Here are my top 3 reasons you should switch to Firefox 3:
- Bookmarks. At long last, bookmarks are now usable and user-friendly. Find a site you want to come back to later? Bookmark it with one click by lighting up the little star in the Smart Location Bar (more about that in a minute). By default, this new bookmark will be stored in the Unfiled Bookmarks folder, so you'll never ever have an unorganized Bookmarks list ever again.
Should you later decide you'd like to organize this bookmark, you have two options: do it right away by clicking the star again (or double-click it at the outset) to bring up a simple organizing tool, or go to the full-fledged bookmarks organizer, where you can sort out all your unsorted bookmarks. - The Smart Location Bar (AKA the "AwesomeBar"). Instead of pulling up a list of mind-numbing URLs, Firefox now allows you to throw in keywords just like a Google search. The result set is nothing short of absolutely useful; the result is a list of sites you've both visited in the past and/or bookmarked, which contain your keywords.
- Speed. Firefox has always been a little bit faster than Internet Explorer, especially if you used the FasterFox extension. Well now, I'm pleased to say that Firefox 3 is dramatically faster, including start up time and page loads. Users of Digg might notice that the site loads at least twice as fast and stories with 100+ comments now load in a fraction of the time. (This, combined with their revamp of the comments system makes the experience even better. Thanks, Digg!). Perhaps even more impressive is how snappy Gmail feels now.
@Mike: Have you been using 3.1 beta 2? There are supposed to be significant speed improvements over 3, but I haven't notice much of a difference. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteWhile I normally like living on the bleeding edge of tech, I've found that I'm actually quite happy with the current version 3.0.5--especially with Foxmarks installed, now that it saves passwords in addition to my bookmarks. (See related post: http://mismike.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-sync-firefox-bookmarks-and.html). This is really handy when you've got several computers to sync up.
ReplyDeleteI still wish that firefox behaved a bit more like Google Chrome in the way that Chrome is able to create a new window if you drag one of the tabs out of the tab bar.
And while it's not a speed improvement, I would like to see the AwesomeBar improved to Chrome's standards, too. The AwesomeBar is awesome, but Chrome's OmniBar is about 10 times more awesome in the way that everything you could want to do is right there in one search box.
It is funny that you should mention tab tearin Google Chrome style as it is a new feature with Firefox 3.1 beta 2: http://lifehacker.com/5090762/firefox-31-adds-tab-tearing
ReplyDeleteCall me ignorant, but I'm not sure what you are referring to in terms of the Chrome Omnibar vs the Firefox Awesome bar. What about the Omnibar do you like that FF doesn't have?
Hey, that would make an interesting post for you. Comparing the address bars of the various browsers ;-)
Ok, so Chrome's Omnibar is really cool because it combines google search, google suggest, history, and who knows what else, all into one auto-fill text box. It completely does away with the search bar at the top right of firefox and centralizes everything into one convenient, natural place.
ReplyDeleteSome people (including myself) like to add custom search engines to firefox's search bar, but I find that I rarely use those search engines, and instead rely primarily on google. It's handy for sure, but I've got to remember to use it--and I don't have the best memory.
I guess what I'm saying is I wouldn't miss it much if it were replaced by Chrome's Omnibar.