UI infatuation

As an excercise in pain, I've been installing quite a bit of software on a old IBM ThinkPad 600 running Windows 2000 today. I only have to use the machine for two weeks or so, but for that time I do need software. Like a sensible browser. And because W2K makes Galeon and Epiphany non-options, the next choice was Mozilla Firebird.

It's not too bad. It seems to fit in a lot better in the Windows UI than Seamonkey, the previous version of Mozilla's browser, ever did in GNOME. Maybe because my Windows looks the same as every other Windows out there, but my GNOME is running non-default theme (oh, I just checked: Firebird is better at mimicking GNOME than Seamonkey is. Cool.) Mozilla does manage to assimilate some of the customizations, but not nearly all. It's fast, too; it feels faster than IE6.

And, man, I stumbled upon the coolest thing. The RadialContext extension is sexy: good looking, fast, functional. I've heard of pie menus before, but never used one. Partly because all the screenshots always looked butt-ugly. Well, not with RadialContext. In fact, in real life it looks better than in the screen shots. And it feels good to use. It does mostly everything gestures do, but better. Fast and easy gestures accomplish all the operations in the context menus, and you get visual help while still learning where everything is.

Highly recommended.