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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,279
30,340



firefox.png
Mozilla has today launched Firefox 20, adding a number of significant improvements to the browser. Users are now able to initiate private browsing without the need to open a new window or close a current browsing session.

There is a new function in place that allows users to close a hanging plugin without the need to shut down the entire browser, and the update also includes a new download manager in the Firefox toolbar.

The download manager can be accessed by clicking on the down arrow button on the right side of the search bar. When clicked, the arrow will show the drop down file manager, displaying all downloads and providing a progress bar for files that are in the process of downloading. Tools allow users to pause/resume downloads, cancel, go to the download page, and open the downloads folder.

Firefox version 20 also includes several bug fixes, performance improvements, and new tools for developers. This version of Firefox comes approximately six weeks after the release of Firefox 19.

Firefox 20 for the Mac is available for download from the Mozilla website.

Article Link: Firefox 20 for Mac Adds Download Manager and New Private Browsing Features
 

markob

macrumors newbie
Dec 16, 2008
16
3
Until (after YEARS) they finally fix memory leaks in Firefox I don't really care what they add, using 1GB ram with one simple HTML document opened? Really? Firefox has basically become the new IE, when other browsers get proper Firebug I'll finally be able to uninstall this resource hog off my system.
 

starfx6464

macrumors newbie
Aug 24, 2005
28
11
Still has the old school scroll bars :/

Blurgh... I take this to also mean that the stupid "scroll to go back/forward" or whatever it's called is still implemented in the same, crappy way as always. Heaven forbid I want a simple visual cue that I'm about to go back/forward a page because my fingers slid to one side or the other because I'm lazy like that.
 

JAT

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2001
6,473
124
Mpls, MN
The feature I am waiting for is a team of commandos to go visit every company that makes IE-specific websites and beat them until they join the 21st century. Is that on Mozilla's list?
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,544
6,042
That download manager sounds like an amazing feature and I can't believe no one has done it before.

Oh wait...
 

QCassidy352

macrumors G5
Mar 20, 2003
12,028
6,036
Bay Area
I'm holding out for Firefox 42. Probably only a few weeks away, so they've got that going for them, which is nice.
 

york2600

Cancelled
Jul 24, 2002
274
288
Portland, OR
Until (after YEARS) they finally fix memory leaks in Firefox I don't really care what they add, using 1GB ram with one simple HTML document opened? Really? Firefox has basically become the new IE, when other browsers get proper Firebug I'll finally be able to uninstall this resource hog off my system.

13 tabs open for over a day and I'm using 712 megs. It's not the RAM hog it once was
 

thebluepointe

macrumors member
Oct 17, 2011
78
67
While I am a huge fan of Chrome, I still enjoy using Firefox, primarily because of its extensions system. While Chrome has made significant improvements to its addon quality and quantity, Firefox often has better solutions for the ones I use most commonly (key words, "I use"). They tend to get updated faster too.

As far as looks, I use FXChrome theme which basically makes Firefox look like Chrome for Mac. I also use Foobar for a unified search/address bar.

In terms of speed, on my modern fast system with 16GB of RAM, the differences between Firefox and Chrome on my system are negligible.
 

AngelOfSoul

macrumors member
Feb 23, 2013
51
1
I swear to god the download manager icon at the top right is so familiar to me. Sorry Firefox, I'm done with copycats. Trashed already.

Come on people, be original.

Next...
 

bigpics

macrumors 6502
Jul 26, 2002
287
48
Rockland County, New York
13 tabs open for over a day and I'm using 712 megs. It's not the RAM hog it once was

Not as bad as it used to be for sure, but could be better - and I find the same "RAM creep" happening with Chrome over a day or two.

"Cool Previews" is the one extension that keeps bringing me back to FireFox, though. There's still nothing exactly equivalent on Chrome and it sure saves actually opening a ton of links and than going back to the source, e.g., Apple Insider's underneath this CP pop-up window as I type this, and I'll be back on AI's home page as soon as I press the ESC key.

Liking open source software development as a concept is another decent plus. So I'll forgive Mozilla a few aesthetic lapses. (Lack of compatibility with some sites does bother me more, admittedly.)

Are there any other non-profit software programs that have been this successful (in terms of numbers of users) for this long? I'm sure there are more people running FF than every Linux distro (not specifically maintained by a for-profit corp) combined, e.g....
 

the8thark

macrumors 601
Apr 18, 2011
4,628
1,735
While I am a huge fan of Chrome
I can't stand chrome. For many many reasons. But why do you like it? What makes it good for you? I'm willing to give chrome another try to see if it's with using again. But not on my Mac of cause. I'll use another as a test to see if it's any good.

So I'm asking pretty much for your reasons as to why I should test out chrome again.
 

philr5150

macrumors regular
Nov 9, 2010
209
261
Omaha, NE
Actually, Firefox 109 will be worth upgrading.

But yet, Chrome updates twice as fast as Firefox but no-one mentions that. Wonder why... oh yeah, it's Google, which is a dirty 4-letter word in the Mac world. Silly me.

----------

I swear to god the download manager icon at the top right is so familiar to me. Sorry Firefox, I'm done with copycats. Trashed already.

Come on people, be original.

Next...

Trashed because of an icon? Too much free time, dude.
 

Jeaz

macrumors 6502a
Dec 12, 2009
677
1,147
Sweden
Firefox used to play a big part in the post-Netscape era. There was a time when Internet Explorer had muscled out Netscape and was pretty much the king of the web, and with that power IE ignored standards and made a lot of propriety crap.
But with Firefox and in part Opera, better alternatives emerged and forced Microsoft to up their game on IE. But with Safari, Chrome and a better IE, Firefox is really struggling to stay important. It's a bit sad though.
 

locoboi187

macrumors 6502a
Oct 3, 2012
711
375
I just want a smooth pinch to zoom. That's all. Chrome and Firefox don't do that for me which is why I use safari.
 

thebluepointe

macrumors member
Oct 17, 2011
78
67
I can't stand chrome. For many many reasons. But why do you like it? What makes it good for you? I'm willing to give chrome another try to see if it's with using again. But not on my Mac of cause. I'll use another as a test to see if it's any good.

So I'm asking pretty much for your reasons as to why I should test out chrome again.

Well, many of the things I like about it, I've been able to replicate with Firefox themes/extensions. Primarily I like the unified search/address bar. I also think it is much tidier with the bookmarks toolbar. Much quicker for me. I like that I've never had to restart Chrome to install/update extensions...they work immediately. I like that it updates flash automatically and internally. I like that it has its own "Task Manager" (View Background Pages) so I can kill individual extensions that might be misbehaving or tabs. Also lets me see if certain extensions are being a resource hog. Chrome also runs individual extensions in their own process (all those Google Chrome Worker processes you see in Activity Monitor).

Again, I don't think Chrome's addon system is quite up to par, but it does seem to be improving. Chrome does have one extension I love that Firefox does not have: Stylebot. While many of the things it does are just as achievable by extensions such as Stylish or User Style Manager; Stylebot has a great live editing system which can be used to quickly "hide" elements on a website or just style them as Stylish does. Of course this isn't a big deal for most users, I'd guess. But I like it and helps makes up for Adblock Plus' poor element hiding in Chrome that is handled so well in Firefox.

The other feature I use in Chrome is their Remote Desktop plugin. I use it to remote into my parent's computer. I find it much more secure than most free VNC or RDC solutions and it is very simple from my parent's perspective.

Since I own a Nexus 7, I love that I can use Chrome's user sign-in feature to sync my bookmarks and other info between browsers. If I were to, say, buy a new laptop...simply by signing into Chrome, all of my user settings and extensions (that I didn't manually install) would automatically install. Its a bit like Firefox Sync, but much more powerful.

Personally, if you have a solution that works, why switch. Every browser has its upsides and downsides. In the end, it really matters if the browser you use provides solutions that benefit you.
 
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