Firefox 3

[Alpaca]

It's download day for the freshly-released Firefox 3, and this is a shameless plug.

[Sibling Chatty]

Rats, I missed it...

Still gonna download it, though.

[Aggie]

I figure there will be plenty of users to find the bugs in the first couple of days. 

I've been happy with updated versions in the past and will be switching as soon as I've got some time.

[beagle]

Downloaded it to check our work stuff goes ok on it, bit couldn't really see anything to get excited about.  Think I'll stick with IE7 Pro. The things I use most are support for gestures and ability to type abbreviations of URLs into the URL bar, and I've never taken the time to find the relevant add-ons for those on Firefox.  Might be my imagination but the fonts looked a bit nicer in 3.0 than 2.0, and the back/forwards buttons more Vista style.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

IE =

Re. FF3: I like the higher size settings. If you aren't that close or like bigger fonts you can use a bigger font but FF3 not only makes the font but the graphics and page build bigger and better, it remembers the setting according to the website for the next time you open it. Just that feature sold me.

Also it is a bit better managing memory (the biggest problem with FF2 IMO).

[Alpaca]

The things I use most are support for gestures and ability to type abbreviations of URLs into the URL bar, and I've never taken the time to find the relevant add-ons for those on Firefox. 

Dunno about gestures - I'm a keyboard type myself, so I really can't judge if the extensions out there are any good.

The big feature they're touting this time around, though, is the new address bar (which they refer to as the "awesome bar"). From what I've done, a few keystrokes in it will take me to the page I want, which goes by page titles and bookmark labels as well as URLs. Pretty slick. Again, though, can't judge the long-term merits since my quick-page-access techniques rely on this guy.

I figure there will be plenty of users to find the bugs in the first couple of days.

In fact, first couple of hours.

That aside, though, I've been using it at first intermittently and then more frequently since beta 3 or so, and all the bugs that affected usability for me disappeared by RC 2.

Also it is a bit better managing memory (the biggest problem with FF2 IMO).

Amen! On the old computer, launching FF2 would render the entire system unusable for about 10 seconds, and then even after it was launched it was a hog - its spellchecker used 40% of my CPU when active, and memory consumption could go into gigabytes. FF3 currently using a cool 120 Mb.

[Griffin NoName]

Think I'll stick with IE7 Pro. The things I use most are support for gestures...........

Am I being dense again? What are gestures? Are they things like cocking a snook?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Think I'll stick with IE7 Pro. The things I use most are support for gestures...........

Am I being dense again? What are gestures? Are they things like cocking a snook?

As I comprehend it, they are very specific mouse movements-- up/over/click, that sort of thing.

They are enjoyed by the same sort of person who has learned that "left-arrow/left-arrow/up-arrow/A-button/up-arrow" means "super-double jump and kick" on a video game.  

Me?  I learned computers on a typewriter-- making punch cards.   I still think of a "mouse" as "a newfangled contraption". 

Linky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_gesture
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Edit: Awwww CRAP!!!!

I just discovered a "break the bank" bug "feature" in FF3.

Several of my favorite add-ons do not work!

Including Tab Mix Plus-- that alone is a deal breaker for me.

The address bar no longer shows (apparently) the address of the page you're in, until you do something (I have yet to figure out what-- it seems to be random) to make it appear.  THAT is also a deal-breaker.


.... I'm going back to FF2 .....

[beagle]

Think I'll stick with IE7 Pro. The things I use most are support for gestures...........

Am I being dense again? What are gestures? Are they things like cocking a snook?

They're a carry over from the Tablet PC.  In IE7 Pro:

right mouse down move left = browse back
right mouse down move right = browse forward
right mouse down move down = page down
...up and left = previous tab and so on...

more here.

Not rocket science but means you don't have to track the mouse across the whole browser to the back/forward buttons.

URL shortcuts mean I can just type "t" in the url toolbar instead of "http://toadfishmonastery.com", "m" for microsoft.com and so on for other ones I use a lot.

There are almost certainly Firefox equivalents, but I've never hunted for them.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Okay, I fixed the add-ons/extensions using the brute-force method.  (turned off version checking here )

Idiots.   Always know bettern' a human operator.... 

The address thing?  Haven't figured why it's blank, but if you click the tab in question twice, it shows the current page, or if you click on a different tab, then go back. 

Dumb.

Probably due to a new "feature" to add some idiotic "functionality" that some basement-living geek thought was "cool".... 

[Alpaca]

URL shortcuts mean I can just type "t" in the url toolbar instead of "http://toadfishmonastery.com", "m" for microsoft.com and so on for other ones I use a lot.

That's the one that's built-in now:

The address thing?  Haven't figured why it's blank, but if you click the tab in question twice, it shows the current page, or if you click on a different tab, then go back. 

Dunno. Works perfectly normally for me.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

So it does for me, perhaps an installation bug ot a system bug*. Try uninstalling it and reinstalling it.

* yesterday I installed the Riva FLV encoder and on my main computer the main form was empty with only the frames of the textboxes and buttons. That system will have to be re-installed soon but I have all my games already installed which is why I'm not so willing  .

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

It seems to be working-- the issue is most-often repeatable with google searches.  Opening one of the results (which I've set to auto-open a new tab) opens fine, but the addy bar is blank.

Until I click on the tab more than one time....

goofy, but I can live with it-- totally NOT worth re-installing everything.

My add-ins are:

* BBCodeXtra
* Copy Plain Text
* Favicon Picker 2
* HashColouredTabs
* IE View Lite
* Image Zoom
* NoScript
* Nuke Anything Enhanced
* PDF Download
* Tab Mix Plus

I used to have more, but some I didn't use much and they didn't get updated, so they got automatically weeded out when updates caused a version-check "error".

I suspect it's just a teething issue.  Subsequent updates will likely take care of it-- I've a work-around, soooo.

[Griffin NoName]

Think I'll stick with IE7 Pro. The things I use most are support for gestures...........

Am I being dense again? What are gestures? Are they things like cocking a snook?

They're a carry over from the Tablet PC.  In IE7 Pro

Ah! Ok! I wasn't being dense. I never approved of Tablets* so know nothing about them.

*too religious or medical for my liking

[Sibling Chatty]

OK, when I click my address bar, WHY the hell do I get crap that I have not looked at (or for) in MONTHS???

And every little thing I HAVE been able to find and look at is gonna follow me around like a lost puppy?

I've had FF3 about 12 minutes, and so far, I HATE it...