The Mozilla web site has been redesigned using the same basic layout I’ve used on the sites I’ve recently built.

The common ingredients:

• Fixed width, centered design.
• Main navigation menu at top right.
• Home page features a splash area with content modules below in three columns.
• Interior pages have the content in a main column on the left with supporting information (lists) on the right.

This is becoming a common layout because it works well. Unfortunately, as more and more people adopt it, it will eventually feel overused and pedestrian.

Mozilla does forsake the right column for a sub-nav menu on the left for certain pages. I’m not a fan of magic appearing navigation elements, but I don’t think they do any harm here. With how extensive some of the menus are, they had to go vertical with them. Putting them on the left (and their visual styling) does help distinguish them as navigation elements rather than supporting information.

I certainly think they’ve continued to improve both the look at the usability of the site with this redesign. Now they just need to put Camino in a more prominent area on the home page. 🙂