Mozilla has come up with some fresh ideas to make new-tab screen look better, and function proficiently. Aza Raskin, Mozilla interface expert has explained all about the proposed design principles for this new tab behavior in Mozilla’s Blog.

Basically, this design consists of two elements; Quick Access Bar and Contextual Actions. Former is situated in the upper right corner, whereas the action buttons appear in the top-left area.

Quick access bar shows only the most recently visited web-pages to choose one from. With RSS feeds, latest updates for most frequently visited pages will always be available. Position of the access bar is being objected at, but Mozilla say that they wanted the bar to be Modest; one which doesn’t hinder the user if he wants to type in the URL himself.

Action buttons provide the user with more effortless browsing experience. If the user selects some text from an opened window, and clicks on the new tab button, that new window will automatically search the selected text. Similarly, if a URL is selected and a new tab is opened, the fresh tab screen will immediately open the selected URL.

A prototype based on this new concept has been introduced by Mozilla, basically to collect users’ feedback. Reviewing consists of 3 steps; installing the latest development build of FireFox 3.1 and the New Tab Prototype; experiencing it; and finally commenting on the blog.

Since January, Mozilla has been experimenting new tab choices. From the feedback for past two rounds, Mozilla has understood that users believe in a fast launched page with minimum or less visual disruption. Perhaps for this purpose, right-sided access bar has been introduced.

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