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View Full Version : Chrome 13 introduces experimental hidden nav bar option



cap10Ibraim
May 20th, 2011, 03:29 PM
http://static.arstechnica.net/assets/2011/05/ffnotoolbar2-thumb-640xauto-21931.png

http://arstechnica.com/software/news/2011/05/chrome-13-introduces-experimental-hidden-nav-bar-option.ars


We tested this feature ourselves using the Canary build channel on Windows. The feature isn't yet supported on Mac OS X. It's obviously still very experimental and isn't configured out of the box. To test the new hidden navigation bar, you have to enable the feature from the about:flags panel and then toggle it from the tab context menu.

jramshu
May 20th, 2011, 03:32 PM
Doesn't FF already have this in 4?

Lucradia
May 20th, 2011, 03:41 PM
Doesn't FF already have this in 4?

But it doesn't hide when you're navigating.

Also, Chrome 12 removes gears :V

jramshu
May 20th, 2011, 03:45 PM
But it doesn't hide when you're navigating.

Also, Chrome 12 removes gears :V


Ohh, ok. I haven't used Chrome and have just recently started FF 4, on another machine.

I may have to check out Chrome

cgroza
May 20th, 2011, 03:49 PM
I really don't see the usefulness of this feature... It is just one step more to access my navigation bar.

I use FF4 anyway.

aaaantoine
May 20th, 2011, 05:44 PM
Even if the nav bar is hidden -- which isn't a bad idea in and of itself -- critical information NEEDS to be shown to the user about the page that they are visiting.

What domain is the user currently connected to? This is important for allowing the user to determine whether or not they have been directed to a phishing site. Users need to be educated to look for the domain of the site they're visiting, especially when putting in credit card or other information.

Is SSL enabled? This also needs to be indicated to the user, to let them know whether their data submission is encrypted (and therefore secure from eavesdropping).

Pogeymanz
May 20th, 2011, 05:55 PM
Even if the nav bar is hidden -- which isn't a bad idea in and of itself -- critical information NEEDS to be shown to the user about the page that they are visiting.

What domain is the user currently connected to? This is important for allowing the user to determine whether or not they have been directed to a phishing site. Users need to be educated to look for the domain of the site they're visiting, especially when putting in credit card or other information.

Is SSL enabled? This also needs to be indicated to the user, to let them know whether their data submission is encrypted (and therefore secure from eavesdropping).

I agree. This movement toward "simple" user-interfaces has gone too far. Some of us WANT some information shown to us without having to click around and find it. Was the status bar usually overkill? In my opinion, yes. Could the menu bar fit nicely into a button? I think so! But the urlbar? Come on!

It's the same thing when I see people post their 1337 hackor desktop screenshots that have no panels and no information at all about their system. It's weird. I like conky to tell me when a process has gone nuts and started eating all my RAM/CPU. I like knowing what time it is and how many windows are open and on what workspace.

I like knowing things! Stop dumbing down my computer, developers!

cap10Ibraim
May 20th, 2011, 08:18 PM
it's optional so why not !

kabloink
May 20th, 2011, 09:39 PM
I don't mind it as long as there is an option to always display the bar.

Quadunit404
May 20th, 2011, 09:42 PM
I agree. This movement toward "simple" user-interfaces has gone too far. Some of us WANT some information shown to us without having to click around and find it. Was the status bar usually overkill? In my opinion, yes. Could the menu bar fit nicely into a button? I think so! But the urlbar? Come on!

It's the same thing when I see people post their 1337 hackor desktop screenshots that have no panels and no information at all about their system. It's weird. I like conky to tell me when a process has gone nuts and started eating all my RAM/CPU. I like knowing what time it is and how many windows are open and on what workspace.

I like knowing things! Stop dumbing down my computer, developers!

Opera did this by adding a huge badge thing to Opera 11, the badge thing reading "Web" "Secure" "FTP" or "Local" but at the same time, they hid the protocol and everything after a ? in a URL! Fortunately they added a "Show full web address" option during the beta phase which reduces the size of the badge, shows the protocol and all the extra things at the end of a URL due to user feedback.

krapp
May 20th, 2011, 09:56 PM
It looks a lot like the "minimalist" (featureless) browsers popular among the Arch community and therefore totally useless.

Larkspur
May 20th, 2011, 09:56 PM
Firefox has had this for months: Home Dash (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/prospector-home-dash/) hides the whole UI until it is needed. In practice, it's like running FF in full screen without having to leave it; to get the url bar and the tabs, you either use Ctrl+L, Ctrl+T, move the mouse into the top left corner or make a long click. However, it doesn't leave you open to the problems that aaaantoine is justly worried about; it lets you know where you are, where links will take you, and whether SSL is active. It has a couple of nice features on top of that.

Dustin2128
May 20th, 2011, 10:02 PM
I agree. This movement toward "simple" user-interfaces has gone too far. Some of us WANT some information shown to us without having to click around and find it. Was the status bar usually overkill? In my opinion, yes. Could the menu bar fit nicely into a button? I think so! But the urlbar? Come on!

It's the same thing when I see people post their 1337 hackor desktop screenshots that have no panels and no information at all about their system. It's weird. I like conky to tell me when a process has gone nuts and started eating all my RAM/CPU. I like knowing what time it is and how many windows are open and on what workspace.

I like knowing things! Stop dumbing down my computer, developers developers developers...
FTFY
(but stlil +1)