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The buzz about Firefox these days might be focused on the impending Firefox 3, but the folks at Mozilla are already thinking beyond that browser and beyond the PC. A blog post on Wednesday from Mozilla Labs’ head of user experience, Aza Raskin, shows off a video of a conceptual Firefox Mobile

The innovation, usability, and extensibility that has propelled Firefox to 200 million users is set to do the same for Firefox in a mobile setting.User experience is the most important aspect of having a compelling mobile product. Every bit of interaction and pixel of presentation counts when typing is laborious and screen sizes are minuscule.Designed for touch-screen interfaces not multitouch, like the iPhone the mobile Firefox browser opens up to reveal a bookmarks list and a “plus” button to open a new window. The browser controls are located to the left of the window and are accessible by panning horizontally.

“We’re driven by demand,” Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla’s vice president of engineering, said in a May interview when asked if he was interested in bringing Firefox to Android. “We’ve been concentrating on other platforms that don’t have browser or didn’t have a good one.”

The mobile Firefox is code-named “Fennec” after a small species of fox with unusually large ears. Ironically, the animal sometimes referred to as a “firefox,” better known as a red panda, is more closely related to skunks and raccoons.

Design Principles:

This concept prototype for Firefox mobile (code name Fennec) is being designed for a touch screen. Why not multitouch? Because Firefox should be able to run on the least common denominator of touch devices. Especially for touch-enabled interfaces direct manipulation is key. Along that line of thought, the interface should be operable with a finger. Switching between input methods is time-consuming and annoying, so the user shouldn’t have to switch to a stylus or other secondary form of input. Firefox will work on non-touchscreen devices, but that’s out of scope for this demo.

Large targets are good. The same fingertip that controls the interface takes up between 1/5th to 1/10th of the vertical/horizontal height/width of the mobile touch-screen. In other words, fingers are fat: hitting small targets is like trying to touch-type with your elbow. All actions should be represented by targets that are large enough to be fast, easy.

Typing is difficult. This means we want to minimize the amount of keystrokes required to get anywhere or do anything.

Content is king. With restricted screen size, every pixel counts. As much of the screen as possible should always be dedicated to content, not controls or cruft.

Tags: Fennec mobile, Firefox Mobile