New Tab Page Proposal for Firefox

By | March 6, 2009 | 15 Comments

After being introduced by Opera in the 2007, most of the other web browsers started to release their own modifications of speed dial. For example: Chrome’s Homepage or Safari’s Top Sites.

Firefox labs has decided to implement a speed dial like feature by default. No, not the on similar to Google’s Chrome home pages.

Some of the features for the new tab window would be: opening a closed tab, recent pages, recent searches and zero-configuration. Another great feature would be “live bookmarks”. I just hope it is going to be integrated as default in Firefox 3.5.

You can/will be able try the test it as well on Firefox 3.1 by installing add-on. Remember, it is for testing purposes only tested, so do not expect it to work flawlessly.

More information at labs.mozilla.com
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  • Kyle

    Surprise, surprise! Next up in Firefox 4.x, built-in RSS reader, notes, and Fox Link.

  • Lomas

    This is not something new…. it was introduced in Opera 9.2 two years ago…

    hard to believe so many Firefox users there seem to be so excited about this feature….

  • Grrblt

    This is actually only vaguely similar to Speed Dial. Speed dial is just 9 static bookmarks (and a search field that is totally unneeded). As much as I like having it there, I absotely think it can be improved on and some of the stuff in this article does that.

    For example, I love that thing about looking in your clipboard and figuring out links. I really wish Opera steals this one.

    The “you usually visit these sites now” feature strikes me as not so useful. I don’t know that I visit sites in a specific order (maybe open them in a specific order, but in that case they’re usually all open at the same time). Having 9 suggestions seems better than just two in this case, even if only two of those suggestions are statistically more likely to be clicked.

  • Tom

    Does anyone know if it is possible to patent/ copyright features so others don’t steal them?

  • Pingback: Nowe(?) ficzery Firefoxa « mQ online

  • TurmsK

    “Does anyone know if it is possible to patent/ copyright features so others don’t steal them?”

    It is possible but software patents are just plain stupid.

  • Foo

    Lol, you guys are comparing 9 static images with this? Hilarious beyond reasoning!
    In your ideal world: Up next, clickable links to be patented O_O

  • Tom

    Foo, I asked is it possible for a software’s FEATURES to be patented. Would you find it hilarious if you worked hard to create something only to find it copied somewhere else? Have you read Vygantas’ excellent article ‘Why It’s Not Enough To Have All The Greatest Features’. If it were possible then a lazier competitor wouldn’t be able to steal the success of someone else.

  • nobody

    yes, you can patent features – and it was opera’ decision not to do so. so dont blame others for ‘stealing’ it.

    better blame opera for not ‘stealing’ features other browser implemented (and not patented). because opera now lacks LOTS of such features, some of them being really wanted by users – like autoupdate (that works, current opera 10′ autoupdate does work for 1 in 5 cases, and that ISNT ‘working), extensions, and various other stuff other implemented years ago.

    please, learn to see a difference between stealing (that is punishable and BAD) and getting inspired (that is legal and is GOOD). firefox got inspired by speed dial and implemented its own version of it. MUCH MUCH better version has to be said..

    if only opera could have done the same, for benefit of its users waiting for years for various features that simply arent there, and cant be added because of no extension support.

  • Foo

    Being able to click a piece of text instead of having to copy paste an url is a feature.
    You still haven’t said anything about how this is a copy of the lame gallery feature of Opera, even the homemade linklist that most people built in Frontpage to use as their startup page is better… It’s like comparing a hole in the ground to a house.

    “Copying is flattery” or whatever the dev from Opera said, don’t remember too well.

    What success? Why shouldn’t someone be able to take lazy barely used idea and actually make something far above it?
    How the heck is it even a “new feature” just because they say they are the first browser that has done it? First in browsers, maybe, first time implemented feature, hardly.
    Should Opera remove their auto-update support? I mean there’s a million apps out there who had it far earlier.

    @Yee Cota
    Btw, why did you link to that ancient post instead of one of the newer ones?
    http://labs.mozilla.com/2009/03/new-tab-page-proposed-design-principles-and-prototype/

    I just have to mention, lastly, that getting Aza on the team is one of the best things to happen for Mozilla :D

  • http://my.opera.com/yeeliberto Alejandro Yee Cota

    Sorry about the lik, I was reading many articles and I copied the old one.

  • Tom

    @nobody- yes, there is a difference between copying an idea and improving an existing one.
    @foo- I never accused anyone of stealing or mentioned any names. I was only asking a question regarding copyright implementation.

  • Foo

    Well, it certainly sounds like you are implying things. As for Opera and copyright, if I remember correctly their opinion is basically what TurmsK said “but software patents are just plain stupid.”

    @Yee Cota
    Happens to the best, no problems there really. Sorry if using “ancient” instead of “old” came of as harsh, didn’t notice until now. :)

  • heh

    I see that “nobody” is out trolling again: “Uh, Opera lacks, uh, features like, uh, autoupdate, except, uh, it has that in 10, so, uh, I dunno what to say. Better throw in some smartass remark to pretend that I have, uh, a point!”

    Is “Foo” the same guy?

    “lame gallery feature of Opera”

    That just happens to be ripped off by everyone else. Sure, they implementation differs a bit from browser to browser, but everyone loves speed dial. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be multiple popular Firefox extensions to emulate it.

  • Foo

    Sorry to pop your bubble, but “nobody” was posting while I where writing. Only a troll or an idiot (or someone disagreeing) would write like that, all it does is lower the credibility of this whole discussion.

    About “ripping off”, what do you expect when there is this white empty canvas that no one has even so much as cared about before?
    There’s Speed Dial and Fast Dial and that’s just about it as for what I can find in less than five minutes, well there’s also this Auto Dial if you want to be pedantic.
    Speed Dial have a total of 3 320 272downloads and Fast Dial have 5 090 460downloads.
    If we use the ratio of active daily users (6 777 703) to total downloads (42 990 880) for Adblock Plus, we get a ratio of 16% rounded up.
    Using that ratio with the previous stats we get 531 244 daily users for Speed Dial and 814 474 daily users for Fast Dial also let’s add the 12 851 active daily users for Auto Dial just for the heck of it.
    That gives us 1 358 569 daily users total, about 20% of that of ABP which IMO is very low for something that replaces a big white space hardly anything I would call something “everyone loves”.

    Damn, now see what you made me do. I picked this nick because I weren’t going to be so serious and now I’ve spent 15miutes writing this up -_-

    Oh, right, and personally I use neither of the above. I mean why use the mouse or some bothersome key-combo when you can just write a letter or two to get to your top hundred favorite sites?

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