Preview the slick new (new) Ubuntu 10.04 Firefox Start page

By , Published April 26, 2010

With Ubuntu 10.04 having switched its default search engine from Google to Yahoo! and then back to Google again we've had a few 'new' Firefox start pages to look at this cycle.

The latest, and final, iteration is, I’m sure you will agree, easily the best looking this cycle €“ if not in Ubuntu's history. To my mind only the Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron start page looked as wholesomely designed as this. Picture, yo.

No GMail no hablo

Whilst it may be nice to look at it does have its flaws. There are no 'quick' links to Google services as with Mozilla's own start page €“ even after entering a 'search' as the Ubuntu start page uses Google Custom Search. Sadly it seems there is a trade-off for beauty.

See it for yourself, fishies*

You can check it out (and set it as your default homepage in any browser of your choice) using the following link: http://start.ubuntu.com/10.04/

*The community icon is a fishbowl. No offence intended.

Thanks to Paul

Article originally appeared on omgubuntu.co.uk

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  • Anonymous

    It’s very slick to be sure but miss the default Google homepage with links to me email and such.

  • http://twitter.com/Nickedynick Nick Stringer

    I’m not sure the Google logo sits well in it, the colours are too much. Maybe Canonical they got/made an Ubuntu themed Google logo it’d look better.

    The rest of it looks nice though :)

  • Anonymous

    We still can’t select other languages for search… This is still a very, very very Bad point for Ubuntu in Other countries.

  • http://technotaku.com/ Anonymous

    Just yesterday (or the day before it) I was asking for a Google page with all those things. I think I’ll give it a try =D

  • Kyle

    slick, new and doesn’t work well on netbooks. the buttons are cut off at the bottom.

    Also, I only speak english, but there’s many who do not. Why is there no language selection, or localisation options?

  • Anonymous

    Canonical could make it possilbe to have custom pages for registered users (or not registered using cookies maybe), with settings for language , search engine and place for some bookmarks like on fave4.org

  • Jimbo

    The page is pretty lame. Look at the way the grey Ubuntu section is flat with sharp corners along the top, but curved along the bottom, and look at the way that curved bottom butts up against the curved top of the other box.

    I’m guessing this is just a placeholder until they fix these issues. I hope so anyways, I really do.

    • Anonymous

      +1

      that’s what I thought

    • Anonymous

      While I agree with your point about the curved parts of the different boxes, on the whole, I really liked it. It actually goes well with my desktop.

  • Anonymous

    Why would anyone want to use a Google Custom Search, when vanilla Google is so much better? Why the hell would anyone want a search box on their homepage, when Firefox has a search box on the effing toolbar?! And what kind of person wants a link to the Canonical store or Ubuntu forums on their home page?

    Huge pail on their fart.

    • http://olympusdigitalpen.blogspot.com/ dr. watson

      I think you might be missing the point, it’s all about branding. Plus, it probably gives search engines a good idea of how many people are using a certain OS. Microsoft still does it by pointing users to MSN/Bing with their browser for example.

    • http://olympusdigitalpen.blogspot.com/ dr. watson

      I think you might be missing the point, it’s all about branding. Plus, it probably gives search engines a good idea of how many people are using a certain OS. Microsoft still does it by pointing users to MSN/Bing with their browser for example.

  • Zap

    Quite a pity that the reflection at the bottom is an effect of this blog and not present in the actual page… ;P

  • no asylum

    Pass. Dont like it at all.

  • http://twitter.com/bustible Jon

    They made a pretty nice “Search” button there, didn’t they?

  • http://twitter.com/f00fyf00f3rz Noeltorious

    pretty sweet, hate the custom searches though

  • m77

    Does it support auto-completion of search term this time? :)

  • SixOO

    OMG, the Ubuntu official website is awful. Still.

    • Anonymous

      i’m wondering if they’ll update with the release of lucid.

  • http://olympusdigitalpen.blogspot.com/ dr. watson

    I like it: simple and clean. I really love the new Ubuntu logo font and icon. I wonder where the inspiration came from ?

  • http://olympusdigitalpen.blogspot.com/ dr. watson

    I like it: simple and clean. I really love the new Ubuntu logo font and icon. I wonder where the inspiration came from ?

  • Arkadi

    I like it very much, looks very clean and professional.

  • Marc

    If you thought the media kit being zipped on a Mac was smirk-inducing, then you’ll probably be interested to see the Yahoo! logo in the image used for the start page’s graphics:
    http://start.ubuntu.com/10.04/sprite.png

  • Anonymous

    its so SHINY.

    ehem.

    that said, it does bug me how heavy the ubuntu bit feels compared to the google logo. oh well.