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Mozilla Releases Firefox 3 Web Browser

jettredmont said:
Lastly, "Windows-like" in that like in Windows every single application with a text box has a slightly different implementation of the text box than every other application, and "global" services like spell checking (does FireFox use my OS dictionary?), dictionary lookup, text services, etc, are unknown. That's the Windows Way, built and fostered by a non-extensible UI toolkit. I use a Mac because I find it annoying to maintain a spell-check exceptions list in every application, for instance.
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I don't think firefox uses OS X's dictionary as many words I typed got the red underline even though they were fairly common words and were spelled correctly. In text edit and safari the words didn't get the red line.

firefox is a good browser for platforms like Windows (because the alternative is Explorer) and Linux (because it comes with most distros) but it really has no place in OS X.
 
Butthead said:
9. Integrate into the main window? That *would* be intrustive, IMHO. I prefer to have a separate window, just me.
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If you were using Firefox 3 there is an unobtrusive way of integrating into the main window, basically it shows the time remaining in the status bar, it was so unobtrusive I didn't notice until it was pointed out on a blog I was reading, heh.

Sebastian
 
It's a browser, people. Of all the crazy things to get tribal over.

Safari is great, Firefox is great. Both are here to stay. Safari can't, and shouldn't replace FF, they have different strengths. There are some pages one does nicely while the other lags behind. I don't see that changing. Competition is good, but it doesn't mean everyone has to be idiots about it.

There isn't anything negative about a new version of FF being released, and there's nothing wrong with people choosing to use one over the other. FF3 is an incredible piece of work. I've been using it on and off since early versions, but since FF3 RC1 it's been my primary browser - with 3 macs and 3 windows installations being able to easily synchronise bookmarks between them is really handy.
 
tuffluffjimmy said:
I don't think firefox uses OS X's dictionary as many words I typed got the red underline even though they were fairly common words and were spelled correctly. In text edit and safari the words didn't get the red line.

firefox is a good browser for platforms like Windows (because the alternative is Explorer) and Linux (because it comes with most distros) but it really has no place in OS X.
Click to expand...

Excuse me, since when do you decide what does and doesn't have a place on Mac OS X? I like the alternative (Firefox) more than the default (Safari), and your opinion on that is absolutely worthless as far as what software I use goes.

I use Amarok as my music player which is from the KDE project and I use Terminal as my main file manager now because... the Finder sucks, and I use NetBook Reader which is an Adobe AIR app to find old books such as "The Influence of Sea Power on History" which by the way, is a fantastic book, but I have Dashboard disabled because there's no good widgets for it besides sticky notes and those are annoying to manage, I'm working on installing Tomboy, a Mono application from the GNOME project to serve as a replacement instead, but yes I do use other "native" apps including TextMate, Preview, Growl, and iChat. Clearly software like Firefox can easily fit in.

Sebastian
 
atsang said:
tested FF3 on OSX for a while and I love it. but after reading these posts I decided to "try" safari again and came up with some questions for Safari users:

  1. How do I sync bookmarks across multiple machines automatically for free?
  2. How do I change the switch tabs hotkey to something that doesn't require 3 buttons?
  3. How do I install mouse gestures seamlessly and for free?
  4. How do I get my tabs to open, close, and switch between them in the specific order that I want them to switch?
  5. How do I download multiple files off a webpage in two clicks based on their filetype?
  6. How do I customize all Google websites to remove ads, clicktracking, automatically?
  7. How can I force an encrypted connection to gmail, add row highlights to my mail and attachment icons?
  8. How can I type in the exact website I want and have it fill in my www and .com for me?
  9. How can I integrate downloads into the main window without being obtrusive?
  10. How can I drag and throw links to create new windows/tabs?

If safari can do these for me I may switch to it.
Click to expand...


10. In Safari I drag links to the tab-bar and it'll create a tab for me. Sometimes I select a text "cnn.com" that is NOT a hyperlink and will still create a tab for http://cnn.com. I couldn't find a way to drag a link to create a new Window in Safari and it does not work with Firefox either. Unless you are using some sort of gesture Add-on.

A feature I like in Safari that I miss with FF is the ability to drag-out a tab into it's own window or move it to another window. Very useful when I decide to re-organize my tabs/windows.

Can you tell us how you are doing some of the other points you listed? I couldn't figure it out. Are you using a different Add-on for each? Thanks.
 
I love Firefox 3! After downloading a new theme -- I always hate the defaults, too blah -- I have been noticing the improvements the Mozilla team has made. The wait was well worth it. (I never use Beta products; um, I never know if they might do something to my computer. I'm overly careful with stuff like that.)
 
atsang said:
tested FF3 on OSX for a while and I love it. but after reading these posts I decided to "try" safari again and came up with some questions for Safari users:

1. How do I sync bookmarks across multiple machines automatically for free?
Click to expand...

Not two-way syncing, but 'scp ~/Library/Safari/bookmarks.plist remotemachine:/Users/myname/Library/Safari/' should work just fine. For two-way syncing, any of the half-dozen built-in/free/third-party/commercial file sync applications should do.

For true .Mac-style syncing, you can pay money for Sync Together or look into notMac. The latter might take a bit of tinkering to get working though.

2. How do I change the switch tabs hotkey to something that doesn't require 3 buttons?
Click to expand...

Same way as any other system key remappings: go to System Preferences, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts. Once set, restart Safari and the new shortcut should take effect.


3. How do I install mouse gestures seamlessly and for free?
Click to expand...

Dunno. I never saw any benefit to mouse gestures. I've heard of Safari add-ins for gestures though (and system-wide offerings like Fly Gesture), but can't vouch for them.


4. How do I get my tabs to open, close, and switch between them in the specific order that I want them to switch?
Click to expand...

Huh???


5. How do I download multiple files off a webpage in two clicks based on their filetype?
Click to expand...

You've got me there. Sounds like the sort of thing that lies far beyond the job description of "web browser". I'd use an FTP program or a quick script to do this if I needed to.

6. How do I customize all Google websites to remove ads, clicktracking, automatically?

7. How can I force an encrypted connection to gmail, add row highlights to my mail and attachment icons?

8. How can I type in the exact website I want and have it fill in my www and .com for me?
Click to expand...

Don't know about the first two up there (I do wish we could control settings like the pop-up browser per site, but I don't think that's what you're getting at there).

The third one? Ick.

9. How can I integrate downloads into the main window without being obtrusive?
Click to expand...

Don't think you can do that. You can resize the downloads window however you want to keep it out of the way, but there's nothing like the FF downloads bar I've seen.


10. How can I drag and throw links to create new windows/tabs?
Click to expand...

Drag a link to the tab bar and it opens in a new tab. I doubt Safari will adopt a "drag and throw" gesture any time soon (it's too likely to bite a new user). Is this a FireFox plugin, I'm assuming?
 
tuffluffjimmy said:
I don't think firefox uses OS X's dictionary as many words I typed got the red underline even though they were fairly common words and were spelled correctly. In text edit and safari the words didn't get the red line.

firefox is a good browser for platforms like Windows (because the alternative is Explorer) and Linux (because it comes with most distros) but it really has no place in OS X.
Click to expand...

again, i admit firefox has pros and cons, hits and misses, but excuse me, I don't think you are in the position to weight the balance for all mac users.

Your individual preference can not dictate other people's usage, why do you think others won't find multiple username/password for same page useful? mice gesture useful? extensions useful? themes useful? drop down url history list useful? some better compatibility useful? etc?

making that grand judgment, IMHO, is just plain wrong. No place in OSX? Last time I checked, OSX app develop document didn't say: "only webkit allowed", or maybe thats what you really mean?
 
The only thing that really bothers me about Firefox on OS X is that if you hide the status bar, the resizing widget in the lower right corner of the window overrides the bottom scroll box, rendering it useless. Why can't this be fixed already? It's been in every version of Firefox on OS X.
 

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Just found this on macosxhints, a new extension for inline PDF viewing on Macs, it uses PDFKit, and I wasn't able to find it in the Add-ons manager so it must not be on the Firefox site yet. It unfortunately doesn't have the fading bezel, but it does work.

Anyway you can find it here.

Sebastian
 
Firefox 3.0

I downloaded Firefox 3.0 this morning. I found it to be a lot slower than Safari. There was a big delay loading pages. The default theme looks bad I will change it
 
jimmacg5 said:
I downloaded Firefox 3.0 this morning. I found it to be a lot slower than Safari. There was a big delay loading pages. The default theme looks bad I will change it
Click to expand...

sounds like something not right with the profile, try a new profile for firefox?:)
 
sebastianlewis said:
Excuse me, since when do you decide what does and doesn't have a place on Mac OS X? I like the alternative (Firefox) more than the default (Safari), and your opinion on that is absolutely worthless as far as what software I use goes.

I use Amarok as my music player which is from the KDE project and I use Terminal as my main file manager now because... the Finder sucks, and I use NetBook Reader which is an Adobe AIR app to find old books such as "The Influence of Sea Power on History" which by the way, is a fantastic book, but I have Dashboard disabled because there's no good widgets for it besides sticky notes and those are annoying to manage, I'm working on installing Tomboy, a Mono application from the GNOME project to serve as a replacement instead, but yes I do use other "native" apps including TextMate, Preview, Growl, and iChat. Clearly software like Firefox can easily fit in.

Sebastian
Click to expand...

ummm good for you.
I never said that you shouldn't use Firefox, I just think it's buggy and doesn't fit in OS X as well as the alternatives.

clevin said:
making that grand judgment, IMHO, is just plain wrong. No place in OSX? Last time I checked, OSX app develop document didn't say: "only webkit allowed", or maybe thats what you really mean?
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I like Opera a lot better than firefox :)
 
Is there any noticeable advantage to the speed of Firefox 3 over Safari 3? I don't really like the interface of Firefox, so I'd only download it if there was a speed difference. Also, is there a huge memory leak like in Safari? That alone would convince me to switch to Firefox.
 
tuffluffjimmy said:
I like Opera a lot better than firefox :)
Click to expand...
well, good for you, I respect your personal opinion, and please leave the decision of others, to others :)

aaquib said:
Is there any noticeable advantage to the speed of Firefox 3 over Safari 3? I don't really like the interface of Firefox, so I'd only download it if there was a speed difference. Also, is there a huge memory leak like in Safari? That alone would convince me to switch to Firefox.
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I doubt you can see significant speed difference, but you might actually see significant memory management improvement in firefox 3.

But again, try for yourself. Each individual always has different experiences.
 
Wow!

This is the first time I've considered ditching Safari as my default browser.
I'm extremely impressed with Firefox 3 :D
 
aaquib said:
Is there any noticeable advantage to the speed of Firefox 3 over Safari 3? I don't really like the interface of Firefox, so I'd only download it if there was a speed difference. Also, is there a huge memory leak like in Safari? That alone would convince me to switch to Firefox.
Click to expand...

It seems way faster (than Safari) to me. You should download and try it for yourself. Then you can make up your own mind :cool:
 
Personally I think they've added quite a few nice changes. Unfortunately, overall it still doesn't seem as fast as Safari (clean install) nor does text look as good (both set to Times 16pt - default). Oh and two fingered scrolling is still ATROCIOUS and with smooth scrolling on it's even worse (who thought that was a good idea?).
 
QuarterSwede said:
Personally I think they've added quite a few nice changes. Unfortunately overall it still doesn't seem as fast as Safari (clean install) nor does text look as good (both set to Times 16pt - default). Oh and two fingered scrolling is still ATROCIOUS and smooth scrolling is even worse (who thought that was a good idea?).
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try https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5846, it even smooth up your mice scroll too.
 
QuarterSwede said:
Not bad I suppose but it still isn't great. What I really want is exactly how scrolling works in OS X (and thus Safari). Apple really nailed that one.
Click to expand...

and YASS can get you about there, those preferences in YASS panel are very sensitive and dramatic, you might want to goto addon manager and check YASS's preference and make some adjustments.:)
 
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