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[venta]

So far with Firefox (thoughts and comparisons with IE, my previous browser):

These thoughts are from downloading and using it over this week. I've not yet spent any real time playing around with properly.

• Tabs. Tabs are great. I like tabs. I can have one window containing all the pages I usually keep open, and don't have a task bar cluttered with windows.


• Loading pages: seems slower than IE, this may be just my perception. Firefox often loads pages in an odd way, which means the layout is very screwy during loading, but gets it right in the end.


• Firefox doesn't assume you want the file protocol when you try and open files on mapped drives. If I type "E:", it copes. If I type "E:/cvs/myfile.html" it complains that e is not a protocol. This is mildly annoying.


• I like Firefox's little file download manager window. It's tidier than IE's handling. I'm not, however, convinced of its ability to realise the file you're downloading has changed and actually fetch a new version. I need to test this.


• Firefox's search box (which works like a cut-down Google tool bar, but also works for Amazon, eBay, Dictionary.com, etc) is a nice idea. Its Google functionality is slightly less nice than the google tool bar, because it doesn't allow you to easily highlight your search terms. This could be worse, because...


• Searching a web page comes up as a little tidy, friendly-to-use bar at the base of the page, not a splatty dialog in the middle of what you're trying to read. For bonus points, not only does Ctrl-F bring this box up, but / does as well :)


• I have yet to find a way to stop Firefox from making noises when I search for text and fail to find it. Unwanted noises are Very Bad.

So, on balance, I think that's "does some things more nicely than IE". Notable exceptions are loading pages and making noises, but it scores very highly for having tabs. I think the last one just balances out the first two. I'll stick with it for a while longer, certainly, and may stay permanently.

Comments

Token eMac user comment!

[inskauldrak.livejournal.com]

umm, crtl-s isn't "save" for a Mac (of any flavour), nor as far as I'm aware is it ever a 'search'

Having used Macs from the old ClassicII, thorugh PowerPC, iMac and now the shiny, lovely, gorgeous eMac *strokes his 'puter fondly* the 'control' button just basically ain't one of those buttons that you use on a Mac.

Re: Token eMac user comment!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Nah, you misunderstand :)

We weren't talking about these new fangled Mac machine things - we were talking about emacs, a text editing program[*] which has been kicking around for donkeys years. Nothing to do with Macs at all, it was originally evolved for Unix.

(Backplot as to what else was going on - the other text editing program of similar age, venerability, complexity and arcanity is vi. People use one or the other. You know how the green/purple debate goes ? Yeah, well the emacs/vi debate goes rather like that.)

[*] Kinda like Notepad. But with knobs on. Lots of knobs. And some bells. And whistles. And some weird wiggly bits of uncertain function. And more knobs.

Re: Token eMac user comment!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I've actually never used a Mac, y'know :) Up until zandev starting toting his shiny tiny Mac laptop around, I'd never even seen one.

Re: Token eMac user comment!

[inskauldrak.livejournal.com]

they are very shiny : ) Especially these days - OSX is Unix based and therefore not only very stable*, it's very handy for Mark to be able to do cunning techie stuff with 'puters talking to each other. We couldn't find how to open the relevant window-thing... until we just did a help search for it and it's first option was 'would you like to open one'

Oh yeah, and barring the odd game, when a Mac crashes, it gives you an error message and the manual tells you what kind of error it is (as opposed to odd messages that are only useful if you have tech-support).

Gah! I really am a 'Mac User' - we always go on about how good they are *blushes*

*In a year I've had one crash -- and that was MythIII's fault.