Closed Bug 583959 Opened 14 years ago Closed 13 years ago

Allow the user to customize the title bar as a normal toolbar

Categories

(Firefox :: Toolbars and Customization, defect)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
Toolbars and Customization
Platform:
x86
Windows Vista
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED WONTFIX

People

(Reporter: aicitman, Unassigned)

References

(Blocks 1 open bug)

Details

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; Windows NT 6.0; rv:2.0b3pre) Gecko/20100802 Minefield/4.0b3pre ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; Windows NT 6.0; rv:2.0b3pre) Gecko/20100802 Minefield/4.0b3pre ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729)

Now that firefox is able to draw in the title bar (bug 513157) in windows (bug 513162), don't you think it should be utilized? I think it would be very useful to have some common commands next to the firefox button (like all ribbon apps), as well as the title (in the center) (bug 575487 and bug 583905).

Reproducible: Always




There are a few consideration that have to be taken into account:
1)moving down tabs if icons are too big
2)glow around title
3)allowing option to move tabs (as a toolbar button)(see bug 572160)
Blocks: 575487, 583905
Depends on: 513157
1) Icons will have a set size they have to fit:
http://jboriss.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/second_where_placed.png
2) A bigger problem would be the length of the page title conflicting with the number of addon icons
3) Shouldn't this happen by default? With more addons, the tabs should shrink in size.
Depends on: 574454
My personal take on the implementation:

# we shouldn't allow the user to customize the placement of the Firefox button;

# the "tabs" item, if placed in the new title bar, should have a margin-top when the window is not maximized, or when the window is maximized but the taskbar is at the top of the screen, instead of at the bottom;

# the user should be able to customize the title bar as a normal toolbar;

# the icons should be 16x16 or whatever size they have in the mockups, and they shouldn't have the border normal toolbar buttons have;

# edit buttons, such as cut, paste and copy, should be available for the user to use, and they should go gray, if unusable, hopefully simulating, as an optional, the proposed edit tray that has now been dropped;

# we (well, Alex Faaborg, probably) need to re-consider the styling of the buttons in the toolbar. Mr. Henky over at mozillaZine had some ideas about glows and so on (he asked me to make mockups, but I haven't had availability), but it's important to make it a consistent look, and make it pleasant looking.

# the title bar should respect the system settings, as explained in bug #576960.

Other than that, there really isn't much to it. It's probably non-trivial to implement, just like turning the status bar into a normal, slightly shallower, toolbar, but it's pretty straightforward, I think, and would be a major plus for Firefox 4.
Oh, also, making the title bar behave as a normal toolbar, and putting tabs there by default (with the consideration that they have a margin-top when not maximized or when maximized with the taskbar on the top of the screen), should solve the whole problem of making tabs behave as wanted. Putting tabs on the toolbar bellow the title bar and expecting them to go into the title bar from there is just not feasible.
Nice input, Tiago. Personally, I don't see why we need to put icons into the titlebar. Seems like wasted effort for a rather redundant feature. 

I think the FF button should be a draggable item, though. Being able to put it in the navbar would free up space to always have tabs in the titlebar.
I believe icons in the titlebar is good because it saves space, and we'll eventually need that if we are to follow the mockups for the profile manager. AND it will open up new possibilities for add-ons, which were previously closed. All in all, it saves space. Which is good, I think, specially now that we won't have an ever present status bar by default.
Suggestion for interface, allowing user to place tabs into title bar:
In the customize window, there should be a button, that when dragged to a toolbar, looks like flexible space, except, instead of the space being blank, it should say something like "Tab Bar When Maximized and On Top", and the tab bar should go into that space when the customize window is closed (and is in maximized, and tabs are on top). There could even be a window that pops up when trying to add it, asking if it's only when tabs are on top, and if it's only when maximized.
Version: unspecified → Trunk
Blocks: 572160
I seen one mockup wanting to use a quick bar idea to put up cut/copy/paste/print and other widgets up there so it would be nice to be able to move them up there.
Hopefully that will be possible, I guess we'll have to wait and see.
(In reply to comment #7)
> Hopefully that will be possible, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

It's definitely possible. There's only one catch: someone has to do it. I just started teaching myself C++, (I used to do programming in vb.net primarily), and won't be able to write a patch for a major project like Firefox anytime soon. But one things for sure, hoping won't do anything.
(In reply to comment #8)
> (In reply to comment #7)
> > Hopefully that will be possible, I guess we'll have to wait and see.

> soon. But one things for sure, hoping won't do anything.

True, but this is why I said that: bug 574454 comment 17.
About what will happen once the user makes the menu bar visible, while he has items in the title bar, said items will just be placed in the menu bar. In fact, if, in the customize screen, we'll still be displaying the menu bar, even when it's hidden, I think the ideal thing to do is to have the user put stuff in the menu bar instead of in the title bar, and then, after the customize screen is closed, that which is in the menu bar that isn't the menus will simply appear in the title bar, if the menu bar is hidden.

Of course, if the user just presses ALT to make the menu bar temporarily visible, things will stay in the title bar as normal, since it would be weird to have stuff move around and so on.
(In reply to comment #11)
> I think the ideal thing to do is to have the user put stuff
> in the menu bar instead of in the title bar, and then, after the customize
> screen is closed, that which is in the menu bar that isn't the menus will
> simply appear in the title bar, if the menu bar is hidden.
Agree, I have the same thought. In fact,
I'm trying to implement this feature by my extension - HideMenubar4.0
Here is a preview version:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=9789269#p9789269
I've created a new extension to implement this idea.

Personal Titlebar:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=1980071
(In reply to comment #13)
> Personal Titlebar:
> http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=1980071

can someone create a patch based on this extension to fix the bug?
That patch isn't like the mockups, is it? Besides, I'm thinking fixing this bug requires documentation review, to tell add-on developers to create an additional icon for 14x14 or whatever it is. Faaborg is really the one who knows about that.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
No longer blocks: 572160
Please, don't make this a longterm goal. Mark this as blocking 2.0
Blocks: 577769
With tabs in the title bar (bug 572160), this isn't really a viable option anymore.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 13 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
Why not? If, when the tabs are on bottom, we can place small icons alongside the tab strip, why can't we do the same when tabs are in the title bar?
Why do you wontfix this?

Along with maximized state there is a normal state of the window. You might say that it should be left blank so the window should be dragable by this bar.
But I am using wide-screen monitor. I have PLENTY of free space in the browser's title bar. I would like to put there everything from what I have now in Addon bar, so I could turn Addon bar off without losing control.
Even if I put everything from add-on bar to title bar - I would still have free space that I could use to drag the browser's window.
For such people like - please, unmark this bug as a 'wontfix'.
Agreed with Sean's comment above.
I'm using 23" 16x9 monitor and never maximize my Firefox window.
This bug implementation could use all that space in my title bar which is useless at the moment.
So please reconsider the bug status. It will be appreciated by thousands of wide monitors owners I believe.
(In reply to Sean Newman from comment #20)
> But I am using wide-screen monitor. I have PLENTY of free space in the
> browser's title bar. I would like to put there everything from what I have
> now in Addon bar, so I could turn Addon bar off without losing control.

You can put everything in the navigation toolbar, if you have a really wide screen, it wouldn't be an issue.
(In reply to sdrocking from comment #22)
> You can put everything in the navigation toolbar, if you have a really wide
> screen, it wouldn't be an issue.

But in that case Title bar will still be shown, but remain blank. Why? It's a waste of space!
Why isn't this implemented yet? On most Os's, 16x16 icons are just fine when using Personal Titlebar. And tell me this;
I want as many tabs on screen as possible and my bookmarks toolbar visible but that only contains about 30% width of content. What is the best position for the tabs? Full width! The best position for the bookmarks? The titlebar of course! Enabling the bookmarks toolbar as a separate toolbar is just a waste of space.
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