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Comment by asadotzler | Hacker News Reader

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3696/8994445994_c0939b83ca_o.p...

I recommend you take another look. They're not really the same at all.

Firefox's designers were not going for the angular and mechanical chrome look at all. They were designing something softer, rounder and more human.

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That's exactly the nitpicking I was referring to. If the corners are round or not makes little difference. The main thing here is the general outline of the tab and it's position in the window. If we can expand further we can also include the main menu which is in exactly the same spot with the same icon (maybe it's a standard icon, I've never seen it before Chrome and in earlier versions Chrome had, if I recall correctly, a wrench and screwdriver icon).

I don't know. I see the new tabs as an extension of the existing tabs [0]. All that's different is the curve flares are bigger. As someone who doesn't use Chrome much anymore, I thought these changes in Firefox seemed like natural extensions and refinements of existing designs.

Now, the elimination of the options bar ("File Edit View History ...") on Linux does seem more in line with Chrome, but on Windows it's been that way for a while.

I think this is a classic case of converging designs, not copying. A good idea is a good idea, no matter how you reach it.

[0] - http://i.imgur.com/m2ozMz3.png

I think that once you've used the two side by side, you'll change your tune. Australis is actually a much larger departure from looking like Chrome in the tab strip. Seriously, use it for a couple of weeks, then open the two side by side in the middle of a browsing session and it'll be clear to you that the visual experience is not at all alike in practice.

Well if you go that way, firefox tabs from the previous release look also the same as chrome and australis.. so uhm, you saying Chrome copied firefox tabs? (in fact, yes it did, but then again, everyone uses tabs, obviously)

Personally, I like the rounded edges but just adding a corner radius isn't exactly falling far from the Chrome tree.

Good thing that's not all they are doing.

Bad thing there's not much other changes.

There are a LOT of changes to the UI. They did far more than just change the tab location.

> I recommend you take another look.

Actually, I recommend you take another look. Chrome's tabs are significantly more rounded than in your illustration.

There's a bit of an optical illusion. Next to a curvy tab, Chrome's tab looks angular.

Here's an actual side-by-side snapshot: <http://i.imgur.com/sUGCX5I.png>

Oh, well. That's obviously a huge difference.

if you put any other app tabs next to it, including current firefox.. its a "huge" difference as well. So yeah. pointless argument is pointless...

My illustration is based on the images in Chrome's retina mac image source files.

They're also pretty much the next evolution of the FF tab design as things go "minimalist". The current tabs are curvy as well.

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