I should probably stop using this blog for speculation and opinion and start using it for posting stuff that people might actually find useful. Still, it feels nice to share and get it out there, even if no one is reading it.
Today i finally found myself with 5 minutes spare (among the endless torrent of assignments that marks the end of the University semester), so i decided to check out the new Firefox 3 RC1, as it had been recommended highly by a friend at uni. I used Firefox 2 extensively during my summer holidays working at Unlimited Realities and was very impressed with Firebug and the fast JavaScript engine (very obvious with the heavy AJAX scripts i was writing). Since then i basically didn't bother installing it on my computer at home. Why? because while internet explorer is chunky, slow, and has few or no addons; it did what i needed it to do. Ok, so i couldn't be bothered, but that's probably the reason half of IE users are still using it; it's what came with their PC. IF Firefox came with every PC (provided people knew what it was) it would have a fairly decent market share. All browsers are much of a muchness; most users care that they do what they need to do, and that's about it. Firefox is adopted by most power users for many reasons; developer-friendliness (Firebug, open source community, wide range of addons, etc.), speed (as i mentioned about the JavaScript engine), and of course the good old anti-Microsoft stigma. The last reason isn't such a big one these days; Microsoft do alot of PR work to try improve their image with developers and power users.
Anyway onto Firefox 3 itself; first let's consider the Interface. I'm running this on Vista, and i have to say, the look'n'feel for this version of firefox really does update it to XP/Vista interface, but then according to the release notes this is very much indended; they have tweaked the UIs for the Mac and Windows versions to make them seem less out of place. I thought this was a smart move; i actually like the look and feel of Firefox better than the IE look and feel in Vista, and i don't think it would look out of place in XP either. Firefox continues it's tradition of offering a concise and uncluttered interface, and avoiding the hallmark mistakes of most alot of past Microsoft apps; huge and overflowing menus, cluttered and overpopulated toolbars which i never personally use. I like the simple approach of just having the browser controls and a favourites bar.
Now to move onto the Firefox feature i've always liked, and still do in this installment; addons. As an open source project Firefox has good support for the addon community, with a following so large and devoted that i would liken it to the WoW mod community. If you browse the Firefox Addons site you can come up with addons for anything from ripping video off flash-based players like YouTube to ad blockers. My favourites after a quick float around the site were ScribeFire (what i'm writing this blog in), Download Statusbar and FireGestures. FireGestures i think is very cool, especially if you're working on a touchscreen or with a laptop touchpad. Basically you make a gesture with the mouse pointer and it converts it into an action in Firefox. There's a heck of a learning curve in learning the gestures, but other than that i think this plugin is very well done. As i said, i'm writing this in ScribeFire, which gives me a WYSIWYG editor which automatically logs me in and sends my blogs directly to the server, allowing me to be even more lazy.
Overall i have to say i'm very happy with Firefox 3; if you're a novice user, wait until the final release comes out and then give it a go. If you're reasonably confident you can download the RC1 now. This will definately be my primary browser, at least until someone comes out with a browser that can beat it's plugin support and superior speed (neither of which Internet Explorer has ever been good at).
Today i finally found myself with 5 minutes spare (among the endless torrent of assignments that marks the end of the University semester), so i decided to check out the new Firefox 3 RC1, as it had been recommended highly by a friend at uni. I used Firefox 2 extensively during my summer holidays working at Unlimited Realities and was very impressed with Firebug and the fast JavaScript engine (very obvious with the heavy AJAX scripts i was writing). Since then i basically didn't bother installing it on my computer at home. Why? because while internet explorer is chunky, slow, and has few or no addons; it did what i needed it to do. Ok, so i couldn't be bothered, but that's probably the reason half of IE users are still using it; it's what came with their PC. IF Firefox came with every PC (provided people knew what it was) it would have a fairly decent market share. All browsers are much of a muchness; most users care that they do what they need to do, and that's about it. Firefox is adopted by most power users for many reasons; developer-friendliness (Firebug, open source community, wide range of addons, etc.), speed (as i mentioned about the JavaScript engine), and of course the good old anti-Microsoft stigma. The last reason isn't such a big one these days; Microsoft do alot of PR work to try improve their image with developers and power users.
Anyway onto Firefox 3 itself; first let's consider the Interface. I'm running this on Vista, and i have to say, the look'n'feel for this version of firefox really does update it to XP/Vista interface, but then according to the release notes this is very much indended; they have tweaked the UIs for the Mac and Windows versions to make them seem less out of place. I thought this was a smart move; i actually like the look and feel of Firefox better than the IE look and feel in Vista, and i don't think it would look out of place in XP either. Firefox continues it's tradition of offering a concise and uncluttered interface, and avoiding the hallmark mistakes of most alot of past Microsoft apps; huge and overflowing menus, cluttered and overpopulated toolbars which i never personally use. I like the simple approach of just having the browser controls and a favourites bar.
Now to move onto the Firefox feature i've always liked, and still do in this installment; addons. As an open source project Firefox has good support for the addon community, with a following so large and devoted that i would liken it to the WoW mod community. If you browse the Firefox Addons site you can come up with addons for anything from ripping video off flash-based players like YouTube to ad blockers. My favourites after a quick float around the site were ScribeFire (what i'm writing this blog in), Download Statusbar and FireGestures. FireGestures i think is very cool, especially if you're working on a touchscreen or with a laptop touchpad. Basically you make a gesture with the mouse pointer and it converts it into an action in Firefox. There's a heck of a learning curve in learning the gestures, but other than that i think this plugin is very well done. As i said, i'm writing this in ScribeFire, which gives me a WYSIWYG editor which automatically logs me in and sends my blogs directly to the server, allowing me to be even more lazy.
Overall i have to say i'm very happy with Firefox 3; if you're a novice user, wait until the final release comes out and then give it a go. If you're reasonably confident you can download the RC1 now. This will definately be my primary browser, at least until someone comes out with a browser that can beat it's plugin support and superior speed (neither of which Internet Explorer has ever been good at).
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