Mozilla Loses Another Lead Personality: Alex Faaborg
Alex Faaborg, a principal designer of the Firefox UI, announced that he is leaving Mozilla.
Faaborg joined the browser maker in 2006 and was a lead designer of the Firefox location bar and the most recent interface change of the browser. He also led the effort on the Sync interface of the addition of the home tab to the browser.
Faaborg's departure follows vice president Mike Shaver, who left Mozilla to join Facebook. Firefox director Mike Beltzner resigned shortly after the release of Firefox 4 for a new position at DownUnder GeoSolutions. Faaborg said that he will do "design work" in an entirely different space, but did not reveal where that will be.
Faaborg is the third key personality to leave Mozilla in less than a year and, while there is still a core team of highly visible people in place, it appears that Mozilla might be changing - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, given the challenges ahead and the need for Mozilla to evolve.
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The FF UI is following chrome's minimalist design. He must be pretty bored and decided to use his design talents elsewhere.
The FF UI is following chrome's minimalist design. He must be pretty bored and decided to use his design talents elsewhere.
They will design it how people want it - if people want minimalist design then thats what they get. If they start changing it in a way people don't like, people will find a browser that fits their needs better.
Pretty simple stuff mate, showing your idiocy on the internet isn't funny or 'cool'.
They're not leaving because Mozilla sucks. They're leaving because they're now famous and experienced enough to work in a larger, more profitable company (FB?). Makes sense!
They will design it how people want it - if people want minimalist design then thats what they get. If they start changing it in a way people don't like, people will find a browser that fits their needs better.Pretty simple stuff mate, showing your idiocy on the internet isn't funny or 'cool'.
NOBODY "wanted" the dumbed down new FF design. At least we don't have to switch from it, we can revert to normal look.
Chrome "minimalist" design means that user have to spend more time to get access to different settings and functions. I've got FF 7.0.1, but it looks and works exactly like 3.6. "Add-on compatibility reporter" helps a lot.
NOBODY "wanted" the dumbed down new FF design. At least we don't have to switch from it, we can revert to normal look.
I'm sure Mozilla will have done a lot more research into what people want from their browser then your 5 minutes of reflective time. What you don't understand is the majority of users aren't power users - from the way current browser trends are going the average user wants security, speed and a clean finish (minimalist). This want will be completely different to what the majority of tomshardware users would want from a browser.
looked nice in screen shots, crap to use, reverted to old style.
Oh no, not another "not all users are power users" troll. GTFO right now.
Wow you really don't like criticism.
You'd have to agree, not all users ARE power users, so why would you dislike it so much? It's a perfectly legitimate observation...
not surprising. Faaborg actually means 'Facebook' in dutch.
Who cares... FF maybe stable once version 21 comes out next week!
I can't wait! Anyone else pissing in their pants?
Please fire Asa Dotzler ASAP!
So this guy gave us the bloated 'awesome bar' and the godawful FF4 interface? Good riddance.
There was a time when Mozilla was the only worthwhile alternative to IE. But now, more companies want to eat from that cake too.
Chrome "minimalist" design means that user have to spend more time to get access to different settings and functions. I've got FF 7.0.1, but it looks and works exactly like 3.6. "Add-on compatibility reporter" helps a lot.
In my experience, that's not so. I have FF as a secondary browser, and I use the default toolbar settings and such, though I disabled addon compatibility checking.
Wow you really don't like criticism.
You'd have to agree, not all users ARE power users, so why would you dislike it so much? It's a perfectly legitimate observation...
Because it's a stupid excuse. You don't have to be a "power user" to know how to use your PC efficiently; most of the people I know loathe Chrome's dumbed down UI. They want the menu bar, the additional panels, etc.
@amk : I don't like Chrome... version 12... when its really version 2.x.
FF-today (because *I* don't know what it is anymore) since version 4.0, its UI is a copy of Opera 10~11.5x. Just look at the screen shots.
IE9 UI is a copy off of FF4, but with stupid elements if IE8 and a tiny stupid URL bar that is mixed with the tabs...
If anything this might give Mozilla a chance to hire someone with a real vision. Firefox UI was okay but nothing spectacular.
Ouch. And in addition to the two other mentioned departures in 2011, Aza Raskin left at the end of 2010. Some big shoes to fill for the current staff. The good news is that Alex is now working on a product I use almost as much as Firefox -- Android.