Given that in twelve months, Firefox will be able to target Windows Phone,
Tablet and Desktop users with a single build (Universal apps). Not to mention
that Ubuntu Touch/Phone and Desktop users can be targeted with a single build
(Convergence). And that yesterday Google announced that any Android app can be
ported to ChromeOS, which obviously includes Fennec. A discussion about the
fluidity and agility of our design impacts most Mozilla products.
On Tuesday, 31 March 2015, 23:41, Chenxia Liu <[email protected]> wrote:
mobile-firefox-dev is a better mailing list for Fennec development and
discussion.
On Mar 31, 2015, at 9:03 AM, Paul <[email protected]> wrote:
> I would like to raise an issue that's concerning me. We're currently dragging
> our heels and prioritising the wrong things. The reality is that users that
> install alternative browsers, particularly for Android are niche users,
> generally tech-savvy that want the additional features and are at the
> forefront of platform changes. We want to target these users.
>
> Google's design team launched Material Design a year ago, it was a huge thing
> and they gave everyone a huge heads up as to what was coming. A year on and
> we're still filing bugs to refine the visual design of Fennec that fits a now
> dated operating system visual design aesthetic. With people and thus
> people-power being limited, you have to wonder at what point we'll be able to
> update the visual design of Fennec to keep it modern. It's probably worth
> stating that the notoriously slow American OEMs are currently rolling out
> Lollipop to Samsung owners.
>
> It goes without saying that there are concerns about how Fennec will depart
> from the overall mobile visual design strategy of Mozilla but the reality is
> that looking dated only serves to surrender users who really don't care about
> how similar it looks on another platform. If that is to hold back the ability
> of Fennec to look modern, then it goes without saying that we're doing it
> wrong. There have been proposals for the advancement of the mobile design
> language across the various different platforms, but it goes without saying
> that at least for now, Fennec is the front-runner due to having a larger
> install base than FirefoxOS or Firefox for iOS. With Fennec you get access to
> over one billion devices. On top of that, we're about to see cars shipping
> Android Auto and televisions being shipped with Android TV, that's two more
> sets of users to target and we don't have a product that looks like it
> belongs on those platforms.
>
> Every app that has unveiled their material redesign has gotten a huge wave of
> free marketing within the Android developer and Android design communities.
> This is something that Fennec should be looking to ride on the wave of too.
> Even Evernote got a huge wave of free promotion. I fear that by the time
> Fennec gets around to actually moving towards a material design let alone
> unveiling it, we'll have missed the boat in that regards. Being at the
> forefront of Android developments is how you ensure relevance.
>
> Just to be succinct here, we're designing for a year ago and Google are on
> the verge of unveiling the next big thing in regards to their platform. Which
> in fairness isn't likely to be huge visual design changes, but while we're
> playing catch up with visual design, how much are we going to be able to put
> the people hours required for utilising say the memory improvements
> techniques and battery consumption improvement techniques that may be
> unveiled?
> _______________________________________________
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