What Icon you prefer using for B2G OS Browser ?
B2G
Globe
- B2G
- Globe
0 voters
Will there even be a browser icon? The whole system is a browser, and I think it makes little sense to have a browser icon in the browserās homepage!
Iād rather have something different, like a ānew tabā button. This would also underline how B2G is different from all other OSes (and free the homescreen from an extra icon).
3 Likes
I agree with you enrico, as we can create a tab in the overview, and as we also have the research bar on the homescreen.
We save space on the homescreen, and itās not longer to open a tab, still 2 actions if we are in another app.
But itās a bit less intuitive for a newcomer, so Iād add a ā+ā button on the right of the search bar, to open a new tab window.
One āissueā is that we should keep this new tab view, with (later) option to configure, view history, have an overview of all the tabs, manage bookmark (maybe ?). And not just the research tool, which is more focused on a quick research and not the ācompleteā feature of the browser.
If we want to tackle other things before, Iād take the Gecko logo for 2 reasons:
- our OS is a browser so letās use its logo as the way to browse the web ;
- itās a good thing to link the action of browsing the web (one of the main usage now) with the Gecko - in some way, it links the user and the gecko (a bit like you prefer to click on the firefox logo and not on anything else ;))
How to deal with that is an essential design issue for B2G OS. I think we should adopt a radical design, eliminating the distance between ālocalā ui and ābrowserā ui. I think all we need is:
- A homescreen which shows all of our favourite/pinned/system content. There should be no ābookmarkā window because the homescreen is essentially that itself. (Should the homescreen include history as well? why notā¦)
- Opening a new tab and going to homescreen is the same thing: we keep a single istance of homescreen the user can always go back to. When the user is in the homescreen and launches an app, or makes a search, or goes to an internet address, a new window showing that content is automatically created (while the homescreen is preserved).
- A menu window (possibly different from system settings), to manage all of the advanced browserās functionalities.
- To navigate, we always need at hand: āhomeā button, ābackā button (which is both browserās and āAndroid-likeā back button) and address/search bar.
We also need a smart menagement of tabs:
- User should not be required to manually close windows/tabs
- How do we know when the user wants multiple istances of the same āsiteā? For example: I never want multiple istances of Dialer, but I may for Wikipedia, to check different voices at a timeā¦
- Which windows/tabs should never be automatically closed? For example, I want Telegram to be always running, even if I havenāt been using it for a while
1 Like
I like the B2G icon, but if I saw an icon which is the logo of my OS, Iāll think about parameters, informations about the OS , etc ā¦ Not "itās a gate to go on web sites or search informations"
And if I want to search informations, to look at news on some sites or forums , I prefer a way were I have last visited URLs and sites which I use frequently than my installed apps ( pinned sites are bridges between those two uses )
For now, waiting a better solution as the one proposed by @enrico_ghiorzi, I do agree with @sizvix, I would probably use B2G OS image as a cover for the booting process.
Thatās not actually true: B2G OS gets a unique kind of content, which is web-content. There is no distinction between web-sites and apps (think for example to Facebookās or Telegramās web clients). I think the UI should reflect that, rather than setting an artificial distinction between content of the same kind.
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IMHO, @enrico_ghiorzi proposal is already doable, without any extra work : we just remove the icon from the homescreen.
Adding any kind of ā+ā on the homescreen can be done later if we agree with the design, but that first step could be done instantly.
Apart from that, why not using the gecko as a booting image and as a browser shortcut icon ?
Maybe the plus sign would be necessary for new users, or they wonāt find how to open the brower ā¦ 
Regarding your proposal, let me relaunch: why donāt we use the geckoed-world for the browser and the Boot with geckos as bootscreen (itf would be vary fancy (for the future) to have a sketch style version of it)?
And even for advanced users: from the homescreen, itās faster than holding the home button and clicking on ā+ā.
And it makes it clear that we are opening a tab, and not the research bar.
Thatās exactly my point.
Even if Iām no convinced we should keep the browser icon.
Most appropriate without a doubt! 
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@kskarthik should update the poll, giving as third option āa simple plus sign to open a new OS tabā.
I think we canāt update a poll.
And I would prefer to have arguments, pros and cons for each solution.
Thinking about it, the ā+ā button is actually the same as the āhomeā button: the effect is always to open the homescreen (which corresponds to browserās homepage). From there you can reach any kind of content you like, from bookmarked sites to web-searches.
And Iām not think about opening the home page/screen, but opening a new tab.
Thatās not the same thing. From the user point-of-view, itās like opening a new tab and browsing the web (or looking at his history, ā¦) not as opening any bookmarked tab / web app.
Thatās the feature of the current browser icon, and IMHO itās quite much space used for ānothingā: we already have the search bar for a quick search, adding a ā+ā button for opening a tab is as intuitive and fast as clicking on the icon, and it require less space (which means less scrolling, faster interaction).
And Iām not thinking it would be confused with the search bar feature, as itās no longer visible if you click on the search bar.
I only see one con: you canāt place it everywhere. But as the search bar is visible from everywhere, itās not and issue.
So definitely Iām thinking that we should remove the browser icon and use a ā+ā sign.
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I know, but I think thatās the same thing: when you open a new tab, that opens showing your homepage. Than the homepage can include a bit of everything: search bar, bookmarks, historyā¦ I think the distinction between new tab and homepage is artificial and should be eliminated.
Well, mine is blank so I almost forgot whatās the default new tab page ^^
But thinking as a phone UX, itās really not the same. When you are on the homescreen, if you wanna open a tab (to do a research, browse your history) like the ā+ā button on the overview, how do you do it ?
Without this icon, you have to hold homebutton, click on +. An user will just complain, saying thatās too long.
So I see 2 options:
- we get rid of the new tab feature, and we have the history on the homescreen, the search bar, and the bookmarks (even if I donāt consider the pinned tabs as bookmark, but more as a webapp or an off-line web page). And in that case, the overview ā+ā button is useless, a search bar does the same.
IMHO mixing all on the homescreen make it a bit confusing - and I donāt really see whatās the advantage. - we have this browser icon / ā+ā button on the homescreen, with the newtab page and the history on it (and later, other browsing-specific features ?).
Which IMHO makes it simpler to develop, clear for the user, easy to understand.
I think thatās the right choice. It looks wierd because thatās not how things are being done now, but to me it makes perfect sense inside the browser-as-OS paradigm.
Thereās no issue such as āif you are in the homescreen, how do you open a new tab?ā: the homescreen already is a new tab, together with all the extra functionalities you need.
If you think about it we already have that: in the homescreen we have bookmarks, search-bar and, by using the searchbar, history too.
By removing the homescreen/new tab distinction we make everything easier and more linear for the user, and we follow the web-centric nature of B2G.
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To be clear:
- Iām not afraid of changing things
(if it change means improvement) - Iām not blocked in the āclassicā phone OS paradigm, and itās the same for web-based OS paradigm (which we take into account to use its possibilities): I was just thinking as a phone user: removing this would make my UX slower/more complex.
However:
Right now the history is a lot less usable on the search bar view, than on the new tab view.
Like, having the most frequent sites, and the history. Thatās not something that you have on the search bar view - but we could have it by showing this ānewtabā view when we click on the search bar, and if we start writing something we switch bar to research results.
(and in that case, what would be done for the ā+ā / private ā+ā feature ? IMHO we could just show the same view as if we click on the search bar)
And thinking about thatā¦ well IMHO it appears to be the solution: we keep the history/frequent site view, and the search bar view, itās not confusing and we save some space on the homescreen.
What do you think about it @B2Geeks ? 
I was not prepared to something like that, but i think we can follow this theory as something really new. As Enrico said, B2GOS is Web-centric so this is, and should be natural.
The unique tips i would add is to do things in a proper way when weāre going to design the UI, to avoid double buttons (webbar on the top and plus) or mixing local āwebappsā, such as telephony and sms, with web contents!