Firefox 3

The official date for the launch of Firefox 3 is June 17, 2008, so I figured that I'd remind everyone to download the browser on Tuesday to help them get in the Guiness Book or Records for the most software downloaded in 24 hours.

I saw a real in depth review of the improvements over at Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows. You can read it here.

I will definitely be trying it out. Maybe this time it will supplant IE7 as my default browser. They are saying that with more than 15,000 improvements, Firefox 3 is faster, safer and smarter than before. We'll see.

Browser Comparison - Part 1

Every once in a while, almost every geek asks another geek, "What browser do you use?". I have changed browser preference quite often. So I decided to give the newest offerings for the big 3 browsers a try. I have been trying out Internet Explorer 8, Firefox 3 Beta 5 and Apple Safari. Now I usually end up using Internet Explorer most of the time, because it seems to be the one that meets my needs without having to download a bunch of add-ins just to make it meet my needs. But in trying all of them out, I have realized that if you could combine features of all 3 it would make a great browser. Today I'm going to discuss the Bookmark/Favorites feature.

I'm not like everyone, I like my bookmarks to be stationed in a tree form on the side of my browser since my laptop and my monitor are both widescreen, so I have the real estate to keep it posted. Even without a widescreen, I still like it to appear there, instead of a pull down menu. That's just my preference. That being said, I really didn't like the feature in Safari. When you view all the bookmarks, they appear on the left side with the folders that they are in, but when you click on a folder, the main page is where you see all your bookmark addresses. I just don't like having to navigate all the way away from the page I'm looking at to look at bookmarks.

Now as for Firefox and Internet Explorer, they both offer an easy way to see your bookmarks in a tree format on the side bar. They both seem to be very customizable, and but I like the way that Internet Explorer also adds a tab for RSS feeds. In IE, the feed actually appears with one icon and you click it like a regular bookmark, Safari does this also, but just not in the side bar. With Firefox, the RSS feed appears as a tree and you can only click on the individual feed story and view it. I don't like this...not one bit...it's not saving me any time. Plus there's no way to view the entire RSS feed by clicking on the bookmark for the web feed, but I'll get more into that in part two.

Here are some pics of what I'm talking about.

Firefox 3 Beta 3 due today

Firefox 3 beta 3 is due out later today. And while there aren't any major surprises, it's nice to see the new features like improved OS-specific themes and a new bookmark/history manager. Mozilla Links has posted a great overview of the changes you'll see in the latest beta.

First up Firefox 3 beta 3 looks more at home on Windows XP, Vista, OS X, and Linux (or at least Ubuntu). The new themes are still a work in progress, but users will notice redesigned icons and a slightly changed toolbar layout. For example, the backward and forward buttons in the Windows version have been combined into one button. At first we were a bit concerned, and then we realize how much more often we hit the back button than the forward button and we realized we were just scared of change. Plus, while this is the new default, users can easily separate the buttons.

The Mac and Linux versions now have native windows for file and text selection boxes and other menus. And the OS X version also includes Growl integration. Another nice new feature is that when you try to close multiple tabs or close a browser session with multiple tabs open, Firefox will ask if you want to save your session. Right now, you can only save a session if Firefox crashes or if you install an add-on like Session Fix.

Firefox 3 beta 3 isn't available for download just yet. But as soon as it is, you'll be able to download it from the Firefox beta downloads page.

Thanks to Download Squad

FireFox 3 Beta: Oh The Memory Usage

I love FireFox!!!

It is by far the best browser available, at least in my humble opinion. With the extensions that are available for you to install, you can tweak it to do everything that you need.

Of course the guys at Mozilla didn't want to stop there, as they've released FireFox 3 beta, and they've added some pretty cool features and tweaks. But as you know with a beta comes the bugs, and some memory usage has come front and center. Will they have this worked out by release date? I sure hope so. But if you want to check it out, and don't mind a little performance issues, go give it a test run and let us know how it went.

Firefox 3 Beta 1 web browser [Firefox via Crunchgear]