An unofficial blog that watches Google's attempts to move your operating system online since 2005. Not affiliated with Google.

Send your tips to gostips@gmail.com.

August 31, 2006

Firefox 2.0 Beta 2 Improves Visual Theme

The second beta of Firefox 2 includes a slick redesigned chrome, in addition to the features already available in beta 1.

Mozilla hired Radiant Core, a company from Toronto, to design the new theme. IT Business says that the "criteria for the [theme] proposals included that they respect native OS look and feel (Firefox runs on Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms), that the themes appear modern and contemporary with current Web and client apps and appear consistent across platforms."

So now we have translucent buttons, an improved search box and new tab strip that shows the active tab prominently. There's also an arrow next to the last tab that hides a list of all the open tabs.



You can download Firefox 2.0 Beta 2 for:
Windows (5.6 MB) | Mac (18 MB) | Linux (9.2 MB) | Other versions

In order to be able to use the incompatible extensions, follow the tips from here.

11 comments:

  1. Haven't downloaded FF2.0 beta2, but the screenie you posted sure gives me an IE7-RC1 feeling...

    (hope im not the only one on that)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been using Firefox 2 ever since they released Beta 1 and it's really stable and good-looking.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I personally like the Noia 2.0 eXtreme theme far more than even the new firefox theme. It may seem "over the top" at first, but after using it for a white, it really grows on you!

    I don't like that the new firefox theme's home button, especially, is lacking in color and prominence.

    The link to the page of Noia 2.0 eXtreme (firefox 2.0 beta version) is here ==> www.deviantart.com/deviation/4266778

    Just click download on the left side of the page and drag the .jar file into the themes window to install.

    Try it! It has a lot of personality.

    ReplyDelete
  4. By the way, here's a link you might want to include ionut to the portable version of Firefox Beta 2 as then one wouldn't have to install anything!

    link to firefox beta 2 ==> http://www.public.iastate.edu/%7Ewagner84/FirefoxPortable2b2.zip

    *ALSO* link to firefox beta 2 NIGHTLY build with *new tabs* ==> http://www.public.iastate.edu/%7Ewagner84/FirefoxPortable2B2TabChange.zip

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interesting to see that it does look a lot like IE7 RC1, I hope it is more stable and compatible though. IE7 is sorely lacking in a lot of compatibility issues.

    My vote, less security, more functionality. Especially for programmers and web designers. People with web paranoia should have their own version that limits them to *read only*

    ReplyDelete
  6. It really only looks like IE7 because of the Windows XP themed window. IE7 screwed up thier interface by locking the nav bar on top instead of the file menu. Also in IE7, they lost me totally when they locked the refresh button on the right side of the address bar. I did not know I even used it till I had to search for it. I only use IE for web development now. Firefox rules and would totally rule if they can get the memory hogging fixed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. How can you link to beta2 when its not out yet?

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's out. It's in the releases folder, so it's out.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm using Win XP with the Windows Classic theme (rather than XP one), and Firefox 1.5 looks as beautiful as ever, but Firefox 2b2 looks horrible.

    It looks good on the XP theme, but a *lot* of work should be done for the classic one.

    See it for yourself:
    - http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2791/firefox15xpclassicrj5.png
    - http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/1281/firefox2b2xpclassicfg6.png

    Even the new icons look ugly using Window's classic theme.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I kinda agree with Robin, they seriously, BADLY need to fix the memory problems.
    Firefox has to be the worst program i've ever used in terms of coding.
    I mean, i went from 32% RAM to 97% in about 1 hour 30-ish minutes.
    And memory rarely ever "clears" itself, and neither does Firefox! (until closed)

    COME ON MOZILLA! This is a joke!
    Oh its okay anyway, we only have to wait till release THREE till they have fixed them... ¬_¬
    Hell even Windows is programmed better than that!
    And my friend Graeme wonders why i hate FF so much!

    They should have a look at Opera, it runs perfectly fine for me, even with "heavy-load" pages, with many open, it still averages out at 7-10% RAM.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You've had a nightly build. FF Beta 2 was released on August 31.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.