Suspected PayPal Hackers Seek Deal To Stay Out Of Prison
2 Men Arrested After Teen Was Run Over For His iPad
Maxthon 3 gets a new look, courtesy other browsers
Maxthon isn't a browser you hear about much on the usual news outlets. It's hugely popular in Asia, but not so much elsewhere in the world. Late last year, work began on Maxthon 3 which brought with it the speedy WebKit rendering engine.
With the latest alpha release, Maxthon has a new look -- and it's clearly inspired by other browsers. Tabs (which were previously located beneath the bookmarks toolbar) have been moved to the top of the window like Google Chrome and Safari (the beta, anyway, as pointed out by our commenters). Navigation buttons, too, have been placed according to Chrome's layout.
There's also the new home menu, reminiscent of Opera 10.5 and the concepts we've seen for future versions of Firefox. And yes, Opera fans, the default new tab page looks a whole lot like your Speed Dial.
Is this where we're headed? Interface homogeneity?
Surely UX designers aren't out of innovative ideas yet. Let's see some exciting stuff, people! Don't just look at your competitors, see what they've made work, and say 'we can do that, too!'
With the latest alpha release, Maxthon has a new look -- and it's clearly inspired by other browsers. Tabs (which were previously located beneath the bookmarks toolbar) have been moved to the top of the window like Google Chrome and Safari (the beta, anyway, as pointed out by our commenters). Navigation buttons, too, have been placed according to Chrome's layout.
There's also the new home menu, reminiscent of Opera 10.5 and the concepts we've seen for future versions of Firefox. And yes, Opera fans, the default new tab page looks a whole lot like your Speed Dial.
Is this where we're headed? Interface homogeneity?
Surely UX designers aren't out of innovative ideas yet. Let's see some exciting stuff, people! Don't just look at your competitors, see what they've made work, and say 'we can do that, too!'
Comments
14
Subscribe to commentsDaniel BloisApr 1st 2010 11:35AM
Most developers that are doing the tabs above the address box are forgetting the benefit of moving it there. Chrome placed the tabs on top of the title bar giving more screen real estate. Everyone else is just moving it above the Address Bar and forgetting the true benefit.
RobomasterApr 1st 2010 12:56PM
No kidding, wish they'd realize what the whole point of moving the tabs to the top.
laeroApr 1st 2010 2:59PM
Screen real estate and Fitt's law!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts%27s_law
ShishirApr 1st 2010 12:10PM
Looks much like the new Opera.
pristy.siteApr 1st 2010 12:14PM
Answer to all my prayers...it's Opera with all proper fixes i love it, China really likes to copy. Good job!
Made in China.
JoshApr 1st 2010 12:13PM
Safari tabs aren't on top. They were put back on bottom as soon as it left beta.
DaniApr 1st 2010 12:41PM
TwentyTen for Firefox
http://boneyardbrew.deviantart.com/art/TwentyTen-v1-4-148735433
hrmph
libecoApr 1st 2010 1:07PM
Such a shame Maxthon used to be a great browser (pre 2.5). Since it has gone downhill fast. The ability to customize nearly everything the way you like seems to be gone for good. Why do those people who call themself UX-designers push those things through? What happened to keep the Windows theme so users could decide themselves how everything looked?
The only reason I still use Maxthon is Firefox' extreme slowness...
FredApr 1st 2010 2:09PM
Welcome to the world of open source software: Where nothing is protected and everything can be 'appropriated' for one's own use.
When something becomes popular, everyone incorporates it instead of innovating to compete.
megablueApr 1st 2010 2:19PM
Actually Maxthon is the very first browser that shows innovation of its cleaver ui and features... even before Firefox was made popular... if you never use it before... don't just judge it by its cover (in this case the article)
DrekeApr 2nd 2010 6:52AM
Uh, you are aware that Maxthon has basically been ripping off Opera for all these years? So the features you claim were invented by Maxthon were mostly taken from Opera!
That includes this new Maxthon design, ironically.
BuggerApr 1st 2010 3:59PM
Looks a lot more like Opera than Chrome, except the bookmarks toolbar placement.
AFAIK, the early Maxthon are actually an Opera clone in Trident engine... Maxthon copied a lot of features from Opera back then, later they began to copy features from Firefox's extensions too. Now it seems they ditched Gecko & turn their eyes on the speedy WebKit...
5518443720Apr 1st 2010 7:18PM
Opera anybody?
Its funny but now IE9 is offering something new and different. MS is back on competition.
djbbertApr 1st 2010 10:18PM
now if only maxthon can handle their downloads like chrome!