is a duplicate of an invalid or wontfix bug (because it reduces usability).
 Please find the original and mark this duplicate.

Comment 3

[Dave Frailey]

Give me a 'freakin' break.  One px hardly has a usability impact -- but it sure 
has a significant 'use&feel' impact.

Reaction/attitude like this will keep Firefox in the back seat...

David G Frailey, MCSE
Williamstown, WV

Comment 4

[djpohly]

Bear in mind that Firefox and Mozilla can be used a lot of places other than a
1280x1024 Windows PC screen -- the usability issue could be much more pronounced
on a handheld, for example.  If this look bothers you, you can add the following
to your userChrome.css:

tabbrowser#content {
    border: 1px inset;
}

Bug 252389 comment 2 explains a bit of why Firefox was intentionally designed
without this border.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 252389 ***