402605 - Change name of Firefox 3 M9 to "Firefox 3 Beta 1" for official branding

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

For the release of Firefox 3 M9 we want the browser's full name to be "Firefox 3 Beta 1" to enable side-by-side installs for testers, proper reporting in the press, etc, etc.

Comment 1

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

Attachment: patch - v1

As per bug 343825, change browser/base/content/browser.xul and other-licenses/branding/firefox/branding.nsi.

Comment 2

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

Attachment: patch - v2

After some more research into bug 343931 and related bugs, I noticed I missed a file. This includes the needed change for mac builds.

Comment 3

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

Attachment: patch - v2.1

I decided to download an old 2.0b1 build to look at what it did with regards to branding, and I noticed it had a titlebar of "Mozilla Firefox Beta 1", which makes no sense. I've updated my patch to make it say "Mozilla Firefox 3 Beta 1" in the titlebar instead.

Comment 4

[Mark Mentovai]

Gavin and Beltzner directed me to this bug as it relates to the menu bar string change on the Mac.

beltzner: I'm trying to make sure it does what we expect, which is rename the menubar string and .app bundle from "Firefox.app" to "Firefox 3 Beta 1.app"

That's a mouthful, do you really want to put all of that crap up in the menu bar on the Mac?  The application name in the menu bar should be short, with the application's name only, and without any author/publisher/director/producer and version information.

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGMenus/chapter_16_section_4.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000356-TPXREF134

(Sure, the Apple HIG isn't the authoritative reference it once was, especially with them breaking their own guidelines, but this is one thing that's remained relatively constant and unbroken, both for Apple applications and third-party ones, since the initial release of Mac OS X.)

Comment 5

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

(In reply to comment #4)
 That's a mouthful, do you really want to put all of that crap up in the menu
> bar on the Mac?  The application name in the menu bar should be short, with the
> application's name only, and without any author/publisher/director/producer and
> version information.

Yes, I think I do, and here's why: we want to enable side-by-side browsing so that web developers and our testers can know if they're in Firefox or if they're in the Beta.

I'm more concerned about ensuring that the .app bundle is named differently than the titlebar, I guess, but I don't know if those things are seperable.

> (Sure, the Apple HIG isn't the authoritative reference it once was, especially
> with them breaking their own guidelines, but this is one thing that's remained
> relatively constant and unbroken, both for Apple applications and third-party
> ones, since the initial release of Mac OS X.)

This isn't a final release. It's a beta which is being released in the context of other final releases. Do you not think knowing which of Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 Beta 1 you're using is important for users in a beta testing scenario?

Comment 6

[Mark Mentovai]

That's fine, but the recommendation is to keep names short for a reason.  One is predictable placement of other menu items.  I can switch to any of the apps I've got running now and find the File menu in the same predictable spot.  Another reason is ensuring proper UI when you plug into a projector that only does 800x600 while you've got video mirroring on.  Remember, the menu might be encroached upon from the other side by the clock, the user-switching menu, the battery time remaining, and a number of other icons that may or may not be carrying text along with them for the ride.

You get the side-by-side issue any time you launch multiple Firefoxes today, but I think there are sufficient cues to make it clear which one is running.  For example, this patch accounts for the title bar, and when you're running on Leopard, Firefox 3 will have that pesky extra File menu.  :)

And yes, Firefox does pick this string up from CFBundleName.

Would "Firefox ß" or "Firefox 3b1" or "Firefox Beta" work for you?  I really do believe that the string should be kept as short as possible, and I don't think it's necessary to get the whole version number in there even if you think there needs to be some visual distinction made in the menu bar between the beta and other versions.

Comment 7

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

Comment on attachment 287500 [details] [diff] [review]
patch - v2.1

>Index: browser/app/macbuild/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings.in
>===================================================================
>RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/browser/app/macbuild/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings.in,v
>retrieving revision 1.3
>diff -u -8 -p -r1.3 InfoPlist.strings.in
>--- browser/app/macbuild/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings.in	5 Jun 2007 05:26:33 -0000	1.3
>+++ browser/app/macbuild/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings.in	6 Nov 2007 05:42:58 -0000
>@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
>-CFBundleName = "%APP_NAME%";
>+CFBundleName = "%APP_NAME% 3 Beta 1";

>+CFBundleName = "%APP_NAME% 3 ß1"

Or just remove it entirely. I kinda like the greek beta thing. Very Mac.

Comment 8

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

Attachment: patch - v3

I'd rather be safe and just leave it alone (as Firefox.app). I don't like the use of non-ASCII characters in file names in general, plus I'm paranoid. :)

Comment 9

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

Comment on attachment 287603 [details] [diff] [review]
patch - v3

Yeah, I guess it isn't a regression from what we did for Firefox 2 betas, but I still think it sucks a little for Mac.

Comment 10

[Reed Loden [:reed]]

Landed on GECKO190_20071106_RELBRANCH:

Checking in browser/base/content/browser.xul;
/cvsroot/mozilla/browser/base/content/browser.xul,v  <--  browser.xul
new revision: 1.387.2.1; previous revision: 1.387
done
Checking in other-licenses/branding/firefox/branding.nsi;
/cvsroot/mozilla/other-licenses/branding/firefox/branding.nsi,v  <--  branding.nsi
new revision: 1.8.2.1; previous revision: 1.8
done

Comment 11

[Carsten Book [:Tomcat]]

Verified fixed using Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9b1) Gecko/2007110904 Firefox/3.0b1 and the other platforms

Comment 12

[Grey Nicholson (they/them)]

Bit late for Beta 1 now, but: “ß” isn't beta — it's double “s”; “β” is beta.