Save Firefox's Go button!

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JAB Creations
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Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by JAB Creations »

I know these forums concentrate on web development though I think it's important that I bring some attention to something design related: the attack against critical GUI components that ease every day computing for the less tech savvy.

Two critical points in regards to design are consistency and ease. The extension-like behavior that is being forced on Firefox 3 users will effectively remove the GO button unless you make a change in the address bar but that would reduce ease by forcing you to make two actions. For that reason (Vista's lame excuse: organize menu in Windows Explorer with the two-click versus XP's one click cut/copy/paste buttons) on top of crappy gaming performance is why I'm staying with XP. It was claimed to be removed because it was clutter...right and the gas pedals in cars, those are clutter too? A 25x25 sized button must have been taking up considerable space if the has-to-be smaller (but not really) star button replaces it. This breaks consistency: most normal people don't know what the star button will do, hell do most people even use bookmarks to begin with?

Any way vote for common sense, vote to save Firefox's Go button!
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=405461
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shiznatix
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by shiznatix »

Well I cast my "vote" (not sure what that really means) so I hope it helps. I like the go button. I say keep it.
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pickle
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by pickle »

Sorry, you're not getting my vote, though I won't begrudge you wanting to keep that button. Personally, I find that button useless & a waste of space - I'm annoyed that I can't get rid of it as it is.

I'm sure it's useful for some users, but I'll let them vote for it :?
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arjan.top
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by arjan.top »

when you type in url go button is shown, not the star :wink:

When you are on some page then you can bookmark it with a star

EDIT: I have beta 3
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JAB Creations
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by JAB Creations »

I guarantee you that people hit the go button to reload without re-sending post data easily in to the hundred to one or greater ration then they bookmark pages. Seriously, how many bookmarks do you have? We're talking about changing the behavior of a browser with something that should be left strictly to extensions. We shouldn't have to put up with an inconvenience because someone felt their personal preferences overrides sound design.
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Inkyskin
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by Inkyskin »

I personally use the Go button a lot during development - and when testing in IE it really frustrates me that I have to click/press enter... I really hope they keep it as it is in v2!
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Kieran Huggins
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by Kieran Huggins »

don't think I've ever used it... and I support the removal.

It seems a tad useless to me; f5 reloads the current URL, while typing a URL "enter" seems more natural. Also, the go button is visible when typing. If you want to reload the current page with the mouse, the refresh button is there.

Also, using the "go button" to simply reload the current page won't offer to re-submit POST data, which breaks those cases, IMO.

I'm happy to see it refactored out.

I do miss the "home" button a little, but I can get used to hitting alt-home. Might be nice if it was available as a custom drop-in button.

I'm sure both will be available as an extension in no time. People hate change.
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by matthijs »

This is the first time I've heard of the "Go" button or the first time I've seen it. To be sure, is it the little green arrow right of the URL address field?

Obviously I've never used that button before, so removing it won't bother me.

I'm not aware of usability testing with this, but my guess is that most or many people type the url and hit enter.
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JayBird
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by JayBird »

I think it is naive of anyone that thinks that button should be removed becuase people know all the shortcuts to do it via keyboard or whatever.

I use it alot during development when testing websites, and i know my boss uses it to go to a website no matter how many times i tell him to just hit enter. That goes for some of the older members of my family too.

Obvioulsy a tech savvy forum like this is going to have a bias towards removing it.
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arjan.top
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by arjan.top »

go button is shown when you are typing URL, so they can use it like they did, no change
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Inkyskin
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by Inkyskin »

It may be shown when typing a url, but if I am testing a page, and want to reload it without sending the post data again, I always use the go button - in this case it won't be there.
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by matthijs »

Obviously there's disagreement here, as some people claim to use the button a lot and others never use it. The only way to find out if removing the button is a good thing is user testing. Get enough (30, 100?) average users in your usability test lab (a difficult task in itself) and let them do some tasks using one of the interfaces.
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JAB Creations
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by JAB Creations »

The whole point: the common unsavvy users need it and a good portion of tech savvy users such as myself don't want it removed! In fact most buttons (except new window, cut, copy, paste, and report site) need to physically placed up there by default.

We know how to customize the GUI so we are the ones who should adjust the default GUI after installation. I've been using the same Firefox 2 profile (through multiple XP installs though this one has been working since June 2007) since the beginning of 2007. I know how to customize the GUI but the common person does not.

Additionally most people do not want to learn how to do jack squat. In fact they want it to just work from the start. No new tab button? They're not going to use tabs. Even in the very few houses were people had downloaded Firefox (because they heard about it through a friend or whatever) people were using multiple windows and no tabs!

This is all about design and it's all about non-savvy users. If someone is absolutely completely offended by a 24x26 inch button then yes, they should have the option to remove it. But they know how to remove it and the common person does not know nor desire to learn how to add it back.
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Kieran Huggins
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by Kieran Huggins »

Inkyskin wrote:It may be shown when typing a url, but if I am testing a page, and want to reload it without sending the post data again, I always use the go button - in this case it won't be there.
In this (edge) case you could either click the address bar and hit "enter" OR hit refresh and say "no" when the dialog asks you if you want to resubmit the post data. Still 2 methods to satisfy non-standard behaviour, which is pretty darn good IMO.
JAB Creations wrote:We know how to customize the GUI so we are the ones who should adjust the default GUI after installation.
While that's a good point, I'm still not convinced that it needs to be a full-time button. It's there when they could conceivably need it, and not when they don't. Users depend on us to accurately map functions to a virtual UI, it's our responsibility tp make it as sane and accurate as possible. I believe removing the "go" button for the current address is doing just that.

You know, I imagine the same arguments were brought up when iTunes was developed; the play and pause button time-share the same space, and stop was removed entirely.
a mythical UX test wrote:"But what if I want to STOP the playback?" - Some user who had Winamp before

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"And what if I want to pause a stopped track?" - same Winamp user

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vigge89
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Re: Save Firefox's Go button!

Post by vigge89 »

Just make it visible by default and let the ones who doesn't want it hide it?
Personally I can't recall a single time I've used it, whether you're typing in the address or copy-pasting Enter/F5 is always closer then grabbing the mouse, locating and clicking it.
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