user interface · Grey Nicholson

Remove Close Buttons from Tabs

2009-03-03T21:04:00+00:00

Having a close button on each tab in Firefox makes closing tabs discoverable, but at the expense of accidental clicks.

When the tabs get too small the close buttons on inactive tabs are removed, again as a trade-off between discoverability and accidental clicking, but there's still the off-chance.

So for those of us who're comfortable with closing tabs by middle-clicking them, Remove Close Buttons from Tabs removes the close button from every tab, all the time.

Hence the name.

You can get it from Mozilla Add-ons or, if you really trust me that much, directly from me.

It's licensed under the ISC licence:

Copyright © 2009, Grey Nicholson

Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

The software is provided "as is" and the author disclaims all warranties with regard to this software including all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall the author be liable for any special, direct, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this software.

Mmm… shiny simplicity.

Red Head points out that you could just set browser.tabs.closeButtons to 2 instead, if you'd rather use about:config than install an add-on.

Just Give Me A Back Button

2009-02-16T08:57:00+00:00

A while ago, the Mozilla developers did some research and related some anecdotes, both of which suggested that web browser users use the Back button rather a lot. So in Firefox 3, they made it bigger than the Forward button. (—except on Linux, where they imitated a native design instead, shrewdly surmising that (A:) we like our applications consistent, and that (B:) our native design is pretty sensible.)

At the same time, they combined the Back drop-down menu (showing pages you've previously visited in this tab in this session) with the Forward drop-down menu (showing pages you've visited in this tab in this session that you've then come away from by going Back).

A couple of years previously, I'd made two Firefox extensions that played around with these menus' appearance & functionality. One removed the drop-down buttons, aiming for a simpler look (and leaving the menus accessible by a right-click); the other turned each entire button into the menu trigger (also providing the simpler look, but working less efficiently without providing any extra capability). The latter was never supported, and when the menus were unified I stopped using (& thus supporting) the former.

A couple of hours ago I was thinking about how Google Chrome manages to reduce all of a web browser's UI into five toolbar buttons & two menus, and thinking about how to do a similar thing with other applications, particularly Firefox. I realised that I tend not to remember which page is one Forward, so when I want to go to any page other than one Back, I usually use the drop-down menu. So I may as well get rid of the Forward button.

I also realised I could. So I did.

Just Give Me A Back Button is named after Asa's memorably-titled blog post and consists of one line of code:

#forward-button{display:none}

—plus the necessary incantation to install it and apply it to the main Firefox window. It may look like arse on Windows & Mac, where the Forward button is visually integrated with the Back & drop-down buttons—I don't know. Don't complain. (Fixes are welcome, though.) It actually doesn't look like arse—I've now checked.

It mainly lives at Mozilla Add-ons, but if you trust me—and there's no reason why you should—you can also get it directly from me.

It's licensed under the ISC licence, which reads:

Copyright © 2009, Grey Nicholson

Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.

The software is provided "as is" and the author disclaims all warranties with regard to this software including all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall the author be liable for any special, direct, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this software.

It's only a minor simplification. Arguably, those overwhelming menus are a much bigger problem (in every sense). But it's something.

How To Make Scroll Bars A Little Bit Easier To Use

2007-08-05T23:17:00+00:00

When you have a mouse whose scroll wheel doesn't work, you tend to use the scroll bars a lot more. I usually click the little arrows at each end repeatedly as I read the page. This means that I'm not looking where I'm clicking, and so my mouse tends to wander slowly, which results in me clicking stuff I didn't mean to.

A simple way to fix this—and it applies to many elements of a computer's graphical interface—would be to move the mouse pointer to the middle of the button when you click it.

This should be done when the mouse button is lifted, and only to controls that afford repeated clicking. So menus and drop-down list boxes would be excluded, because just clicking them does nothing and they can be dragged to select an item (in Gnome, anyway). Buttons that dismiss dialogue boxes, and the Minimise, Maximise and Close buttons in windows' title bars would be excluded as well, because the buttons move or disappear after you've clicked them once. Tabs; buttons that bring up a new window that you're expected to interact with straight away; and radio buttons (“choose one of several”-type options) wouldn't be included, because you don't need to select them twice in a row.

But tick boxes would, as you might want to toggle them. Most toolbar buttons; program launchers (on Gnome's panels); those little up and down arrows next to inputs that want a number; toggles for expanding to show more information; and scroll bar buttons would be included, too.

Does Your Browser Have An Add Toaster Button?

2004-06-16T15:00:00+00:00