The Australis mega-thread

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Moonchild
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The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-04-22, 16:05

A good suggestion made by mattatobin to make one single thread to discuss Anything Australis in - so here it is!

Any discussion about Australis, Mozilla's or Pale Moon's approach to it, post-australis discussions, pros and cons, PR, technical issues, skinning and otherwise related topics should go here. Other threads started on the topic will be closed and redirected here from this point on!

Ready? Go! 8-)

jumba

Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by jumba » 2014-04-22, 18:44

Here we go! :)

I received this email yesterday:
It seems that all the add-ons that pass some automatic tests are marked as compatible with Australis now, even if they really aren't as in my case. :I
Dear add-on author,

As you probably know already, Firefox 29 includes a new theme called Australis, which changes the Firefox look and feel significantly. This might also affect your add-on in ways we can't automatically detect. Regardless of the validation results included below, we strongly encourage you to thoroughly test your add-on on the latest beta version and verify it works correctly. There is more compatibility information available here: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2014/04 ... irefox-29/

Our automated tests did not detect any compatibility issues with your add-on and Firefox 29.*. We've updated your add-on compatibility to work with Firefox 29.* so that our Aurora users can begin using your add-on.

We encourage you to view the results of the compatibility test, as some compatibility issues may have been detected but without enough certainty to declare the add-on incompatible:

This compatibility bump is server-side and we did not modify your add-on package in any way.

Thank you,
Firefox Add-ons team

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Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Night Wing » 2014-04-22, 18:59

So, if an add-on passes the "automatic" tests, it's marked compatible for Firefox 29 (Australis) even if it might not be.

That's not going to go over well when Firefox 29 users find their add-ons don't work or aren't functioning correctly with Australis.

If this happens, come April 29 (next Tuesday), the regulars giving help over at Mozillazine are going to have their patience tested with lots of unhappy Australis user complaints.
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Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-04-22, 19:49

I received the same for Pale Moon Commander. I made sure to log in to AMO and change max version back to 28.* as I have in my add-on itself already - their automated tests do not work for any major changes, anyway. I guess it's to create a way for add-on developers to get the flak mozilla deserves, because if people install it, they think the add-on is broken, while it was AMO who incorrectly marked it compatible.
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MozillaUser233

Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by MozillaUser233 » 2014-04-23, 22:40

@Why Fix Something That Is Not Broken video.

Reminds me of one of those pill company commercials. I couldn't even bare 30 seconds had to close tab.

leegb11

Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by leegb11 » 2014-04-24, 00:01

Downloaded ff29 beta today - just out of curiosity. Not as bad as I thought with a little tweaking!
One add-on did not work.
Just tried to open and get a box with two options "start in safe mode or reset," clicked on safe mode I think and got a message saying " well this is embarrassing ".
What's kin happening here?
Please assure that PM will be developed for a few more years!

Accel

Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Accel » 2014-04-24, 04:13

that means firefox crashed..

i downloaded and installed FF 29.. uninstalled it in a moment seeing ui and their settings.

leegb11

Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by leegb11 » 2014-04-24, 04:53

Since have restarted and seems OK.
But have used PM 64 for a while now - maybe a year and have never had a crash!
Use 32 bit rarely for a few sites, but the shared profile makes it not a problem to switch. I don't get no warnings if I open 32 bit.
And thanks to Moonchild and others on this forum for a great browsing experience.

New Tobin Paradigm

Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by New Tobin Paradigm » 2014-04-24, 18:39

Anyone remember how cool the concepts were for how Strata was gonna be but never was? Australis is kinda that except for the part about being potentially cool and completely destroying the fundamental core tenants of Firefox.

Anyway.. Yeah.. Why is this a thing again? The current incarnation in the beta channel is I think even less inspired than the early half implemented incarnations from earlier UX builds. Truth be told, I have tried a few of the 3rd party themes and extensions relating to this and they are far superior than what Mozilla is even implementing. I don't know whatelse can be said really.

With that realization... Let us try an experiment for the new mega-thread:

Post all the POSITIVE things about the design, functionality, and concept of Australis. (Yes it is hard but try!)

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Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-04-24, 18:54

mattatobin wrote:Post all the POSITIVE things about the design, functionality, and concept of Australis. (Yes it is hard but try!)
...

*crickets*

...

Might work on low-resolution touch devices?
"Sometimes, the best way to get what you want is to be a good person." -- Louis Rossmann
"Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past; wisdom is of the future." -- Native American proverb
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jumba

Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by jumba » 2014-04-25, 06:45

mattatobin wrote:Post all the POSITIVE things about the design, functionality, and concept of Australis. (Yes it is hard but try!)
It has a bouncing unicorn!
Couldn't resist to search it from bugzilla: :)
997825 – [rtl] Unicorn doesn't bounce
996610 – The panel menu bouncing unicorn is glitchy

Seriously:
The new UI could be more "fluid" as they have stated. Design could work better on mobile platforms, like the touch friendly menu. It is more appealing to the general users, (bouncing unicorns and all). Tabs are more aerodynamic to reduce the drag and fuel consumption. Too hard to think positively of australis ;)

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Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-04-25, 07:58

jumba wrote:The new UI could be more "fluid" ... Tabs are more aerodynamic
I wonder if anyone has realized why the new shape is the way it is. To me, it seems for just one thing. Look at Mac OSX and the type and size of curves used in the OS. It "accidentally" merges well with that? ... Oh, and hey, it just so happens that most (if not all) people in the UX team and management of Mozilla are Mac users. Hmmmm... :think:
It most certainly isn't Windows-native (and even more so not Win 8 native where square is the new round) or Linux-native.

Poking at the Internets, I come across Australis lovers' blog posts with things like this:
Firefox now, for the first time in forever, feels almost just like a native OS X app, with only a very few lapses. It’s now got the full disappearing scrollbars and smooth, bounce-at-the-end scrolling, but also surprisingly has full Safari-style two-finger swipe to go back and forward with peek previews of the page you’re going back to.
Source: http://mac.appstorm.net/general/app-new ... e-browser/

So, an additional positive thing about the design = feels almost like a native OSX App?
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Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Night Wing » 2014-04-25, 11:13

In my opinion, I think Australis is the prelude for the Firefox OS for mobile and which Mozilla is stating that is it's present goal while reducing it's resources for the Firefox browser.
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Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-04-25, 11:52

Night Wing wrote:In my opinion, I think Australis is the prelude for the Firefox OS for mobile and which Mozilla is stating that is it's present goal while reducing it's resources for the Firefox browser.
Got a link to that statement?
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Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Night Wing » 2014-04-25, 12:23

Don't have a link, but I did say it was "my opinion". Since Mozilla has been gutting the customization within the Firefox and making it look like Google Chrome with it's curved tabs, those tabs (in my opinion) are well suited for fingers and when Mozilla comes out with the mobile OS, I have a feeling the tabs on Firefox OS will be curved.

At this juncture, I think Mozilla will concentrate more on developing the Firefox OS than on it's Firefox browser. Again, this is just my opinion based on a gut feeling.

Maybe later on today, I will surf the interent and see what the new CEO at Mozilla will be focusing on. I don't even know his/her name at the moment.
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access2godzilla

Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by access2godzilla » 2014-04-25, 15:16

Tabs are more aerodynamic to reduce the drag and fuel consumption.
If they want to make their tabs really aerodynamic, they should make them look like the cross-section of an aeroplane wing. :lol:
Okay, lame joke. But perhaps my first mistake was to assume that Mozilla guys know anything correctly ;)

New Tobin Paradigm

Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by New Tobin Paradigm » 2014-04-25, 15:57

I got over the Mac style thing a long time ago. However, it seems I never got over the Windows Classic (read: gdi+ native) interface and in THAT context I am perpetually trapped with Firefox 2 theme which would be nearly impossible with Australis... How do you even pronounce that word anyway...

See I want my browser to look like this:

Image

is that so wrong?

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Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Moonchild » 2014-04-25, 16:01

mattatobin wrote:nearly impossible with Australis
Considering full themes are a no-go in Australis, I think you can cross out the "nearly" in that sentence.
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New Tobin Paradigm

Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by New Tobin Paradigm » 2014-04-25, 16:08

That is a very good point. Perhaps the next phase of this mega thread is to cohesively list all the things you can't do with it now in the context of every day use.

- Proper Full Themes
- Custom Toolbars
- And?!

As an aside: I have no idea if anyone is interested in my half assed attempt to guide discussion or not.. I can always stop.

ALSO: Moonchild you know you love my screenshot!

Additional Also: Will the menubar be removed completely at any stage. I thought it was...

Yet Another Also: You should make the tagline for PM to be: Pale Moon, the browser - Reverted!

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Re: The Australis mega-thread

Unread post by Night Wing » 2014-04-25, 17:18

mattatobin wrote:As an aside: I have no idea if anyone is interested in my half assed attempt to guide discussion or not.. I can always stop.

ALSO: Moonchild

Will the menubar be removed completely at any stage. I thought it was.
Go ahead and run with your thoughts. It gives me something to read and think on.

As for the Menu bar being removed. If it's the Menu Bar with the File, Edit, History, Bookmarks, Tools & Help in it; I seriously hope not. :crazy: If the Menu Bar would be removed, that would be an automatic deal breaker for me. :shock:

Removing the Menu Bar in Pale Moon would be the same as what the Opera developers did when they removed the Bookmarks Toolbar in Opera 15.0 and most of us know how well that went with many long time users of Opera. :thumbdown:
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