💡 User Interface Rationale

TL;DR: HuBrowser’s UI is designed for familiarity, performance, and user comfort—like Chrome, but with thoughtful improvements! 🚀✨

Similar to Chrome to Reduce Learning Curve

  • Many users say, "Oh, it's just Chrome." But it's not! 😄
    • Uses the same browser engine as Desktop ChromeOS and its UI assets. 🛠️
    • Different architecture: 64-bit, ported desktop engine with desktop features like extensions, casting, multi-window support, and zero tracking. 🔒
  • We respect Chrome's quality, its 90%+ market share, and the hard work by my former colleagues.

Location Bar at the Top

Buttons

  • Extension Button: Works the same as in Desktop Chrome. 🧩
  • Tab Switch Icon:
    • We changed it because:
      • A static icon allows HuBrowser to cache the entire top bar for better performance. ⚡
      • Rendering the icon dynamically with tab counts is overly complex and impacts performance. 🐢
      • Tab counts can add unnecessary mental pressure without providing useful information. 😵‍💫
      • Allows users to focus on content rather than the number of tabs. 🎯
      • HuBrowser's desktop-grade memory management allows as many tabs as desired, with automatic tab caching. 🧠
      • Users need not feel pressured by having many tabs open. 😌
      • The number of tabs can be gauged roughly by looking at the tab bar or exactly by tapping the tab switch. 👀
      • The dynamic tab count icon was original to Chrome, but many have copied it unnecessarily. 🌀
  • Menu: Simplified for small screens. 📱
    • Top Section: For page actions. ⚙️
    • Bottom Section: For destinations. 🗺️

Why Not Put the Location Bar at the Bottom?

  • Placing the location bar at the bottom would cause the bottom bar to render twice every time the keyboard pops up, negating render cache benefits. ⏳
  • A long location bar is mainly for display and would waste precious bottom screen space better used for user actions. 📏

Why Not More Buttons?

  • A long location bar is important for displaying URLs and search queries on small screen. 🔍
    • Helps prevent fraud by showing the full domain, avoiding misleading URLs where hubrowser.com.hugle.com might appear as hubrowser.com. 🚨
  • Top buttons are harder to press on small screens. ☝️

Tab Bar at the Bottom

  • The bottom bar is ideal for actions. 👍
  • Since the bottom bar needs to re-render when the keyboard pops up, it's better to place frequently changing elements here. 🔄
  • Tab Icons: Perfect for easy tab switching. 🗂️
  • New Tab Page and Quick Search Button: Highly useful. 🆕🔎
  • Parrot Assistant Button: Symmetrical counterpart to the menu button in UI position and functionality. 🦜
    • The menu button offers layered, predefined options following industry conventions. 🧭
    • The Parrot Assistant provides a dynamic and personalized experience:
      • Control media playback, compare prices when shopping, invoke page-aware AI, etc. 🤖🛒🎵

Wrap Up

  • Both the top and bottom bars are designed as one bar with three buttons, providing symmetry and consistency. ⚖️
  • Space is efficiently utilized without making buttons feel cramped. 🧩
  • It's a perfect balance! 😊🎉