archondigital.Just this morning I installed the latest beta from Mozilla Firefox. This is the first time I am installing the beta to give it a road test. Since I first started using it, I immediately noticed how faster the beta is as compared to the current version and it appears to not consume too much memory.
Here is a brief review some of the good points that Firefox 3 has to offer.
UPDATE 2008/06/18: Firefox 3 has been officially launched.
The following were observations made while using Firefox 3 for the first time. I refrained from writing about all the other technicalities as I saw that these were enough to convince me to switch from Firefox 2.
User Interface
It now gives you the ability to zoom the entire page or just the text, along with the much important quick reset shortcut (Ctrl+0). You wouldn’t believe how important this is to me when reading very tiny text used by some bloggers.
Smart Bookmarks.
A location bar and auto-bookmarker that is algorithm based, which provides better matches against your history and bookmarks for URLs and page titles. This makes surfing much more convenient for me.
Plenty of Performance Improvements
From what I read in the release notes, changes to the JavaScript engine and a profile guided optimization resulted in a dramatic improvement over the previous releases particularly when using web applications such as Google Mail, Google Apps and Zoho. I fired up my Google Apps and opened a few other sites and got convinced that indeed the new features are for real.
Improvements on memory usage was a big plus to me. I observed that Firefox 3 seems to actively cut usage of RAM whenever I it is idle. I kept task manager open for a while where I was able to observe how Firefox 3 drastically reduces the amount of memory being consumed when browsing.
Here is a full screenshot of how much memory it consumes while dropping on Entrecard.
On this screenshot, I have three windows open, one for regular surfing and admin tasks (8 tabs), for dropping on Entrecard (9 tabs), iTunes (playing Richard Cheese) and my trusty ole’ Photoshop with it’s own set of open tasks. Before this same set of apps amounted to almost 380MB of RAM on Firefox 2. Version 3 uses only 123MB of RAM. Take note that I am not on a fast system (like in the office) as this is just the regular PC I let everyone else use at home.
Add-ons
Unfortunately, not everyone on my list of add-ons like Alexa’s Sparky, Google Toolbar and Linky were compatible with the latest beta. I felt a sign of relief as I was able to retain Web Developer toolbar, Fireshot and Stylish which are essential tools in my daily tasks.
Summary
The entire experience led me to realize that I was wasting too much of my resources on Firefox 2. Safari may seem faster than Firefox 2, but I don’t really think that Apple’s engineers were able to make it a very secure browser for Windows users.
I am not much of a GUI person when working on Windows and I keep every piece of eyecandy disabled and work with as minimum resources as possible. Anyway, there’s always the Mac Pro at work to give me all the Eyecandy I crave for.
This Firefox user (not much love for IE) can’t wait until the stable version is released.
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Sounds like a must have. The only thing that bothers me is the lack of compatibility with Linky. I wonder if Linky will be brought up to speed.
Curt’s last blog post..Big Contest at TysBlog
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March 23rd, 2008 at 1:17 am
Same here. Right now I’m scouting for a more convenient alternative for Linky. I sure hope they still update the add-on. But for now I’m back to a rapid Ctrl+click strategy.
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March 23rd, 2008 at 3:18 am
just like you guys , it really seems pretty god and functional
although it made some crashes with me but that wasn’t what made me go back to the current stable release
it was the extension issue ,
i may give it some tries after they fix that
I-martian’s last blog post..Sneaky google [ads on yahoo]
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I just found out for some freaky reason, I can still run my Firefox 2 with all the add ons that the beta can’t handle.
That is whenever I start up my XP (yes, I don’t have Vista - and in no rush either) if I run it first it will work.
Maybe it has something to do with installing them on separate locations.
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March 23rd, 2008 at 5:05 am
its nice to see fresh posts heheh. You’ve been slacking off lately. On blogging, that is.
Anyway, I have FF3 beta 3 and it keeps on logging me out when I drom EC so I use 2 instead.
You should try Safari for Windows. It’s one of the best
bendz’s last blog post..Getting LOST
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Got tired with slacking off, had to get back to real writing.
I did try Safari on Windows, I use it on the Mac for browsing and testing purposes it works best on OSX where you get to see it in all its coolness.
There was also a security issue about it which kept the paranoid bastard in me from using it on Windows.
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Slacking off is a full-time gig and I can’t handle the level of commitment
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March 26th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I can’t wait till Firefox 3 gets a stable version… I am almost salivating at the mouth here. Hopefully they wont make us wait too much longer. BTW, I agree that slacking is no joke, it takes a very serious and professional person to handle all of the responsibilities of a true slacker.
Fidel Betancourt JR’s last blog post..Day 4: 30 Days to Blogging Success
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Firefox 3 might be released by early June
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March 27th, 2008 at 12:26 am
it is about the time, the current firefox slows down the PC way too much ….
i am now testing how Safari on Windows work, not much opinion yet, will see after few days
BizGiftGuru’s last blog post..Merchandise and Attention to Detail
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There’s a lot of buzz lately with Safari for Windows, maybe because its more stable now than it was a while back. Though I’ll have to check so I can be sure.
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March 27th, 2008 at 12:43 am
off topic - something funny with the comment Luv plugin … it does not seem to displaying latest posts but some random posts instead. noticed this on several blogs today
BizGiftGuru’s last blog post..The Lanyard Story
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fixed it and added your latest post. I experienced the same thing with commentluv lately.
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March 30th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
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June 17th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Good review. I found you while looking for Linky for Firefox3. I’m also missing this AddOn a *lot*.
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July 20th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
My linky now works on Firefox 3 I’m still figuring out how but I also still have Firefox 2 installed.
It can’t run both at the same time but I get to use linky on firefox 3 and that’s enough for me at the moment.
archondigitals last blog post..Inspiration or the Lack of It
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October 10th, 2008 at 4:42 am
[...] features and significant performance improvements over the previous version which I discussed in an article I wrote a few months [...]