Firefox 1.07 Released

[Tweaker]

Just incase you haven't updated :)

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

[pb32000]

Using 1.5 Beta 1 here.

[Tooby]

Thanx!
Done some beta and deer Park, back to realesed software :)

/Tooby

[deggis]

If here are any IE users - at least now is a good time to change to Firefox. Make your life much more easier and more secure. :thumb:

[Takumi_Project.d]

i've been loving firefox. but recently Opera 8 became totally free, they used to run a banner advertisement on the browser until you paid for it. i guess they want to be competitive in the market and i reckon it's a bloody good move!

used to love firefox but IMO opera feels THAT more faster and polished product :thumb: choice is a lovely thing

[Tweaker]

Still though, I can't browse the web without the Extensions available for Firefox :)

PDF Download
downTHEMall! (nice ext.)
Download Statusbar
MeasureIt (I love this!)
EditCSS (big timesaver)
HTML Validator

Mostly developers and designers like Firefox, don't ask me why, but it is good, and I really haven't had any serious bugs or dumb crashes like in my IE days :banghead: :tilt:

[Takumi_Project.d]

Still though, I can't browse the web without the Extensions available for Firefox :)

PDF Download
downTHEMall! (nice ext.)
Download Statusbar
MeasureIt (I love this!)
EditCSS (big timesaver)
HTML Validator

Mostly developers and designers like Firefox, don't ask me why, but it is good, and I really haven't had any serious bugs or dumb crashes like in my IE days :banghead: :tilt:

Yup it's true the amount of extensions available to firefox are very cool, i still consider it an awesome web browser. i guess i dont use them all that much though so opera suits me down to the ground :thumb:

Death to teh IE!

[AndyC]

i remember using Firefox a while ago and it wasn't bad but I just ended up using IE again after I formatted my computer.

Maybe its time to go back it tho or even to Opera. Andy advice ?

Andy.

[SladiVadi]

Andy Firefox.

Or Andy Opera.

Andy be happy! :D


I use the following extensions:

ChatZilla
Context Search
fireFTP
Flat Bookmark Editing
miniT
Mouse Gestures
Scrollbar Anywhere (great!)
Session Saver
Show Image
Stop-or-reload Button

[ColeusRattus]

As I use Firefox almost exclusevely for years now, I guess I can't say anything unbiased, as both IE and Opera feel awkward to me.

So Firefox all the way :D

[AndyC]

I'll have a little look at both now in work (so not installing them) and then i'll try one when i get back, but which one ?? Is the suspense too much for you ??

thought not.

Andy Happy

[Zoli81]

I for one don't like Firefox at all, because:

-still incompatible with many pages, simply doesn't load some things(found three in two days)
-crashes frequently when using Acrobat Reader(I experienced this also when using Linux with Mozzilla, so it's a probably bug in the Mozzilla side of it
-loads very slowly for the first time
-not any faster than IE on a 512/128 connection, and probably slower on more complex pages(tested it with a stopwatch:))
-have to download tons of plugins, to make it work decently
-when I download those plugins, and my context menu grows big, i can't see the top of it in 800x600 reso., that's really great:(
-when it crashes it wipes out the whole cache, so it gets even slower for the next couple of days
-I just don't have any security problems with IE, because I don't go to porn and cracking pages that often, and I have Kaspersky installed, which checks everything realtime while browsing. And as Firefox gains popularity, hackers will started playing with it anyway.

I personally use Maxthon, a browser based on IE. Some features:
-tabbed browsing
-built in RSS
-brutal ad-killer(can be switched off with one click)
-mouse gesture
-auto collapsable side bars
-if it were to crash accidently(never does), it reloads every tab automatically, which were opened before the death
-you can start off your browsing the next day where you left off before
-undo function for tab closure
-based on IE, so much more compatible and stable than Firefox Bugzilla
-loads fast
-tons of plugins are available
-EVERYTHING is CUSTOMIZABLE
-and much much more, that I haven't even discovered in two months

And all these are built in, you don't have screw around with plugins. I've only downloaded two things for it so far: a plugin which enhanced the context searching capabilities( now it's even better than FF), and a Firefox skin.

Personally I think all this love towards Firefox is fueled by the hate towards Microsoft, not by some rational decision.

[AndyC]

Just looked at both of them and they seem like nice packages. Quite inrested in the Voice Command for opera (does it understand scouse? :splando: ) even though i'm not actually that lazy it's a nice idea.

I'll testdrive both of them when i get home later.

Andy.

[danowat]

Quite inrested in the Voice Command for opera (does it understand scouse? :splando: )

The rest of the UK dont understand scouse, I am sure a web browser won't :).

(sorry, could'nt resist;))

BTW, Firefox all the way here....

Dan.

[tristancliffe]

Tried Firefox for a few weeks. Hated it

Went back to IE

Tried FF again a month or so ago, and so far have stuck with it, but some of the annoying crashes/bugs/lack of native support/incompatability does annoy me. Will try that Maxthon things later.

[Chris_Kerry]

Firefox or Opera are the way forward. Windows will finally suffer for producing something that many people don't trust. They may have been able to get away with producing un-safe products when they didn't have any competition but notnow. I'm sure in ten years time the percentage of users using IE will be very low.

[tpa]

Opera is teH pwn :thumb:

[AndyC]

I'm really intreged by the opera explorer its seems the most advanced and accesable with G-mail, voice, custom skins etc. If anyone has any information about opera like is it nice and easy to use, safe etc. it would be much appreciated.


andy.

[AndyC]

For a couple of years Opera was the only browser available that you had to pay for. According to their CEO, this meant that they had to make their browser the best browser on the market. They've worked hard to implement support for web standards in recent years. Their big thing though was always the UI - they were the first to introduce tabbed browsing, mouse gestures, etc. Their browser also appears to have a smaller memory footprint than its rivals.



Ye the whole website and package just seems to be more complete and more professional looking than its competitors. I'll try opera for a couple of days then Firefox and see which comes out top trumps.

Thank For the Help.

Andy.

[Zoli81]

Well I really recommend this Maxthon browser, to any IE, Firefox users. It's original configurations didn't suite me too well, but after a couple of minutes of tweaking I didn't look back to anything else . It's strongest point is customization, which is the most important for hard core users I think.
And of course Total Commander is the nr. 1. file manager. Just forget about windows explorer. Ok enough of this spam:)

Some of you sound like you have more experience with the WWW than me(I'm only on it actively for the last two years). So could you tell me why Firefox is more secure than IE? OK I believe it's more secure, but why? What do the security patches do at microsoft.com? How is my computer still in one piece, yet I don't install those patches, and I don't use Firefox? Won't a nasty javascript run the same way on IE, and FF? Or a nasty activex control that you consciously downloaded destroy your system the same way?
I don't know anything about these thing, but I feel the hackers don't really want to cause big damage, they just do it for "fun". Yet at the same time I think if they really wanted to, they could destroy a lot of things no matter what software you use. For example the Panda online antivirus service works through a downloaded activex thing, and through that it has full access to your file system. Now imagine what these kind of things could do in the wrong hands to a stupid user!

[AndyC]

?
I don't know anything about these thing, but I feel the hackers don't really want to cause big damage, they just do it for "fun". Yet at the same time I think if they really wanted to, they could destroy a lot of things no matter what software you use.

Quite true, most hackers just do things because they are curious like haking into Nasa, they hardly ever get sent to jail because they say they were just curious to see if they could do it. But there are hackers that are out to create scirpts and otherthings to affect your computers behaviour.

So like so many people say its better to be safe than sorry and since its been reported many many times that IE is not as safe as other browers its worth the little download

andy.

p.s i havn't actually read why its safer (i'll have a look later if nobody relpies

[Hummer]

what's the difference between Avant Browser and Maxthon?

[deggis]

Well I really recommend this Maxthon browser, to any IE, Firefox users.
That's just ridiculous. I don't know anyone who has used Firefox more than few days and then went to back IE. The fact is that Maxthon is still IE. It just a layout mod. It still has the same security and other problems.

So could you tell me why Firefox is more secure than IE? OK I believe it's more secure, but why? What do the security patches do at microsoft.com?
Just check ANY security company's web page and comparare statistics about found security holes between Firefox and IE.

what's the difference between Avant Browser and Maxthon?
I don't know but they both suck anyway.

[Hummer]

I don't know but they both suck anyway.
no wonder, they're based on IE ;)

[sil3ntwar]

I use FF but only because of tabbed browsing and my cache is broken in IE. Opening PDFs in FF kills it which is very frustrating. Also it takes about one minute to load up on my computer and its currently using 55 megs of ram and i only have 4 windows open..

But i am only using 1.03 so i guess i should upgrade and see if its any better.

[Tweaker]

I use FF but only because of tabbed browsing and my cache is broken in IE. Opening PDFs in FF kills it which is very frustrating. Also it takes about one minute to load up on my computer and its currently using 55 megs of ram and i only have 4 windows open..

But i am only using 1.03 so i guess i should upgrade and see if its any better.

Get PDF Download. I use it and it works great. Basically it is an extension that gives you options... something like Open, Download, and something else. You view the PDF through Acrobat, and not the browser... the way it should be in my opinion... because any PDF plugin for viewing in the browser really sucks.

:)

[Gunn]

I haven't had a bug with Firefox for many months. I will never go back to IE. I was an old Netscape user before they sold out to the evil AOL and polluted their browser with unwanted rubbish. Firefox has been really great for me. I don't have too many extensions installed anymore because some of them are what causes problems (especially crashes, it seems). The weather forecast is very useful and some other web tools are great too. Firefox for me.

[Takumi_Project.d]

Opening PDFs in FF kills it which is very frustrating. Also it takes about one minute to load up on my computer and its currently using 55 megs of ram and i only have 4 windows open..

i would guess your CPU must be around a 1.0ghz or slower? FF takes 3seconds at longest for me to load up, PDF's load in the same time it takes to launch acrobat reader.

and the reason FF appears to use more memory is because the resources IE uses is already loaded up by windows. you only have to look at windows xp at idle, 250mb of ram being used.

[sil3ntwar]

i would guess your CPU must be around a 1.0ghz or slower? FF takes 3seconds at longest for me to load up, PDF's load in the same time it takes to launch acrobat reader.

and the reason FF appears to use more memory is because the resources IE uses is already loaded up by windows. you only have to look at windows xp at idle, 250mb of ram being used.1.8ghz. Its the HDD thats slowing my pc down i think. But still i can load up LFS in the same time i load up FF.

[J.B.]

I'll just add my mustard: :nod:

Firefox out of the box is absolutly awful IMO. Examples: you can't override the popup blocker by holding a key, if a website fails to load you lose the URL in the address bar, failed images can't be reloaded...

But after a lot of tweaking and fixing and extension adding it can be great. The most important extension for me would be "Tabbrowser Extensions" for its single window mode, reloading closed tabs and saving tab sessions.

There are also some great built-in features like "begin search when you begin typing", better filetype handling settings, automatic "google, I'm feeling lucky"-fication in the the address bar and of course middle-clicking on links.

The most annoying problem I can't get rid of though is the poor mouse wheel scrolling. It is not as fast and not as smooth as IE. Holding the middle button to quickly scroll down to the bottom of a page is especially useless.

IMO:

For speed, stability, compatibility: IE
For features and extensions: FF
For security: any browser that nobody uses i.e. not IE or FF.

Personally I use FF plus the "view in IE" extension for pages that FF doesn't like and I guess it will stay like this for a while due to the extensions I would miss in other browsers.

[sil3ntwar]

course middle-clicking on links.:O since when!? Damn that saves alot of time

[J.B.]

:O since when!? Damn that saves alot of time

What do you mean exactly? Maybe middle-clicking isn't a feature of FF, but of Tabbrowser Extensions? I'm not sure?

[Tweaker]

Middle-Click links and it will open that link in a new tab. I use it all the time. It closes the tab too. No extension.

[deggis]

if a website fails to load you lose the URL in the address bar
So there is some kind of extension for that too? I've been looking for one.

Firefox isn't "straight out of the box" thing. It needs tweaking and bunch of extensions. This is also the power of FF: you can get only those features that you want to use.

[J.B.]

http://extensionroom.mozdev.org/more-info/showfailedurl

important:Displays failed URLs in the URL bar when XUL error pages are enabled. XUL error pages are enabled by setting browser.xul.error_pages.enabled to true (this can be done via about:config, prefs.js or user.js).

[deggis]

Thanks.

[AndyC]

So, since this topic started I downloaded Opera and have been using it since until today.

It looked like Opera was a more complete package than FireFox so i decided to test run that first. So.....

Opera is a nice package. It looks and feels professional and has everything you need without the addition of extentions.

Mouse Gesturing is easy to use, tabbed browsing works well. You can even pause your downloads and start them again the next day which can be handy.

I tried the voice command extention thinking that this could be a useful addition to web browsing but it didn't really come in use at all. Sometimes I asked it to read out my e-mails whilst i searched the web for something but other than that it never came into play. It didn't work to badly, sometimes it didn't do what I wanted it to execute no matter how clearly I spoke. Defietly a thing to look out for the future though.

I found that Opera crashed more than IE. Sometimes I have no idea why, sometimes I would start downloading something, click on another tab and it would just freeze, which got a little irritating after 7 times. Luckily though Opera can bring back up all your webpages that you where browsing in an instant.

Opera has many other features like opening certain pages when you start Opera but for me this is useless.

So overall Opera isn't a bad package at all, in fact its pretty good. But a few hic-cups here and there can get a little irritating.

If you are thinking of changing to Opera then I would look at the features and see if you actually need half of them.

I would give Opera 7/10

Just installed FireFox now and i'm going to give this a try now. Tabbed browsing and mouse gesturing isn't working instantly so looks like i'll have to look around. Shame it isn't like Opera where everything is ready to go.

Andy.

[ORION]

Install Firefox 1.5beta2, it's damn by far the best browser out there :)
It's soooo many times faster than Opera, which is called "the fastest browser on earth", even though it's the slowest...