February 13, 2004
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox - The Browser, Reloaded
Firefox is the new name for the stand-alone browser formerly named Firebird.
I was planning on writing a blog about this new release as soon as I found it, but I decided to hold off and do a bit of testing with it myself first.
Out of all the Firebird/fox releases this one seems most like a preview release. In the past, I've been able to forget the fact that the browser I was using was considered "pre-release." This time, it's a bit more evident.
Firefox improves on the Firebird code by adding an improved download manager, an installer, and better bookmarking, among others. The download manager is nice, but also seems to be the source of most of the new bugs and crashes. It's hasn't crashed on me "a ton," but it did jump ship a few times when I had just begun to use it.
The first thing I would do after downloading and installing it (which I still recommend doing) is to change the download manager settings. You can do this under Tools | Options | Downloads. The first setting to change is the default download location (unless you like your downloads on your desktop). The other setting I changed was to keep the download manager window open after downloading (just personal preference).
There has only been on rendering bug that I've found. If you visit BigBlueHat or Fast Company, you may notice that the rollovers in the navigation no longer work. Or if they do, they tend to get "stuck." I'm not sure what's made that happen. I let the Fast Company design know, and I'll probably file a bugzilla report in the future.
So, there's the skinny on the fox. It's a nice piece of software. Worth the upgrade. Nice new logo too, btw. Be aware that there are a few bugs, but that *should be* expected with prerelease software even though it hasn't been to date. 8o)
Posted by TheIdeaMan at February 13, 2004 11:57 AM | TrackBackDon't forget Thunderbird 0.5. It's gotten a ton better with IMAP mail.
I'd recommend using Mozilla 1.6 instead of Firefox tho. It's more stable and I think it's a good deal faster in some areas. The developers spent some quality time with the Gecko engine and I think you'll find that it shows.
Posted by: gabe at February 13, 2004 12:58 PMuh... they both use the gecko engine. moz had better be more stable than any tech preview.
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