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Firefox 3, Beta 2 going well

S

S600MBUSA

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 5, 2007
127
2
Georgia
The other day, I downloaded the second beta of Firefox 3. I also downloaded the Mac theme. I love both.

The mac theme is especially nice; it adds a brushed metal look with Safari-like buttons.

I've only had one bug having to do with two-fingered scrolling of the bookmark pull-down list, and it's only a sporadic problem.

The memory usage of this browser is a welcome change from Safari 3. I was having massive memory leaks on Safari, sometimes ballooning to 750-850 MBs of real memory being used after a few hours. Right now, I've had Firefox 3 open for at least a day and with 10 tabs up, it's using 142 MBs of memory.
 
I have nothing but good things to say about Firefox 3 beta 2 with one exception: I would like to be able to select the URL by clicking at the beginning of the address, as in version 2.
 
Would you folks recommend Firefox over Camino? I'm new to Mac's, and I'm not sure which browser to go with. All I know is I'm not a big fan of Safari and Opera. Firefox has always served me well on my Windows computers.
 
ZenErik said:
Would you folks recommend Firefox over Camino? I'm new to Mac's, and I'm not sure which browser to go with. All I know is I'm not a big fan of Safari and Opera. Firefox has always served me well on my Windows computers.
Click to expand...

Camino is nicer, but FF offers more plug-ins...

Before you ditch Safari completely, I recommend you install Inquisitor for it :)
 
Yeah, FF3 seems to be coming along nicely, but the beta 2 still messes with my search plug-ins, has that annoying drag'n'drop-ing with the bookmarks in folders in the bookmark menu that makes me frell up my "natural" order, has no support for 3 of my 4 favourite add-ons (British and Norwegian dictionaries (which may be possible to hack in) and Context Search), and still seems a bit buggy.

Not leaving Netscape Navigator 9 just yet... ;)
 
I typically avoid beta stuff (just to keep my machine happy), but glad I took a flyer on beta 2 of Firefox 3. Very stable so far and with the Mac Proto theme looks very at home. Really, really like it!
 
ZenErik said:
Would you folks recommend Firefox over Camino? I'm new to Mac's, and I'm not sure which browser to go with. All I know is I'm not a big fan of Safari and Opera. Firefox has always served me well on my Windows computers.
Click to expand...


I have both Firefox and Camino on my Mac, I like both.
On Firefox you can save several sign in names and different passwords for the same link, on the Camino only one name and password save per address.
I do like the way Camino puts all of your favorite addresses on the toolbar stacked up. Both are good and I often have one on and use the other for research.

*

I did have Opera on both my PC laptop and on my Mac for a while. After a good test over several months, I found that I didn't like the way Opera worked and completely removed it from both computers! Firefox is my workhorse!
 
The fact that the window doesn't go light when inactive is still bugging me.. hopefully it will be fixed before a final release.
 
nerdnot said:
I have both Firefox and Camino on my Mac, I like both.
On Firefox you can save several sign in names and different passwords for the same link, on the Camino only one name and password save per address.
I do like the way Camino puts all of your favorite addresses on the toolbar stacked up. Both are good and I often have one on and use the other for research.

*

I did have Opera on both my PC laptop and on my Mac for a while. After a good test over several months, I found that I didn't like the way Opera worked and completely removed it from both computers! Firefox is my workhorse!
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. I'm trying the Firefox 3 beta 2 right now, and it's working very well for me.
 
there are still two things not very mac-ish, if somebody have to argue

1. the color of scroll bar when inactive, which I believe will be fixed before final
2. the drop down menu widget. I m not sure if this is on the list of things to be done.

but be sure to understand, firefox 3 IS written in cocoa, so It IS "native". we can put that to rest.

indeed, when compare to camino (or safari), its about functionality that firefox has more to offer. camino does have pretty good adblock plugin built-in, its safe to try all of them and figure out which one you want.

I knew I tried firefox, safari, shiira, omniweb, icab, opera, camino for more than a week before I settled down with firefox. Guess I care more about what I can do than how it looks (sure, if its way too ugly, I will have trouble as well, thankfully there are always themes out there)
 
My hope with the new FireFox is loadup times

Not sure why but Safari, Camino, and others load up MUCH FASTER than any version of FireFox that I have owned

I use FireFox strictly on my Windows but come Mac time, I stick to Camino/Safari
 
Unfortunately, I have found a fatal problem (for me) with Beta 2. I can not get fully logged into Yahoo! email. I get an error message when it initially logs me in, then gets stuck "Loading Yahoo! Mail" forever. I have to Force Quit FF every single time if I have tried to get into Yahoo! email.

I had to downgrade back to FF version 2 for now :(
 
ZenErik said:
Would you folks recommend Firefox over Camino? I'm new to Mac's, and I'm not sure which browser to go with. All I know is I'm not a big fan of Safari and Opera. Firefox has always served me well on my Windows computers.
Click to expand...
The fact that I can no longer click on the Favicon in the address bar to select the URL text drove me *back* to Camino. It's been at least a year. I'm glad it happened, actually. I like this browser a lot better than Firefox.
 
Cooknn said:
The fact that I can no longer click on the Favicon in the address bar to select the URL text drove me *back* to Camino. It's been at least a year. I'm glad it happened, actually. I like this browser a lot better than Firefox.
Click to expand...

You could just use the keyboard shortcut command+l to select the URL. It works in Safari, Camino, and Firefox. It is faster than switching between the mouse and the keyboard just to type in a new address.
 
There are a few things that still bug me about FF:
1. Zoom maximizes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. You cant drag the URL from a window unless its in focus. (A hassle when compared to safari for dragging websites into ichat)
3. Tabs load in the background (If I open a youtube video in a new, non focused tab, it plays!)

If anyone can fix those, Id use firefox daily. Please help.
 
clevin said:
there are still two things not very mac-ish, if somebody have to argue
Click to expand...


I noticed your Avatar for N Netscape!
I guess you know by now that Netscape will not be supported for updates, etc. after February 1, 2008.

(From PC World.)
"AOL to End Support for Netscape Browser
Once the dominant Web browser, AOL has discontinued development and active support for the Netscape browser."
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140903-c,netscape/article.html
 
ZenErik said:
Thanks for that. I'm trying the Firefox 3 beta 2 right now, and it's working very well for me.
Click to expand...

I do prefer Firefox and Camino but I also use Safari. I like the way the folders are arranged and organized on Safari. It is not unusual to work something on FF and have Camino and Safari open for short times for data reference.

FF, Camino and Safari are keepers for me!
 
Iamtherealwoody said:
There are a few things that still bug me about FF:
1. Zoom maximizes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. You cant drag the URL from a window unless its in focus. (A hassle when compared to safari for dragging websites into ichat)
3. Tabs load in the background (If I open a youtube video in a new, non focused tab, it plays!)

If anyone can fix those, Id use firefox daily. Please help.
Click to expand...
3, well, goto about:config and change the value of browser.tabs.loadDivertedInBackground to true, Im not sure why this has anything to do with youtube tho.

1+2, well, let me just say, you won some, you lose some, its a balance, you can weigh for yourself.

nerdnot said:
I noticed your Avatar for N Netscape!
I guess you know by now that Netscape will not be supported for updates, etc. after February 1, 2008.

(From PC World.)
"AOL to End Support for Netscape Browser
Once the dominant Web browser, AOL has discontinued development and active support for the Netscape browser."
Click to expand...
thank you
 
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