Ben finally landed the Firefox Options window in mozilla.org CVS trunk today, after months of anticipation. For those with the know-how, the code was available in non-trunk CVS on the PREFERENCES_20050101_BRANCH branch. As I have sufficient know-how, this wasn’t a big problem for me, so I created a build from the branch a couple weeks back.

The build didn’t particularly impress me. The new options window looked nice, to a degree, but it was certainly rough around the edges. The concept seemed okay, but certain parts of it just irked me. I’m hardly a UI expert, but some things just seemed completely wrong. In particular I was concerned about the use of both tabs and scrolling lists to split up large categories of options. (Luckily, this was a known problem – when talking to one of the other Firefox developers on IRC, I learned that this was a problem that would have to be addressed before the new code would be merged back into the trunk.)

Now, finally, the code’s been merged into the trunk. This means that everyone will be getting this code when they build – nightly testers, optimized build distributors, Firefox developers, etc. I don’t remember what the schedule is, but you probably can download a nightly Firefox build as of right now to test out the new options window.

What are my opinions of the window now that it’s been submitted to trunk? I’m not sure it’s as clean as the old interface (just yet), but it does have its merits.

First, the options window exhibits a much greater sense of organization than the previous one did. (“Web Features”, anyone?) Ben’s moved around options, but the moves (for the most part) make sense. Tabbed browsing is its own top-level category now. The nebulous “Web Features” is gone, and its replacement, “Content”, is much more aptly named. The advanced settings for security have been rearranged, consolidating things in as logical a way as is possible given that PSM‘s UI is completely unowned (and therefore is entirely lacking in any real sense of cleanness). In my opinion, just getting a far more sensible arrangement of options out of this makes Ben’s work on this worthwhile.

Second, Ben fixed the tabs/scrolling list issue I had, so my main complaint against it (when I’d only seen screenshots) is gone. Inconsistent UI is one of the easier problems to fix, and I’m glad to see the Firefox developers didn’t let this one slip past the review barrier.

Third, he also reworded some of the options, and for the most part I like the changes he’s made. For example, there was an option for caret browsing, which you can test out by pressing F7. (You probably can’t find it if you’re using an old build or a milestone. The option was cleverly disguised as “Move system caret with focus/selection changes” – you didn’t know that was caret browsing either, did you?) The description text has been changed to, “Allow text to be selected with the keyboard” – a clear improvement.

Fourth, I like how it looks – the old options window interface certainly wasn’t standard Windows fare, and the new options window remains just as unique while retaining all the visual appeal. Firefox does a good job of remaining uniquely itself while still conforming to the expectations of the user within his operating system of choice.

Finally, it doesn’t produce the gut “I don’t like this” feeling that beta versions of the code did – I think my gut feelings are usually pretty close to accurate, and I trust them. Overall, I think the new options interface is an improvement.

The new interface isn’t all goodness, though. First, it’s moderately buggy, and there still remain tons of issues with the new window that need to be fixed, so it’s not quite there yet. Ben’s made an excellent start at it, though, so I have confidence it’ll turn out okay.

There’s actually only one other problem with the options window; right now, I’m really not liking the fact that Ben made any changes. Why? I now have to go and document this thing.

Sign up to get a free Mini Mac!

It started with the iPod. Now, they’re giving away free Mini Macs. Do I believe it really works? I don’t know. I’ve heard from many people that the free iPods were legitimate. Logically I should believe this would make a free Mini Mac offer legitimate. Logically, however, how in the world can this scheme actually be profitable?

I had no real need for an iPod. However, I signed up for this promotion because I could actually use a Mini Mac (for Firefox/Thunderbird development and documentation work). Do I really expect to get anything? No, not really. Would I like to have one? Sure. I guess I’ll have to see whether this really works or not by soliciting people to sign up through me. After all, I only need 10 people to sign up through me and participate in an offer.

So, if you feel like helping me find out whether this is really legitimate or not, sign up to get your own free Mini Mac. I’ll let people know here whether it works or not (assuming I find enough people willing to sell their souls this way).

An ordered priority list:

1. Fix my laptop (or rather, have Dell fix it for me) so that Windows works and so that I can use it without losing power any time I try something CPU– or hard disk-intensive, like building Firefox or Thunderbird
2. Bug 253334 — Thunderbird needs a Help Viewer
   • Bug 268776 — Help Viewer uses browser chrome
   • Bug 260058 — Remove Help dependencies on Thunderbird and Firefox
   • Bug 260874 — Help window Activity Indicator (throbber) isn’t right
3. Bug 272841 — Accesskey mnemonics no longer working in help
4. Bug 247595 — Use entities to describe menus and dialogs in help documentation
5. Bug 251751 — Firefox Help window should not be alwaysRaised

Processes that can be run relatively concurrently with the aforementioned processes:

• Really learn the building numbers and building layout at MIT
• Explore as many halls, corridors, nooks, and crannies at MIT as possible
• Participate in Mystery Hunt
• Take a soccer referee recertification class
• Teach myself the rest of the 8.012 book
• Somehow catch up on sleep

Things that may interest me but may or may not get done, unordered:

• Investigate alternative UI models for accessing Help
• Bug 254992 — Need a way to make ToC/Index entries platform-specific
• Bug 260051 — document bookmarks and live bookmarks
• Train to be a club treasurer
• Bug 273201 — Help glossary should be extensible
• Learn C++ syntax
• Learn the basics of COM or a COM-like model like XPCOM

But first:

• Get through the rest of the fall semester
• Study a lot, particularly for 5.112 and 18.022
• Pass my classes

Edit: For the “will do” list, I also need to do a complete UI review of Thunderbird so that its UI can be improved. In particular I think the menus are rather heavy, although there are other parts that could be cleaned up as well. Firefox 1.0 was elegant – Thunderbird 1.0 is unfortunately not nearly as elegant.

As part of a flurry of needed changes to my laptop, I had to back up all my data and reinstall everything from scratch about two weeks ago. I’m certain I do this far more often than the average power user does (once every several months) and certainly far more than a normal user would. It’s a good way to enforce good storage habits (keep files compartmentalized so that my files are separate from my program files are separate from my application install packages), and it forces me to make a backup every so often because the hard drive’s getting completely wiped.

I rarely have problems doing this. Thanks to my handy custom install CD filled with all my favorite downloaded programs and my use of only a small amount of software, getting back up to speed usually takes only a few hours. The end result is a faster system and a satisfied me.

This time, tho, I’m having two big problems. The first problem is with printing using KLP, which is used to print to MIT printers (which doesn’t directly cost me money). For whatever reason, when I print using KLP I get pages of Postscript code instead of what I want, and I don’t know why.

The second problem is far more serious: Windows is randomly shutting down on me. Before the system reinstall, it worked perfectly. It also worked perfectly for a time after most of the reinstall had taken place. I suspect some program in the MIT software I installed is causing the problem, but I don’t know which. It seems to be triggerable by either jarring the computer or simply using it normally for a length of time which varies from minutes to hours. (I had hoped the problem was just a virus, as I usually don’t have a virus scanner installed because I don’t download many files and stay up-to-date on Windows security patches, but a virus scan showed it wasn’t.)

Combined, these problems make Windows completely unusable for me. If I boot, the computer shuts down very shortly afterward. If I am actually able to use it for a while, I can’t print anything I need printed. In fact, the only real reason I even try to boot Windows is to flush the email inbox read count back to a low number (I use IMAP, but because I’m afraid I might run out of my 250MB of space sometime — yes, it’s that bad — I have most of it stored locally). (This won’t be a problem after Thunderbird supports cross-platform profiles, if and when that happens.)

If Windows were the only operating system on my laptop, it would be completely unusable. Thankfully, however, it’s not — I have Fedora Core 3 Linux installed, too. Fedora works perfectly (showing that the shutdowns are a Windows-specific problem and not a hardware problem), so I’ve been booted in Fedora almost constantly for about a week. With the preponderance of good software out there (a web browser, an office suite, Windows emulation for use with some essential Windows-only software, and Linux-oriented freeware galore), I’ve had no problems during this time, either.

When and how will I get Windows working again? With Thanksgiving coming, I have the perfect time to do so, so until then I’ll likely only use Linux. (If Thanksgiving weren’t coming, I don’t know when I’d do it – maybe a weekend if I could make the time.) The how isn’t such a big problem either — I’ll just reinstall (again). While this solution certainly isn’t optimal, it’s also the most guaranteed to work, which is what matters most when reinstallation requires a few hours’ time.

Windows usually works for most things (and don’t get me wrong, it’s worked pretty much perfectly for me since I started using XP), but when it doesn’t, I know where I’d be without Linux — in the same sorry spot as most of the other people on the planet without knowledge of the available options.

My cvs.mozilla.org account is finally working. After a little less than three weeks since the initial bug filing, I finally got all the files, variables, and SSH keys set up correctly. I just made my first checkin to the aviary branch — a simple fix to add Ctrl+0 to the Firefox Help viewer. I’m now checking out the trunk code (my only repository was for aviary because that’s Firefox right now), and after I do that I’ll check in the fix to trunk. (This is very likely possible without requiring two trees, but right now I don’t know the method.)