6039 Now that AOL has pulled the plug on Netscape browser development, in order to keep current with security patches and whatnot it will be necessary for Netscape fans like me to pick another browser if we want to use the Mozilla/Gecko browser engine. Fortunately, there are excellent alternatives, although none I like so much as Netscape with its pretty, functional interface and cool features like a local weather monitor. There is of course Firefox, a fast and competent browser unfortunately cumbered with a Windowsy interface theme.

However, there's also Mac-only Camino, which has a consummately Mac-like appearance, and the SeaMonkey suite browser whose interface has a retro '90s look because it's a '90s design carried over from the Mozilla suite browser (but with up-to-date Firefox underpinnings).

When the bad news about Netscape broke, I decided to switch to Firefox for the present, since there is a Netscape appearance skin that can be applied to Firefox 2. It certainly emulates the Netscape look I like, but unfortunately not the little weather monitor gizmo, which may be available as a plugin for Firefox, but I detest mucking around with plug-ins. A case in point is the Firefox 3 beta, which doesn't support the Netscape skin plug-in, at least yet.

You can check it out at:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/user/56836

I've been using Firefox 3 Beta 2 for the past couple of weeks, and it's a very decent browser - very fast (with even more speed promised for future builds), and for me completely reliable with no beta bugginess noted. Frankly, notwithstanding Mozilla's disclaimers that the version three betas are for developer evaluation only, I haven't encountered any reason not to use the Beta 2 browser for regular, workaday browsing.

Will I stick with Firefox? Maybe. It usually represents the cutting edge of Gecko browser development, although the other browsers under the Mozilla umbrella (Camino and Firefox) usually climb on board the latest release version fairly promptly, and Camino's support of OS X Services is a useful feature. On the other hand, if the Netscape appearance plug-in is updated to support Firefox 3, that might keep me in the Firefox camp.

Firefox 3 is based on Mozilla's new Gecko 1.9 Web rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 29 months and reportedly includes nearly 2 million lines of code changes, fixing more than 11,000 issues. Gecko 1.9 includes some major re-architecting for performance, stability, correctness, and code simplification and sustainability. Firefox 3 has been built on top of this new platform resulting in a more secure, easier to use, more personal product with a lot under the hood to offer website and Firefox add-on developers.

However, if you're looking for a refreshed and spruced-up appearance, you'll be disappointed. The Firefox 3 Beta is pretty much a dead-ringer for FireFox 2, at least so far. although reportedly refreshed interface themes for both Windows and OS X are under development for the Firefox 3 final release. We shall see. If it materializes, maybe I'll like the new Firefox OS X interface as much as I do the Netscape appearance.

Mozilla says that Firefox 3 Beta 2 includes approximately 900 under-the-hood improvements over the previous beta, including fixes for stability, performance, memory usage, platform enhancements and user interface improvements. Of particular interest to Mac-users Firefox 3 now uses the OS X spellchecker and supports Growl for notifications of completed downloads and available updates, and the new Native Web page forms feature: HTML forms on Web pages now have a native look and feel on Mac OS X (as well as Linux Gnome) desktops.

Other highlights with Firefox 3 include a redesigned Location Bar autocomplete menu which now highlights which parts of the page title and/or URL match the entered text. Results for autocomplete are shown in two lines: one for page title and the other for web address, and in contrasting colors making it easier to isolate one or the other depending on what you're looking for. Also, matched terms are highlighted to direct attention.

The Downloads manager has also been improved (although I still think Opera has the best downloads manager in the business), with support for searching through previous downloads, resuming downloads between sessions, and it now displays the domain of the source site next to each completed download. The Places feature, which organizes bookmarks and browser history, has also been enhanced, offering improved search functionality and a new Smart Bookmarks folder on the Bookmarks Toolbar.

It is now possible to search History, tags and bookmarks with a real, configurable search interface.

Here are some more Firefox 3 improvements:

More Secure

• One-click site info: Click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site. Identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand. In later versions, Extended Validation SSL certificate information will be displayed.


• Malware Protection: malware protection warns users when they arrive at sites which are known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other malware. You can test it here (note: our blacklist of malware sites is not yet activated).


• New Web Forgery Protection page: the content of pages suspected as web forgeries is no longer shown. You can test it here.


• New SSL error pages: clearer and stricter error pages are used when Firefox encounters an invalid SSL certificate.


• Add-ons and Plugin version check: Firefox now automatically checks add-on and plugin versions and will disable older, insecure versions.


• Secure add-on updates: to improve add-on update security, add-ons that provide updates in an insecure manner will be disabled.


• Anti-virus integration: Firefox will inform anti-virus software when downloading executables.


• Vista Parental Controls: Firefox now respects the Vista system-wide parental control setting for disabling file downloads.


• [Improved in Beta 2!] Effective top-level domain (eTLD) service better restricts cookies and other restricted content to a single domain.


• [Improved in Beta 2!] Better protection against cross-site JSON data leaks.

Easier to Use

• Easier password management: an information bar replaces the old password dialog so you can now save passwords after a successful login.


• Simplified add-on installation: the add-ons whitelist has been removed making it possible to install extensions from third-party sites in fewer clicks.


• [Improved in Beta 2!] New Download Manager: the revised download manager makes it much easier to locate downloaded files, and displays where a file came from.


• Resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting your network connection.


• Full page zoom: from the View menu and via keyboard shortcuts, the new zooming feature lets you zoom in and out of entire pages, scaling the layout, text and images.


• Tab scrolling and quickmenu: tabs are easier to locate with the new tab scrolling and tab quickmenu.


• Save what you were doing: Firefox will prompt users to save tabs on exit.


• Optimized Open in Tabs behavior: opening a folder of bookmarks in tabs now appends the new tabs rather than overwriting.


• Location and Search bar size can now be customized with a simple resizer item.


• Text selection improvements: multiple text selections can be made with Ctrl/Cmd; double-click drag selects in "word-by-word" mode; triple-clicking selects a paragraph.


• Find toolbar: the Find toolbar now opens with the current selection.


• Plugin management: users can disable individual plugins in the Add-on Manager.


• Integration with Vista: Firefox's menus now display using Vista's native theme.


• Integration with the Mac: Firefox now uses the OS X spellchecker and supports Growl for notifications of completed downloads and available updates.


• [Improved in Beta 2!] Integration with Linux: Firefox's default icons, buttons, and menu styles now use the native GTK theme.

More Personal

• Star button: quickly add bookmarks from the location bar with a single click; a second click lets you file and tag them.


• Tags: associate keywords with your bookmarks to sort them by topic.


• [Improved in Beta 2!] Location bar & auto-complete: type in all or part of the title, tag or address of a page to see a list of matches from your history and bookmarks; a new display makes it easier to scan through the matching results and find that page you're looking for.


• [Improved in Beta 2!] Smart Bookmarks Folder: quickly access your recently bookmarked and tagged pages, as well as your more frequently visited pages with the new smart bookmarks folder on your bookmark toolbar.


• [Improved in Beta 2!] Places Organizer: view, organize and search through all of your bookmarks, tags, and browsing history with multiple views and smart folders to store your frequent searches.


• [Improved in Beta 2!] Web-based protocol handlers: web applications, such as your favorite webmail provider, can now be used instead of desktop applications for handling mailto: links from other sites. Similar support is available for other protocols (Web applications will have to first enable this by registering as handlers with Firefox).


• Easy to use Download Actions: a new Applications preferences pane provides a better UI for configuring handlers for various file types and protocol schemes.


• Improved Platform for Developers


• New graphics and font handling: new graphics and text rendering architectures in Gecko 1.9 provides rendering improvements in CSS, SVG as well as improved display of fonts with ligatures and complex scripts.


• Native Web page forms: HTML forms on Web pages now have a native look and feel on Mac OS X and Linux (Gnome) desktops.


• Color management: (set gfx.color_management.enabled on in about:config and restart the browser to enable.) Firefox can now adjust images with embedded color profiles.


• Offline support: enables web applications to provide offline functionality (website authors must add support for offline browsing to their site for this feature to be available to users).


• A more complete overview of Firefox 3 for developers is available for website and add-on developers.


• Improved Performance


• Reliability: A user's bookmarks, history, cookies, and preferences are now stored in a transactionally secure database format which will prevent data loss even if their system crashes.


• [Improved in Beta 2!] Speed: Major architectural changes (such as the move to Cairo and a rewrite to how reflowing a page layout works) put foundations in place for major performance tuning which have resulted in speed increases in Beta 2, and will show further gains in future Beta releases.


• [Improved in Beta 2!] Memory usage: Over 300 individual memory leaks have been plugged, and a new XPCOM cycle collector completely eliminates many more. Developers are continuing to work on optimizing memory use (by releasing cached objects more quickly) and reducing fragmentation. Beta 2 includes over 30 more memory leak fixes, and 11 improvements to our memory footprint.

A more complete, yet "unofficial" list of Firefox 3 changes with their bug numbers is available at the Burning Edge website.

System requirements:
Mac OS X 10.4 and later

Minimum Hardware
Macintosh computer with an Intel x86 or PowerPC G3, G4, or G5 processor
128 MB RAM (Recommended: 256 MB RAM or greater)
200 MB hard drive space

You can download Firefox 3 Beta 2 here:
http://en.www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/all-beta.html



Charles W. Moore

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