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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

[wechsler.livejournal.com]

Googlebar for Moz/firefox

[zotz]

I got very attached to tabs very quickly. I don't think I'd particularly want to go back to a non-tabbed browser now.

Expect them to make an IE appearance soon, now that development has been revived.

Extensions

[lambertbehnke.livejournal.com]

Firefox is v nice,

but it's true strength comes from the extensions.
I love mouse gestures (like in Opera) and Adblock (gets rid of all those pesky unwanted banners that take more time loading then the page).

The extensions are dead easy to download from their site and make browsing a lot better.

It does pay to check it out.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_corpse_/]

For bonus points, not only does Ctrl-F bring this box up, but / does as well :)

I discovered that by accident, and being the vi-ophile that I am, it made me happy. Sadly, it doesn't support '?'.

Comparison with Opera

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Tabs really are great. But popup windows have a tendency to be annoying popup windows. Opera has an option to turn them into popup Tabs. I'm now using Firefox at home, and find this lack quite annoying.

Opera does assume the File protocol :)

Opera's download manager starts downloading *as soon* as the download site provides information. It gets on with downloading while the user deals with the interface (selecting where the file should be saved). As a result, for quick downloads, it's fairly common to find that the download has finished before the user has!

Opera has the same kind of mini-search function, and the search in page function. This is good. It also has a "go to URL" function: highlight the text in a page, and it'll put it straight into the URL (rather than ctrl-C, move the cursor, ctrl-V)

Opera doesn't make "failed to find" noises. :)

Opera lets you nickname bookmark folders ;-)
Opera lets you rebind almost all the keys (which might keep _corpse_ happy, but I don't know, off-hand, if it supports "find backwards")
Opera supports tiling (or cascading) tabs, so you can see more than one at once.