Mozilla recently released a new beta version of Firefox 3. If you haven’t been using it I highly recommend downloading a copy. I’ve been using Firefox 3 a few months now and there are 2 features I couldn’t imagine living without.
The first is the revamped address bar. Most address bars boast an auto-complete function (e.g. start typing http://www.ea… and it will fill in the rest). But Firefox 3’s address bar allows you to type in any word from the url and it will give you a list of choices, balanced between sites you frequently go to and the sites you most recently visited. So for example if, after reading this post, you simply type “beta” into the address bar, this page will almost certainly be one of your choices. It makes finding that web page you were at yesterday, but can’t remember than name of, really, really easy.
The second is that – upon request – Firefox will remember all the sites you are viewing when you shut it down. That way, when you load it back up – say, the next morning – all the tabs and sites you had open will reappear. I no longer to a bookmark a bunch of sites when I’m shutting down my computer. Super convenient.
On a seperate but parallel note, Apple recently released its Safari browser for the PC and has been bragging about how it is faster than Firefox. This is true, if you are using Firefox 2! According to an independent industry observer, Firefox 3 is actually faster than Safari.
eaves.ca 
I just downloaded it on your advice, only problem is that none of my add-ons nor my theme of choice are yet compatible with the new beta, making it much less attractive and useful.
Unfortunately I will probably have to wait until version 3 is final before people start updating their firefox mods.
I just downloaded it on your advice, only problem is that none of my add-ons nor my theme of choice are yet compatible with the new beta, making it much less attractive and useful.Unfortunately I will probably have to wait until version 3 is final before people start updating their firefox mods.
I can’t imagine it being any slower than it is now, so it’s a good thing that the new version is faster. Currently it’s dreadful. I actually dread opening it if I’m in a hurry.
I can’t imagine it being any slower than it is now, so it’s a good thing that the new version is faster. Currently it’s dreadful. I actually dread opening it if I’m in a hurry.
Thanks for the plug David. I just tried it out, and WOW, very user-friendly. Plug-ins will have to wait, but for some light browsing, this thing works great.
Thanks for the plug David. I just tried it out, and WOW, very user-friendly. Plug-ins will have to wait, but for some light browsing, this thing works great.
I mentioned it earlier but I think the ongoing debate regarding browser render speeds to be more than a little pedantic.
The notion that the primary determinant of page load is the rendering engine of the browser you’re using is specious at best. There are countless other factors that alter the performance of a website that it’s almost never differences in rendering engine that slow things down.
Plus, if you want REALLY fast browsing use Lynx, it renders pages in less than a second and obeys all W3C standards…so long as you don’t need those fancy graphical elements.
Any rumblings within Mozilla about when they’re going to improve browser history to support AJAX and xmlhttprequest() and the FULL W3C standard?
I mentioned it earlier but I think the ongoing debate regarding browser render speeds to be more than a little pedantic.The notion that the primary determinant of page load is the rendering engine of the browser you’re using is specious at best. There are countless other factors that alter the performance of a website that it’s almost never differences in rendering engine that slow things down.Plus, if you want REALLY fast browsing use Lynx, it renders pages in less than a second and obeys all W3C standards…so long as you don’t need those fancy graphical elements.Any rumblings within Mozilla about when they’re going to improve browser history to support AJAX and xmlhttprequest() and the FULL W3C standard?