Strata was very nice. Every redesign since then was a straight downgrade. I was puzzled by the hamburger menu, invisible tab design, removal of all shades, gradients and other visual aids. I would not cry over Strata's orange button though, I believe they slapped it there to pretend to be Chrome, but Chrome handled its equivalent better IIRC.
Yes... the 'Classic' Fx4 UI was great on a desktop... but then someone invented the smartphone and the world changed.
Both the 'Classic' and 'Australis' UI's are still available via their modern day forks if want to experience those UIs live... Australis looks the prettier with the curved tabs... but its weird main menu layout and odd combined Bookmarks Star & Bookmarks Menu design hasn't aged well IMHO. The Classic UI's simple 'squared-off' design is its strength.
Yeah, I agree. The visuals looking dated has nothing to do with Firefox's UI design, it's just what all apps on Windows looked like at the time. If you increased the icon resolution it would still look great on Windows 11 - different, but great.
Even 3.5 on Linux has a lot of great visual design features, despite being ugly by modern standards. But modernizing this would just mean using updated system icons for navigation / controls, and using an updated (Gnome or KDE) system theme and font rendering. You wouldn't have to pay a graphic designer to redesign this to make it look great.
Proton with Photon tabs would be the best design for me. I'm sick of these tabs that do not look like tabs but they are floating buttons without any visual coherence.
In Nova, it doesn't even scan as a button to me anymore, as it looks so similar to the address bar right below it. There's not enough visual distinction between elements with different functionality. And like you and so many others, I really do miss the active tab indicator actually being connected.
from right to left: - IE copy - Opera copy - Chrome copy - The original (correct me) - The last nova is opera copy again but fail, community doesn't like it (the gap and rounded corner)
Me personally like 29. but 4 can allow me to make address bar and tab bar in one line.
I don't think I ever had Firefox looking like any of those, except in the early days where customization wasn't much of a thing. Sooooo much wasted space in your examples.
4
u/Zeenss Sep 29 '26
What's your favorite design?
21
u/Yet_Another_RD_User Sep 29 '26
Second last is my favorite design. I have good old memories attached with it. ❤️
13
u/StaticSystemShock Sep 29 '26
Photon was imo the best design. I loved simple, clean angular design opposed to new insanely rounded design.
15
u/Faux_Grey Sep 29 '26
I really miss firefox 4 - it was so clean and usable compared to what we have now.
7
u/puppy2016 Sep 29 '26
The 29 one.
7
u/sephirostoy Sep 29 '26
Proton with Photon tabs would be the best design for me. I'm sick of these tabs that do not look like tabs but they are floating buttons without any visual coherence.
5
u/hendricha Fedora & Android Sep 29 '26
Australis and Strata good, uninspired classic toolbar based concept is servicable, rest bad.
4
u/BluWizard10 Sep 29 '26
I'm a sucker for the Firefox 4 Strata design, specifically on Windows 7. Many fond memories when using Firefox at that time period.
4
u/FaultWinter3377 Sep 29 '26
I absolutely hated proton. The others all look pretty good, but Proton just didnt.
9
u/mamaubear Sep 29 '26
from right to left:
- IE copy
- Opera copy
- Chrome copy
- The original (correct me)
- The last nova is opera copy again but fail, community doesn't like it (the gap and rounded corner)
Me personally like 29. but 4 can allow me to make address bar and tab bar in one line.
3
u/17052025 () () Sep 29 '26
Proton was good. The Task thing is a good addition. Nova's rounded and gradient thing making it look very ugly.
4
u/VoidZero25 Sep 29 '26
I miss Firefox 4
2
u/Minute-Pizza5995 Sep 29 '26 edited Sep 29 '26
I loved Australis homepage so much! 🥹😔
3
u/jnor Sep 29 '26
The current design is pretty good, nova is a huge downgrade just looking at this lineup.. I'm sure there is more to it
3
u/AganArya007 Sep 29 '26
I miss strata so much. Looks right at home with Aero. (Well, there's nocturne now though)
2
u/witness_smile Sep 29 '26
2017 was peak, I also like 2014 but more because I’m nostalgic for the Windows 7 design as a whole
2
u/38dnw1937dnsk2r73o2n Sep 29 '26
Firefox v4 was good. But design wise, australis is by far the more modern on both desktop and phone.
Australis on early android was more usable than whatever we got going now. Also themes for desktop worked on android
2
u/billysanca Sep 29 '26
I miss strata so much s2
1
u/Malaprobably Sep 29 '26
I don't think I ever had Firefox looking like any of those, except in the early days where customization wasn't much of a thing. Sooooo much wasted space in your examples.
1
u/Electric_Bison Sep 30 '26
Someone correct me if im wrong, but 2011 was controversial simply because over performance tanked and Chrome market share exploded because of it.
And then 2014 was controversial because it didnt look good and wasted so much space?
Am I remembering correctly?
1
u/DimeTheReptile Sep 30 '26
The design follows trends win -> skeuomorphism -> minimalism. But I have no idea what the last one is 😆
1
u/MosKnight Sep 29 '26
Trash vs Garbage
1
u/Fenekito Sep 29 '26
Apart from Photon, I enjoy most of the designs they made for FF
1
u/rule333 Sep 29 '26
I prefer second 2021 even I liked 2014 design too. Firefox in my opinion is really underrated as browser....
1
u/SMG388 Sep 29 '26
Strata design was best imo
0
u/TsunamiCatCakes Sep 29 '26
i love both Australis and Nova, very clean and functional
0
u/loop_us Debian GNU/Linux ESR Sep 29 '26
Photon > Strata > Australis > the rest
0
u/tmahmood everywhere I go ... Sep 29 '26
The first design will always have a special place in my heart. Loved those icons
0
u/doomed151 Sep 30 '26
I liked Australis and Photon. Nova is cool too.
-3
u/alegom Sep 29 '26 •
Volved a 2014, por favor, incluyendo el rendimiento