1 Topic by MarcB

  • MarcB
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Topic: Firefox impressions...

Hi there,
finally, I took the time to install firefox in a test machine and see what the fuss was all about wink

I've never been a fan of NS based navigators, and I always felt that it shouldn't be that hard for all vendors to adapt to the standards, and when necessary create new standards and adopt them immediately, so it pisses me off that some js still won't work correctly due to different DOMs and such trivialities.

That said, I must state I'm fairly impressed with this bugger. I will reconsider it when it gets out of beta/pre state, cause many features that I need aren't yet too well (if at all) implemented. But it's simply better than MSIE, can't discuss that.

I can't believe though that there's no 'history' easily accessible. That and the fact that I'm superlazy and don't want to retype all my passwords to all the sites I'm registered in, unless that's a necessary evil, along with some inconsistencies in the handling of security certificates, make me decide to stay with IE, but I will certainly stay tuned, and will not uninstall it from my system (which is really much more of a praise as it might seem).

Just thought I'd let all those firefox fans that hang around know, I loved the tab thing and it's ease of use, also the JS debug console and several other enhancements that I hadn't even dreamed of before smile

Very very very promising!

  • Jansson
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Re: Firefox impressions...

Well.. If you want lots of features, try Mozilla.. Maybe you'll find some there

3 Reply by Paul

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Re: Firefox impressions...

Don't forget to look at the extensions. The web developer extension is great; it allows you to highlight table and box level elements and will even show you labels with the classes used. Great for finding out where you went wrong or how a page is constructed.

  • From: 127.0.0.1
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Re: Firefox impressions...

Paul wrote:

Don't forget to look at the extensions. The web developer extension is great; it allows you to highlight table and box level elements and will even show you labels with the classes used. Great for finding out where you went wrong or how a page is constructed.

Cool! I've never tried that one out.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

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5 Reply by Paul (edited by Paul 2004-02-29 13:48)

  • Paul
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Re: Firefox impressions...

Take a look
http://www.post21.co.uk/punfire.gif

  • Frank H
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Re: Firefox impressions...

and mouse gestures ... it's a must wink

7 Reply by Paul (edited by Paul 2004-02-29 15:25)

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Re: Firefox impressions...

And the advanced tab extension so you get close buttons on individual tabs etc.

MarcB: If you want to toggle the history pane on and off like IE then just customise the toolbar to include the history button.

8 Reply by MarcB

  • MarcB
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Re: Firefox impressions...

@Jansson: did I ever mention I wasn't a NS fan? smile

@FrankH: Ahhh the mouse gestures was disabled by default, couldn't install it sad

@Paul: will check that. The problem is many customization things aren't easily accessible (i.e., you have to do some research about which strange page to load to change them, for example, the security password)

9 Reply by zc923

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Re: Firefox impressions...

I'm personaly tired of IE, all those active x, and "cool" web content that slows it down even more. I personaly use Firebird all the time. As an added bonus, when I switch between OSs, All my favorite items are all there. And Mozilla isnt really NS. NS sorta adopted it because no one was using their navigator. Oh, and Open Source is the future, so might aswell hop on the bandwagon now.

Do, or do not.
  • From: hendersonville. tyt i tam.
  • Registered: 2003-11-18
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Re: Firefox impressions...

I am looking for a super simple browser, thats ..nice. Is firefox for me? What are some alternatives?

11 Reply by zc923

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Re: Firefox impressions...

By simple, do you mean with no learning curve? Or simple as in fast? Either way, Firefox is the best.

Do, or do not.
  • Registered: 2004-02-18
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Re: Firefox impressions...

I'm a fan of MS, Firefox user since last week. Funny I found this thread. Firefox is even in version 0.8 the best webbrowser I've ever seen. I was almost about to write my own when I found it. Really, really a great thing. The Thuunderbird needs some time to be competitive to MS products, but Firefox definitely beat it!

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13 Reply by MarcB

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Re: Firefox impressions...

Weeeelll, after a few very... interesting weeks, here I'm back.

Firefox seems to work quite well, although it has some hiccups with some control properties and javascript, it has helped me make 100% compliant code and review what it is and is not compliant. So I can't complain.

Outside from that, it's certainly not slower or faster than MSIE, I guess that comes on the connection and the pages one visits.

I've had some major problems with the security settings, which seem to be solved now, although now and then some forms stop misteriously working.

All in all, the tab thing beats IE anyday. I can have just three or four firefox windows open, each with several sites, so I don't have to go alt-tab ten or twelve times.

Haven't found the mouse gestures thingy, it was disabled by default, with no chance to activate it, when I installed the little critter.

Still, I'm lazy, and most of my passwords are stored on my IE, so when I need to post, I must go through it.

14 Reply by meow

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Re: Firefox impressions...

MarcB wrote:

I can't believe though that there's no 'history' easily accessible.

Did you try Ctrl + H or View | Sidebar | History? Or you could always add the History button on the toolbar. wink

Nice forum, this! smile

  • Frank H
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Re: Firefox impressions...

MarcB wrote:

Haven't found the mouse gestures thingy, it was disabled by default, with no chance to activate it, when I installed the little critter.

I have installed 'all in one gestures 0.9.7' ... that worked for me ...  (IIRC there were 3 or so possible mouse gesture packs)

hmm... about the speed, the pages do load faster, but the program itself loads slower (as it's not built in like ie roll )... but as you said, it could be connection

16 Reply by MarcB

  • MarcB
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Re: Firefox impressions...

On a linux machine, it loads much faster so you're right about that. I'd bet on lack of OS specific optimized code, though. Most programs that compile on multiplatform trend to run faster on unix-like machines cause the CPU threads things better. Or so used to be looong ago... when C compilers didn't produce better code than ASM compilers wink

  • From: hendersonville. tyt i tam.
  • Registered: 2003-11-18
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Re: Firefox impressions...

Yea, this text box script on my site, that tell people how many letters they can still type in doesnt work in FireFox, but other than that, its my favorite browser.

  • Registered: 2004-05-23
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Re: Firefox impressions...

Firefox beats IE, but Opera leaves Firefox in the dust.

You have to set up Opera a little before it is perfect, the defult UI is a bit bloated. It also isn't free unless you are the sort of person who likes looking at adverts all day smile

The killer feature: a tabbed browser where you can turn off the tab bar! Seriously, that is how I have it set up, I swap tabs by holding down my right mouse button and scrolling with the scroll wheel!

http://www.opera.com/

Have fun,
Douglas

  • From: Sweden
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Re: Firefox impressions...

The best thing about Firebird/Firefox/Mozilla is that they do follow the webstandards smile

"Real programmers are those that can sleep in front of terminals ... with their eyes opened."

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  • From: Iceland
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Re: Firefox impressions...

FF can remember passwords for you, has been a default feature since I started using it some time ago.

21 Reply by Andy

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Re: Firefox impressions...

Tried IE(obviously), Mozilla, Opera, AvantBrowser... FireFox beats them all. By 500 miles. And has time ot turn round, laugh, and light up a fag.

  • From: 127.0.0.1
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Re: Firefox impressions...

/me runs and hides in a corner because he hasn't made "the switch" yet.

"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."

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  • From: MacTopia
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Re: Firefox impressions...

I love Firefox, using both Mac OS-X and Win, it is consistent across both platforms (unlike the goofy IE "differences" based on platform)....

Every Day Above Ground Is A Good One!!
  • Registered: 2004-04-20
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Re: Firefox impressions...

I've been using Firefox for a little over a month now, and absolutely love it! smile  Am using the Web Developer plugins to help with the design work that I do - am trying to figure out now how I ever lived without them!! lol

DougBTX wrote:

Firefox beats IE, but Opera leaves Firefox in the dust.

Possibly for ease of use in some respects, but not for a designer - they are not standards compliant.  I tested a layout yesterday at Browsercam in 23 different browsers on 5 different operating platforms (Mac, Linux, Win98, WinXP, Win2000), and it was identical in almost every one of them (overlooking the usual IE padding/margin bugs) except for Netscape 4.78, Netscape 4.8, and Opera 6.0 and Opera 7.  The 2 Netscape browsers bonked out on the style, and Opera added padding to all 4 sides of the page - I had already stated in the CSS not to have there (margin: 0).

If Opera is what works best for you and is what you prefer, then definitely use it.  My personal preference is Firefox 0.8. smile

Rickard wrote:

me runs and hides in a corner because he hasn't made "the switch" yet.

Sorry Rickard - we can all still see you! lol  There's nowhere you can hide! wink

25 Reply by DougBTX_

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Re: Firefox impressions...

dhdesign wrote:

Opera added padding to all 4 sides of the page - I had already stated in the CSS not to have there (margin: 0).

Actually, Opera is closer to the w3c here than FF, not further away. In the w3c "sample style sheet":http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/sample.html it has:

<code>BODY { padding: 8px; }</code>

Note that it uses padding, not margin like IE and FF. Set @body { padding: 0 }@ in Opera, and you'll remove the padding.

Later,
Douglas