Firefox has been a part of my browsing-life since it was still in pre-1.0 beta stages and went by the name of Phoenix. The reason clung so to this new browser (at the time) was due to the fact that I had become frustrated with the much lamented Internet Explorer Microsoft that was developed to sweep Netscape off the table. Back then, Firefox only held a modest percentage of the browsing market-share, its’ main selling point being its open-source nature and security.

Browsers, much like everything else in the computer software business, started to evolve into something much more sophisticated and complex than first envisioned. It seems to me that while Firefox 3.0 was vast improvement over its predecessor, it has lost a lot of its attractiveness, a direct consequence of its increasingly intricate nature.

Read the rest of this entry »

Mostly Google in the news again with the release of its first slew of [security] updates to it’s newborn baby Chrome. Also, Intel came out with the best performing hard drive on the planet (for now), and it’s an 80 gig SSD. Lastly, eBook lovers can finally eat their hearts out with Plastic Logics’ pretty — almost malleable — e-Ink touchscreen.

Read the rest of this entry »

This trick enables you to regain the ability to use Google’s “I’m feeling lucky”-functionality on the fly from Firefox 3’s address bar, as was natively possible in Firefox 2. To accommodate this, we’ll use OpenDNS’ network shortcuts. Once configured, you’ll be able to type stuff like “goto drupal” and be taken to drupal.org right away.

Note: As advertised, you need to be using OpenDNS for this hack to work. If you don’t know what OpenDNS is, you may want to read up on it, since it’s a great thing to have.

Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE: Mozilla has recently decided to roll out one more Release Candidate. While this wasn’t planned, they’re doing so to make sure the final release is extremely solid. With RC2, 40 additional bugs will have been fixed. The final release date will be pushed back with approx. 5 days, though. Better safe than buggy I guess.

Firefox has been all over the news today. This is probably mostly due to the latest Release Candidate Mozilla pushed a few days ago. The third iteration of Mozilla’s flagship web browser is due no later than next month, contrary to earlier reports. It doesn’t seem likely the Firefox team will be releasing another RC build, though. But never say never, of course.

Performance boost

I’ve been using Firefox 3 since beta three and I’m having mixed feelings about it. I love the way it doesn’t gobble down hundreds of megabytes of RAM anymore. And, it’s great to see they’ve finally made the rendering engine snappier. Now, in comparison to FF3 RC1, it becomes apparent that Firefox 2’s performance was taking a snail trail beneath its baggage of (amongst others) poorly supported Javascript processing and page rendering. In addition, the numerous leaking addons made using FF2 a rather crash-prone experience.

Mozilla, in my opinion, [still] under-delivers on its promise to give Firefox a native look on every platform. There were humongous plans for a Mac version (which made its debut a couple of betas ago), a Linux version and a Vista version. As most of us know, Mozilla threw out the latter to retain Firefox’ image and online presence. Instead, they slapped out a regurgitated iteration of Firefox’ former self, i.e. Firefox 2. A big mistake.

Enhancements

An other addition worth mentioning is the dramatically improved address-bar. Much like the Spotlight on the Mac, or Instant Search in Vista, Firefox searches for previously queried or bookmarked sites as you type. If you’re the type to frequently visit certain sites, but don’t want to go through the hassle that is bookmarking (yes it is), this is a great productivity booster.

The download manager finally allows for pausing downloads. And, closing the browser won’t flush them out either. They’ll just pop right back the next instance you open your trusty browser. This feature greatly obsoletes the need for addons like ‘DownThemAll’, though the aforementioned provides more that just download management.

Protecting the young’uns

Dumb and uninitiated web surfers are now protected against the dark side of the net. Clearer certificate pages and anti-phishing/scamming warnings are in place to wane off ignorant eyes.

One of the annoyances of running an ‘unfinished’ version of Firefox - like software is ever finished - is that support for addons is completely broken. Only a few are capable of keeping up with Mozilla’s beta/RC cycle. That, and the revised addons’ underpinnings usually render the addons-window empty. While there are methods at present to get incompatible addons running again, this is not advised, since many contain deprecated and insecure code. The solution is simple, just sit it out, or plainly revert back to Firefox 2 for the time being.

Firefox 3.1 in the running

Word goes round that Mozilla has already started planning the next major update to Firefox, i.e. version 3.1. It will reportedly incorporate features that were cut from the RC1 build because they weren’t yet on par with the rest of the feature set. Most of them were nearly finished, but just didn’t meet the quality bar for broad release.

The XMLHttpRequest (XHR) API is an example of this. The RC1 release notes note that the specifications for this technology aren’t stable, nor secure enough [yet].

With Firefox 3.1, it will be the first time Mozilla rolls out two major updates to the Firefox franchise in the same year. Interesting.

Get the RC

For those interested on living on the bleeding edge (cough), Firefox 3 RC1 is available from Mozilla’s website right here. In keeping with its good tradition, this download is available in all its multi-language/platform splendor.

The third beta release of the eminent Firefox 3 web browser has been released today, boasting approx. 1300 incremental improvements over previous betas. Improved in Beta 3:

• Stability
• Performance
• Memory usage
• Platform-specific enhancements
• UI improvements

Word goes around that there will be one more beta-release, before Mozilla will be issuing Release Candidate versions. It looking like FF is finally nearing completion. This development cycle has been the longest iteration since 1.0.

Screenshots courtesy of ArsTechnica:

TinyUrl.com is a website that takes long URLs and transforms them into cute little buggers like http://tinyurl.com/2uhxg4. It’s useful when one would like to send on, um, long links or when one is interested in social networking sites like Twitter where typing space is fairly limited. The service has been turned into a handy-dandy Firefox addon, which will create a TinyUrl for you on-the-fly and immediately copy it to your clipboard. All you need to do is CTRL+V it.

Find it here.

With this installed you can add a new item to your toolbar which flops out a menu holding common commands. You can also right-click on any webpage to accomplish the same effect. The only thing that’s amiss right now is a keyboard shortcut.

Chris Pirillo:

“What Browser do you Use? Are you happy with your browser, or do you feel it’s lacking?”

To many this may be too heated a discussion to engage in, but all one needs a zealousless perception of things and some honesty. Yes, Internet Explorer rendered itself a horrible reputation throughout the years and has probably partially retained the image, despite the numerous enhancements. When facing facts, though, IE7 did finally mature into a decent browser with adequate security. Amongst other caveats, it still lacks web standards conformity, though Microsoft claimed to have resolved the latter to a satisfactory degree. Another major aching-point is the lack of c13y (a.k.a. customizability, without wanting to appear fancy). This issue’s importance is up to the beholder; whilst advanced ‘internauts’ value this a great deal, casual internet users probably couldn’t give.

That’s where Firefox coasts in. With it steadily gaining market share (more concretely, snagging bits and pieces away from IE, consistently) many alike are discovering Firefox as a credible alternative for day-to-day web browsing, along with its (nearly) boundless array of extensions and plug-ins, which makes it so popular. From ad-blocking to mouse gestures, the idea is you start out with a barebone (quite a competent one, nonetheless) and add the desired functionality as you go. This has given Firefox a lot of lift, even to the point of neglecting some crunching issues like memory-leakages and bloat.

All the consideration given for both competitors, one could also give Opera a spin, which is a back-to-basics type of browser. With ‘basics’, I mean making agreeable setbacks for the Greater Good, being:

• Tiny filesize
• Free!
• Fast
• Passes the ACID2-test graciously

The smaller user base might be a testament of the lack of c13y, and perhaps marketing efforts. Nonetheless, Opera is a great browser, yet might be aimed at the more purist type of web audience.

I snapped up some cites from Chris Pirillo’s blog via ClipMarks:

clipped from chris.pirillo.com IE 7 is already being touted by some as the “best” browser ever created. Many say that the features and enhancements far outweigh any security problems that still exist. Research does show that the largest percentage of Internet users DO use IE for all their browsing needs. Firefox is now faster, more secure, and fully customizable to your online life. Firefox is definitely the most customizable browser Each browser will take you around the Internet. Each does basically the same thing. The best advice we can give you is to try them all.

ClipMarks Remarks: IE7 is NOT the best browser, no matter who’s touting it. I’m the first one to admit that the enhancements were welcome, but it doesn’t make it the best one around, just yet. I don’t agree with the remark that Firefox is “it” either, in its current state, seeing it’s prone to memory leaks and ends up being slow after extended use. Maybe Firefox 3 will bring solace. I firmly concur with the last clip.