Via Lifehacker, I’ve been pointed towards Alex Faaborg, a user interface designer working on the upcoming Firefox 3, who has posted some screenshot mockups of some of the experimental designs they are working to incorporate into the updated browser. Alex adds the usual disclaimer, about how the designs may change or potentially not even make it into the final release. But the concepts are slick.

Included in the “advanced screening” are such excellent features as tagging bookmarks (which appears to look and act almost exactly like the bookmarking feature included in Flock), saved searches, and improved webpage content handling options (of which, there are currently NONE in FF2).

There’s also the possibility of support for microformats, an entirely new concept of which Alex has been a vocal supporter, advocate, and general champion. If you want to know more about how microformats work, you should really read Alex’s blog posts on the subject. When you talk about streamlining web information and consolidating personal data for easy distribution and sharing, I’m already completely on board. And microformats look to do just that.

Up to this point, I’ve been slathering with anticipation for FF3. The rest of the proposed features leave me a bit more cautious with my optimism.

Such as the possible dynamic change to the location bar. The idea is that most the URL of the website you are visiting becomes greyed out, and the domain.namespace become prominently featured. Here’s an example of what it would potentially look like:

I do not approve of this idea, but maybe I actually need to see it in action in order to judge the level of annoyance it might cause me.

The last item Alex discusses is the “private browsing” feature. Yet another thing I have no need of, but I can see its usefulness nonetheless. Basically, FF3 could contain a feature where you can browse (for porn) in a “private” session where none of your (porn) browsing data is stored locally (you know, with your porn). It’s a porn shield, making your visit to various sites during the “private” session cleared from any local cache. I have FF2 setup so that every time I close the browser, all my cache, history, saved passwords, etc. are cleared automatically. It isn’t because of porn, but because I surf on a work computer, and don’t necessarily want my browsing history available should anyone want to take a look at what sites I visit. Like I said, I have no use for this particular feature, but I can see why some (porn surfers) would like it.

All in all, I have to admit, I love to see new features more than I like to hear or read about them. I’m a visual person, and seeing some screenshots of new concepts being introduced–even if they are “not final” mockups–is refreshing, and keeps my interest in a product higher than just reading a bullet point list of potential features.

I’ll definitely be watching Alex’s blog in the future.