Firefox 3 is finally here. I've been testing the betas and release candidates off and on and there's no doubt it's an improvement on Firefox 2, probably a big improvement. I'm moving over to it. This is a good upgrade to a good browser, but it's not the godsend many make it out to be.For me, the biggest improvement in Firefox 3 is that it no longer (at least not yet in my testing) consumes huge amounts of memory. As I work right now, with 4 tabs open including some Flash content, it's consuming 130MB, which is the most I've ever seen. Firefox 2 regularly consumed several hundred MB on my systems, and usually much more than Internet Explorer 7. Mozilla seems to have solved that problem.
But not everything about it is wonderful. Even if I'm basically happy with it, there are a few things I definitely don't like about it. For example, I use the Clear Private Data feature now and then, which clears the browsing history (when you drop down the address bar), among other things. You can select Tools-Clear Private Data or press Ctrl-Shift-Del. When you do this in Firefox 3, it does not clear any browser history where the domain is in a bookmark, so your address bar drop-down may still have addresses in it. This seems wrong and confusing, and I bugged it in Bugzilla during beta. To the developers, it's one of those "it's not a bug, it's a feature" things, and they provide no way to turn it off in about :config or anywhere else. I think this was a bad choice.
View: Full Article @ eWeek
Yes, this is correct. I have already done it..
After you do about:config, filter results with the text "urlbar" and you will get something like 10 results. Look for the one named "browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped". Set it to "True" and you will never see Bookmarks or History in the drop-down menu for the awesome bar.
I too hate this feature with awesome bar. I dont need my bookmarks or history showing in the drop down menu, that is what the Bookmarks menu and the History pane are for, thanks.
I went a bit further and installed the Firefox addon called "oldbar" which reverted the Awesome Bar back to the look of the pre-FF3 days, where everything was on just one line.
Yes, this is correct. I have already done it..
After you do about:config, filter results with the text "urlbar" and you will get something like 10 results. Look for the one named "browser.urlbar.matchOnlyTyped". Set it to "True" and you will never see Bookmarks or History in the drop-down menu for the awesome bar.
I too hate this feature with awesome bar. I dont need my bookmarks or history showing in the drop down menu, that is what the Bookmarks menu and the History pane are for, thanks.
I went a bit further and installed the Firefox addon called "oldbar" which reverted the Awesome Bar back to the look of the pre-FF3 days, where everything was on just one line.
Aren't opinions neat?
Things like this make me wonder how on earth I'll be browsing the internet 5 years from now, considering Firefox alone has changed so many browsing habits of the past for me.
+1 smothered with cream with a cherry topping.
It works fine on 5 and crashes on the other 3 as soon as it starts! (No error messages or high CPU or anything Firefox just doesn't respond to anything and I have to kill it)
I've tried completely removing it and have deleted all relevant folders and have reinstalled it but still the same
A few people have said it doesn't play nicely with Google Desktop/Toolbars but I don't have any of those installed
Works fine on my home and work PCs though - They're the important ones
** FIXED ** It was a problem with one of the extensions we had installed on Firefox 2.0.0.14 ** All working fine now! **
Last edited by hektik on 19 Jun 2008 - 11:01
Im running it on a Macbook Pro. Its a computer program made by humans, its not perfect. Why the need to defend it like that?
What problems are you having with it though?
LOLOL, Am I the only one that thinks that this is ridiculous ?? 4 tabs and consumes 130MB of memory ?!?!
I don't think that this issue was ever fixed. Right now I'm with about 25 tabs and I've more than 200MB of memory. And I don't remember FF 2 being worst. Equal behavior but definitely not worst.
It may not interest you personally but that does not mean some of us aren't interested
Besides, he of all people should be allowed to post whatever he wants
It may not interest you personally but that does not mean some of us aren't interested
Besides, he of all people should be allowed to post whatever he wants
The issue is that other browsers doesn't get the same attention. Why wasn't there any front page news about the launch of Opera 9.50? But a little impression of Firefox is.
Of course Firefox is a good browser. But the hype and attention is just over the top, in which Neowin seems to fall for. A tech site should report any important news. Not filter the ones "they like".
Of course Firefox is a good browser. But the hype and attention is just over the top, in which Neowin seems to fall for. A tech site should report any important news. Not filter the ones "they like".
Opera 9.50 is a point release. Fx3 is a version release. Sorry if you think this is wrong, but a version release is considered more important than a point release. Point releases tend to get threads in the Breaking News or Software forum, not FPN entries.
Of course Firefox is a good browser. But the hype and attention is just over the top, in which Neowin seems to fall for. A tech site should report any important news. Not filter the ones "they like".
Opera 9.50 is a point release. Fx3 is a version release. Sorry if you think this is wrong, but a version release is considered more important than a point release. Point releases tend to get threads in the Breaking News or Software forum, not FPN entries.
I understand that, but I still think 9.50 is a major release. It have a few new features. Opera have two importan updates for each release. The initial release and the .5 release.
And to that end thats why it isn't posted every time it gets a new release. The front page, nor Neowin, is not trying to advertise all browsers equally nor should it otherwise then we'll end up with dozens of post on every one of the dozens of browsers out there. If Opera had the same following and managed to generate the same level of hype doing advertising campaigns to rival Mozillas recent stint then I'm sure it would be on the front page, but as the lesser of the big name browsers it's understandable that it doesnt get posted in the limelight at every release as it for better or worse probably isn't of as much interest to as many users.
There was a time when firefox/bird/phoenix wasn't getting the front page love either.
Yea. But when even betas of Firefox gets on the front page more than a major release of Opera, it's just lame. Just because it's not as widely used it should either way be promoted. It's a great product.
Firefox 2 beta 2 was on the front page:
http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=34838
IE 8 beta was on the front page.
Opera 9.5 nope
Sad stuff.
Yea. But when even betas of Firefox gets on the front page more than a major release of Opera, it's just lame. Just because it's not as widely used it should either way be promoted. It's a great product.
It's not like Neowin is anti opera, it still made the software news section like many other great apps that arguably could go to the front page could do.
But hell, doesn't stop you enjoying it right and just because it isnt a constant front page item doesn't say anything about the products quality.
Yea. But when even betas of Firefox gets on the front page more than a major release of Opera, it's just lame. Just because it's not as widely used it should either way be promoted. It's a great product.
Firefox 2 beta 2 was on the front page:
http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=34838
IE 8 beta was on the front page.
Opera 9.5 nope
Sad stuff.
Not that I personally like Opera, but the only reason Firefox even has the market it does compared to Opera is because of the whole politics behind Mozilla, as having taken over from Netscape and making a big deal about open source, so people can use Firefox as a way to get back at Microsoft.
I'm mainly using Firefox now, but I think their best features they either copied from either Opera or IE. The number of extensions and themes doesn't matter when 95% of them suck. I skinned Firefox to look more like IE, to have glass and a new page tab.
I really like the Awesome bar though and the new way of adding bookmarks.
Pros:
1) It does render a bit quicker, I think.
2) Linux gets the XUL file-picker back, no more of that GTK abortion (see below).
Cons:
1) Horribly messed-up install on Windows. Crashes on closing, which effectively means I can't install/uninstall any extensions or themes. I suspect this is because the profile folder is on an Ext2 partition, but that's really no excuse :/
2) My favourite theme isn't ported yet
3) The "improved" integration of your Linux GTK theme is great if you're a Gnome user, but if like me you use KDE (because you think GTK sucks balls) then this probably sucks balls.
I think you'll find that is rather a good excuse seeing as Windows doesn't recognise or acknowledge ext2 partitions. Can't blame Mozilla for that!
We're all doomed
I think you'll find that is rather a good excuse seeing as Windows doesn't recognise or acknowledge ext2 partitions. Can't blame Mozilla for that!
Oh but it can, with a driver
I had a feeling you were gonna say it can recognise ext2 partitions with a driver. But well, as you said, Mozilla can't be blamed for not adhering to a non standard issue.
FWIW the reason I continue using Ext2 for my profiles is I have the Windows and Linux profiles in neighbouring folders, and symlink a number of files e.g. bookmarks.html, cookies.txt etc. I've yet to see which of the new equivalents to these files I can do this trick with, but now I'm all set to explore that
Oh, two more cons:
4) Horizontal-scroll on my touchpad no longer works for going back/forward in Linux (it never worked in Windows). This used to annoy me because I kept going backwards inadvertently (sausage fingers blog), but I realise now it's gone I miss it
5) There's a JavaScript bug on eBay where the 'quick refresh' feature on almost-ended listings no longer works. This doesn't bother me much, but my gf is really busting my balls about it as it makes it hard for her to snipe auctions!
i wonder if the people who claim it eats up 200+MB of memory are the ones who had random extensions installed that are causing conflicts etc etc to make it eat more RAM.
cause me personally i only have basically 3 extensions installed (Adblock Plus - NoScript - Tabscroller) and my Firefox works great.
so bottom line for me is i have no complaints as it seems like a overall solid upgrade over firefox 2.
In older releases of firefox I had it sometimes get into situations where it would have a spaz and begin consuming upwards of 1.4GB of memory and while that was about the worst time, it did go over 1GB on close to a dozen others.
Sure a few hundred megs may not kill your pc, but the memory issues I was having occasionally with Firefox was sure as hell crippling my systems performance.
Also, while memory is there to be used its not there to be wasted. While idle memory ise useless memory, thats not an excuse for the browser to use more than it needs. I could give that extra memory to another app/process rather than mozilla to make better use of it.
Because it smacks of lazy coding.
Firefox using that ram is wasteful - the only software I want "saving" my RAM is my O/S. None O/S software should be using as little RAM as possible.
Niot good enough really after all the hype.
Niot good enough really after all the hype.
If you run Firefox 3 by itself with just Adblock and Flashblock running as extentions, it only uses 60 megs or so.
But you known what? It could use 2 GB of RAM and I still wouldn't care. Yeah, that's right: I've got 8 GB of RAM. Welcome top the wonderful world of x64.
Now go buy some RAM and quit your whining.
And don't blame Firefox for Zimbra's failings. That's like blaming Microsoft for AOL just because you can install AOL on Windows.
(In case you didn't know, Yahoo bought Zimbra last year.)
As someone said - Opera has always to Mayor releases - the 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 and the .5 version, every other
.01/.02/.51/.52 etc. is considered a minor release bugfix/security fix release.
And FYI - Opera 9.5 suprased 5 milion of downloads, so fuzi0719 - you are sooo wrong.
I hope you'll find a cure for your fanboyism.
As someone said - Opera has always to Mayor releases - the 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 and the .5 version, every other
.01/.02/.51/.52 etc. is considered a minor release bugfix/security fix release.
And FYI - Opera 9.5 suprased 5 milion of downloads, so fuzi0719 - you are sooo wrong.
I hope you'll find a cure for your fanboyism.
You Opera Fanbois are funny, especially when accusing others of being fanbois
Face it Opera is good but just not good enough, it's always gonna be third, unless you can somehow convince the IE sheeple that IE is as bad as it is
As someone said - Opera has always to Mayor releases - the 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 and the .5 version, every other
.01/.02/.51/.52 etc. is considered a minor release bugfix/security fix release.
And FYI - Opera 9.5 suprased 5 milion of downloads, so fuzi0719 - you are sooo wrong.
I hope you'll find a cure for your fanboyism.
You Opera Fanbois are funny, especially when accusing others of being fanbois
Face it Opera is good but just not good enough, it's always gonna be third, unless you can somehow convince the IE sheeple that IE is as bad as it is
Firefox fans, Opera fans and IE fans are so goddamn stupid. Every person has an opinion, every person is different. There's no way everybody will like the same stuff. Just stop bitching and complaining. If you still like opera over firefox, awesome, let me give some some couple of trophies and diplomas about that. You like Firefox over Opera? Really sweet too.
Either you are going to comment about Firefox release (which is what this topic is related to) or don't even post. KTHXBAI.
Now about the release, really cool release
(Either that or he can't spell major.)
As someone said - Opera has always to Mayor releases - the 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 and the .5 version, every other
.01/.02/.51/.52 etc. is considered a minor release bugfix/security fix release.
And FYI - Opera 9.5 suprased 5 milion of downloads, so fuzi0719 - you are sooo wrong.
I hope you'll find a cure for your fanboyism.
You Opera Fanbois are funny, especially when accusing others of being fanbois
Face it Opera is good but just not good enough, it's always gonna be third, unless you can somehow convince the IE sheeple that IE is as bad as it is
Firefox fans, Opera fans and IE fans are so goddamn stupid. Every person has an opinion, every person is different. There's no way everybody will like the same stuff. Just stop bitching and complaining. If you still like opera over firefox, awesome, let me give some some couple of trophies and diplomas about that. You like Firefox over Opera? Really sweet too.
Either you are going to comment about Firefox release (which is what this topic is related to) or don't even post. KTHXBAI.
Now about the release, really cool release
+1 as that pretty much sums it up!
and i think this is the best browser release from Mozilla since the very first official release which was v1.0 a long time ago... cause from what i can remember/tell it seems like there's overall more of a difference between v2 to v3 vs v1 to v2.
Even if opera was so super duper mega great, there's nothing wrong in giving more "Importance" to a browser that holds a lot more market share than opera ever has or ever will.
Opera is a GREAT product, a great browser that I use from time to time, but that doesnt make it popular. Firefox's got the people on its side. Opera being 'shareware' for so long irremediably hurt its user base.
A fair few extensions are not compatible with Fx3, or are badly written. Check for updates, remove them, or get new ones. Don't automatically blame Firefox itself.
LOLOL... And thats is not consuming a huge amounts of memory?? HA-HA
Opera uses 5 times LESS.
Excuse me while I hug my 8 GB of RAM.
Last edited by gabito on 23 Jun 2008 - 02:45
He shows his ignorance right off the bat by being completely wrong about the address bar (a simple about:config option exists to eliminate the "problem"
Then he goes on to bitch about EV certificate display (the latest scam in the SSL world), handling of Certificate Revocation Lists (how many users even know what those are?), and problems with outdated plugins. Seriously?
"For example, I use the Clear Private Data feature now and then, which clears the browsing history (when you use the drop-down in the address bar), among other things. You can select Tools-Clear Private Data or press Ctrl-Shift-Del. When you do this in Firefox 3, it does not clear any browser history where the domain is in a bookmark, so your address bar drop-down may still have addresses in it."
--> Bookmarks aren't history. Clearing your history using Clear Private Data clears all your _history_ as expected.
"For instance, today I still have problems with some plug-ins."
--> I will guess he means extensions, as Flash, Java, Quicktime, etc, should all work.
"Incidentally, if you plan to stick with Firefox 2, don't plan on doing so for very long. Mozilla has a policy of providing security updates for old versions for only a few months and then you're on your own."
--> At least 6 months
Overal it does make a pretty nice browser and version 3 is a welcome update, but in its current state I won't use it on my Mac. I'm using it just fine on Windows XP though.
awesomebar: at first i was intimidated by the awesome bar but after a few hrs of getting used to it i found that the awesome bar is indeed awesome.
new bookmarks: love the tagging feature.
extensions: luckily only 2 got disabled on my list of which 1 fortunately had a compatible alternative so i'm just waitng for the other one to update to FF3.
themes: i never use the default theme so i have no issues with how fugly it is. 3 out of 4 themes in my list worked.
plug-ins: all worked.
speed: i keep getting surprised when i am waiting for something but it was already there in front of my face.
as for the vulnerability issue, frankly i trust FF to have this addressed asap. they always do.
attention extensions and themes authors get off your butts and update your stuff.
For some extensions folks should go to the extension writers web page. At times they will have betas or dev builds that work fine, replacing their FF2 extensions. When I was using the FF3 betas I got some extensions working that way, by now they have been upgraded to finals.
For the rare page that insistes you have IE I simply use the IE Tab extension or the Open In IE extension...anymore the latter does not get used, it may go soon.
however, there is now a reported security vulnerability in Firefox 3. read the details at these sites:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10789_3-9972207-...g=2547-1_3-0-20
http://dvlabs.tippingpoint.com/blog/2008/0...illa-firefox-30
I do expect a bug fixed edition of FF3 to be available soon that will resolve this newly reported security flaw.