3/6/2026 at 11:21:40 AM
Why don't they start with low-hanging fruit like the buggy and slow history and bookmarks view instead of yet another redesign of the main browser interface? Are the designers bored? And stop making everything excessively round. And it kinda looks like Opera, another adware AI browser.by sunaookami
3/6/2026 at 12:20:33 PM
Because if their browser doesn’t look like the other ones on the market, customers assume Firefox is behind the times and not as good.Like it or not, Apple and Google set trends in terms of look and feel.
by dangus
3/7/2026 at 2:02:00 PM
The question is rather if Mozilla can win this catch-up game and win new users. If they do this they should rather IMHO simply upstream the stuff done by Zen [0], which IMHO has a much more modern look and feel. Btw: there is still quite some users that are lost if UI changes. Particularly older people might simply use pre-installed Edge if they have to get used to a new design anyway. My parent in law were still on SeaMonkey until a few months. I installed some weird old school theme (I think echolon [1]) to ease the transition.[0] https://zen-browser.app/ [1] https://echelon-theme.github.io/
by riedel
3/6/2026 at 2:28:24 PM
Do customers actually think that though?by wpm
3/6/2026 at 2:31:30 PM
We do not need to re-litigate the legitimacy of fashion whenever HNers take offence at the implication that they too are human.This stuff is has all been proven, time and time again.
by UqWBcuFx6NV4r
3/6/2026 at 3:54:37 PM
Software is also _a tool_.I do not redesign my (physical) toolbox multiple times per decade. On the contrary: I use my grandfather's drill, because it lasts longer and gets the job done more reliably then the "redesigned" crap that is most of the current market.
Do I still use FVWM2? Hell no... Could I work the same like 30 years ago, if all the fashion wouldn't have happened: absolutely.
The major improvements weren't cosmetics.
by GuestFAUniverse
3/6/2026 at 4:24:04 PM
Re-litigating assertions is sometimes incredibly useful.Firefox isn't in the spot it's in because it doesn't copy Material Poo/Liquid Ass enough, or because it doesn't look like Chrome enough, or that in a somewhat crowded market just doing your best to blend in with the rest is a good strategy for growth or popularity. Refusing to follow fashions that make your browser harder to use or uglier might not be a terrible idea. Mind you, I'm not trying to claim that it absolutely is a great idea, or that Mozilla should copy the Winamp skin and go backwards, but goddamn, have some guts.
But I guess it's an axiom, that if you don't copy how everyone else looks, you're doomed.
by wpm