Mobile/UI/Designs/TouchScreen/Fennec 1.1+/Consistent way of creating new tabs

Summary

Description: Fennec 1.0 provides the user with options for creating a new tab and opening a tab from another computer in the left-side pane (in the Main view).

• If the user tapped the ”New tab” button in the left-side pane, Fennec creates a new tab and opens the Awesome screen for entering a web address or selecting a web page to be opened in the new tab. Now, if the user wants to exit the Awesome screen, s/he can use the Back button in the top-right corner of the view for it. Note: panning the content horizontally does not bring the side-panes into the view in the Awesome screen.
• If the user tapped the ”Open tab from other computer” button in the left-side pane, Fennec creates a new tab and opens a web page that lists tabs available from other computers. Now, if the user wants to exit the list, s/he has to pan the left-side pane into the view and the select another tab. Note: if s/he would have pressed the (close) button in the top-right corner, s/he had closed the browser.

The behaviour detailed above can be really confusing from the user point of view, because sometimes s/he has to swipe the left-side pane to the view and sometimes press the button in the top-right corner to exit the view for selecting the content for the tab. It would improve usability, if the user could cancel the selection for the tab content in the same way in all cases.

Feature description

In this proposal, creation of a new tab would not be completed until the user had selected content to be displayed by the tab (either by entering a web address or selecting a web page, bookmark etc). Awesome screen and the view for selecting a tab from another computer would be just steps in the middle and the Back button in the top right corner of the both views would cancel creation of the new tab and take you back to the previous view in the state where the left-side pane would be visible. In this solution, the user would not have to close the new tab separately, if s/he cancelled the selection of content for it (i.e. less management effort for closing blank tabs), and she could always use the buttons for creating a new tab (i.e. no duplicate functions in the UI).

In these preconditions, the UI could work consistently in case of opening a new web page (in the current tab), opening a new tab (with a web page) and opening a tab from another computer. For details, see the figure below (in the section of Interaction flow).

However, some special handling would be required, if the Fennec will display the Awesome screen as the first view after start-up. In this case, browser should create a tab after it has been started and pressing the Back button in the top right corner of the Awesome screen should not close it (i.e. although the user had not selected any content for it) but show it (although it was a blank page). There can be cases that the user wants to e.g. change the settings of the Fennec (Awseome screen -> Main view -> Tools) before s/he starts browsing.

Interaction flow

See the figure below for the proposed solution of creating new tabs.

Please, note: the aim of the figure below is to show the main interactions. The actual UI of the Awsesome screen is a subject to change (see Awesome screen layout revision) and the actual View for Tabs from other computers shall be designed later on, if this solution is seen reasonable and desired.