630682 - Navigation widgets on the add-ons manager should be aligned with Firefox navigation widgets

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Toolkit :: Add-ons Manager, defect)

Description

[Jennifer Morrow [:Boriss] (UX)]

The navigation widgets in the add-on manager (back, forward, advanced options, search) are currently slightly lower than the navigation widgets in Firefox.  For instance, back and forward appear lower and to the right of Firefox's back and forward on all operating systems.  While this placement looks fine within the manager, when switching between tabs it gives the widgets the appearance of jumping slightly down and back up.

The add-on manager's widgets should be moved up so that they align completely with Firefox's widgets.  If the user is using regular rather than small icons, the back button will be bigger than in the manager.  However, if the back arrow aligns it should not be too jarring.

Comment 1

[Luke Iliffe (Harlequin99)]

If I read correctly this bug asks for vertical alignment of the AOM navigation buttons, and bug 617107 asks for horizontal alignment with the AOM categories. 

Shouldn't the general alignment issues be dealt with in a single bug/patch?

Comment 2

[Jennifer Morrow [:Boriss] (UX)]

(In reply to comment #1)
> If I read correctly this bug asks for vertical alignment of the AOM navigation
> buttons, and bug 617107 asks for horizontal alignment with the AOM categories. 
> 
> Shouldn't the general alignment issues be dealt with in a single bug/patch?

The important alignment we should be designing for is lining manager widgets with up with Firefox widgets rather than with elements of the page.  Thanks for pointing out this bug, Luke.  If the manager were being designed to run independently, it's exactly the direction we should be taking.  However, consistency with Firefox trumps independent placement of widgets on this one.  I WONTFIX'd bug 617107.

Comment 3

[Jennifer Morrow [:Boriss] (UX)]

Attachment: Mockup: How offset widgets are in Windows 7 and OSX with differently sized menu widgets, bookmarks bar on/off

This attachment shows how offset the OSX and Windows 7 add-on manager's widgets are for various configurations of menus.

Comment 4

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

I dislike doing such app-specific styling to the add-ons manager as it is meant to be used in a wide variety of applications. I guess though we can do much styling in app-specific stylesheets.

I don't think however we should do different styling based on whether the user is using large or small icons. Pick a single placement and stick with it.

Of course this all falls down when the user re-arranges their toolbars.

Comment 5

[Jennifer Morrow [:Boriss] (UX)]

(In reply to comment #4)
> I dislike doing such app-specific styling to the add-ons manager as it is meant
> to be used in a wide variety of applications. I guess though we can do much
> styling in app-specific stylesheets.
> 
> I don't think however we should do different styling based on whether the user
> is using large or small icons. Pick a single placement and stick with it.
> 
> Of course this all falls down when the user re-arranges their toolbars.

I agree that we shouldn't change the widgets based on ffx button style.  Let's just align the buttons as much as possible (app-specifically), and if one back button's round and one's a rectangle it's not the end of the world.  The "jumping widgets" effect isn't so bad in that case.

If a user re-arranges their toolbar, it's a shame, but their choice.

If we can get as close as we can on alignment for Firefox specifically, it's a win for most users.

Comment 6

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

(In reply to comment #4)
> I dislike doing such app-specific styling to the add-ons manager as it is meant
> to be used in a wide variety of applications.

I don't understand what this means. Are you talking about SeaMonkey here?

Comment 7

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

(In reply to comment #6)
> (In reply to comment #4)
> > I dislike doing such app-specific styling to the add-ons manager as it is meant
> > to be used in a wide variety of applications.
> 
> I don't understand what this means. Are you talking about SeaMonkey here?

SeaMonkey, Thunderbird, any Mozilla based app really.

Comment 8

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

Attachment: Windows 7

As part of this, I also reduced the overall padding of the page to match with the padding of the navigation buttons.

Comment 9

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

Attachment: OS X

(Patch still pending, I just noticed it's off by a pixel on non-Aero themes.)

Comment 10

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

Comment on attachment 555074 [details]
Windows 7

Forgot Boriss is out for awhile.

Comment 11

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

Attachment: Patch v1

Comment 12

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

Attachment: Patch v1.1

Previous patch bitrotted a bit, and ended up being 1 pixel off on Windows.

Comment 13

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

Comment on attachment 565091 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch v1.1

I don't think I agree with this bug -- the "jumping" doesn't really seem to disturb me. I think it makes more sense to style the add-ons manager such that it looks good on its own. This patch only achieves your goal halfway anyway, as those nav bar widgets still look rather different, e.g.: the back button is larger and round on Windows and Mac in large-icons mode; the search bar has a different width; there's a home and a bookmarks button taking up space next to the search bar.

Even if you disagree with the above, a patch for this ought to be limited to the extensions manager. about:permissions looks broken with this.

Comment 14

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

Now invalid, as we no longer hide the navbar as per bug 752434.