Why Tabs are on Top in Firefox 4

Alex Faaborg
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2010–2017
YouTube
280K views · 16 years ago · explainer · intermediate · dated

Alex Faaborg, a Mozilla designer, explains the reasoning behind putting tabs above the address bar in Firefox 4. He lays out the interface logic for why tabs belong at the top of the window.

HN people point to it as the detailed rationale for Firefox's tabs-on-top layout, usually when someone challenges the decision.

UI design craftInteraction design
#firefox#tabs#browserui#alexfaaborg#interfacerationale

4 comments from Hacker News

p
@philfreo2010 · in “Why Tabs are on Top in Firefox 4”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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m
@motters2010 · in “Firefox tab conundrum”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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s
@stinky6132017 · in “Firefox 57.0 Released”
> Decades of UI/UX knowledge, down the drain. Usability is gone. Exactly the opposite; this is an evolution that has been taking place over the past decade. Firefox has had tabs-on-top as the default since Firefox v4.0[1]. Chrome has had tabs-on-top for its entire existence (starting in Sept 2008); Opera had them before Chrome. The merits can be argued either way, but don't act like this is sudden or arbitrary; it's neither. Consider that maybe--just maybe--the dev teams at Mozilla, Google, et al. have done some usability studies in the past decade that informed these decisions. I get that you may prefer tabs below the URL bar, but your claims about the greater state of UX are baseless and absurd. [1] ▶ this video posted June 2010 EDIT: Google made a comic for the release of Chrome 1.0 that includes an explanation of their original rationale for putting tabs on top. link
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p
@pornel2010 · in “Changes Coming to Firefox 4”
No, Opera tabs. Here's detailed explanation: ▶ this video
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