I'm a sucker for Beta software. Just can't resist installing the latest and (unready?) versions of software I use. So I went ahead and installed FireFox 3 Beta 3 yesterday. and it looks like this:
First impressions: Visually, there doesn't seem to be much difference in the way FireFox 3 looks and feels compared to FireFox 2. That said, FireFox has always looked fine. What's more important is that Beta 3 seems stable and hasn't crashed on me yet even though I had like seventeen different windows and tabs open!
Function-wise, I like some of the new 'smart' functions FireFox 3 incorporates (thus far, there may be more):
Smart Bookmarks
Auto-bookmarking isn't really a new feature - FireFox 2 had it and virtually every browser built since the Netscape era has a handy tool called 'History' that'll let you re-visit your previously visited pages. Smart Bookmarking takes this a step further, letting your auto-bookmarks be organised by the "most visited pages" and even tags. Tags works just like online social bookmarking services like del.icio.us, but allows you to attach tags to your bookmarks offline so you can easily search for previously bookmarked resources on any given topic. Real useful for doing research!
Revised Download feature
The biggest improvement for me here is the inclusion of a search function to help you locate those pesky files you've downloaded from the internet. If you do a lot of downloading, and have trouble finding files after that, this is just the right tonic for you.
These are the two major functions, for now that make FireFox 3 look like an evolutionary internet browser as opposed to a revolutionary one. Personally, I had hoped for more Web 2.0 functionality (incorporating OpenID?) like Flock but, I guess you could argue that just as much could be done with the extensions supported by FireFox.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Just installed: Firefox Beta 3
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5 comments:
Ooooh I like. I'm gonna go try it out now. My only issue is that i have to install my add ons again.. but thank God for Febe. It saves all the add ons for me :) Thanks for the update.
No, the add-ons port over instantaneously and the Beta 3 does not overwrite FireFox 2(so you can still use FireFox 2 if you like). The problem is, most extensions and add-ons are not compatible with FireFox 3 yet.
OpenID is still arguably successful or proven useful. I'm a supporter of it but not a true believer. Having OpenID support will still be cool anyway :-) And.. yes, they're trying to squeeze this in too, see PASS-002b.
What I wish to see the most in the new version will be having better support for CSS2, but this will take some time, as the industry is still pretty much stuck in CSS1 and HTML4 (or non-validate-able HTML, oh no!).
HTML5 for Firefox 4 hey?
yc
Also, users should be aware that beta version is unsupported and is solely for testing purposes, for end users, for developers. No matter how stable it is appears at an environment, it is still not a guarantee.
Most important is whether users bother to provide feedbacks back to the foundation.
Anyway, for whoever interested, Mozilla's roadmap:
http://wiki.mozilla.org/ReleaseRoadmap
And high level requirements:
http://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox3/Firefox_Requirements
yc
@YC: Yups. I'm a sucker for Beta Software, but please please people, don't blame me if FF3 screws up your system!
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