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if I had but one word to describe Firefox, it would be "smooth." this is a very polished-feeling browser, with lots of speed and excellent compatibility. Very competent. While it's still a beta, and the Mozilla folks post a disclaimer, I've found Firefox quite adequate for day-in, day-out surfing since it was still called FireBird.
I've been using Firefox 0.8 almost continuously since February, and my brief experience so far with 0.9 indicates that the solid performance of its predecessor has been maintained, but everything seems a little faster and slicker. Unhappily, a bug that causes tabbed open pages to disappear and then sluggishly and incrementally reappear after you hide and then unhide the application has not been squashed. My workaround is to windowshade Firefox rather than hiding it (I have Windowshade X installed ).
The release notes for Firefox 0.9rc have not been posted as of this morning, however The Burning Edge: Bigger Picture has a fairly recent inventory of changes in the 0.9 build which you can peruse here:
http://www.squarefree.com/burningedge/bigger-picture.html
A few selected highlights:
• - Find in page does not search in form textboxes and textareas
• - Focusing form element does not clear selected text in page
• - Remove cruft to make Firefox download half a megabyte smaller
Major bug fixes
• - Mozilla web services (WSDL, SOAP) leak memory
• - DNS cache stops working
New features
• Import bookmarks, passwords, cookies, form history, history, and options from Internet Explorer. Import some of these things from Mozilla, Netscape 4, and Opera.
• Help
• - "Copy Image" on image context menus (Windows and Mac).
• - Set as wallpaper dialog that lets you choose tiled/centered/stretched. (The dialog also prevents you from accidentally setting a porn image as your wallpaper, blowing away your previous wallpaper, etc).
• - Show a warning dialog when closing a multi-tabbed browser window
• - Dragging text to search bar should search for it; dragging URL to address bar should go there
• - Allow deletion of form autocomplete results (Shift+Delete)
Major improvements
• Stability: the inclusion of Talkback has made it possible to identify the most common crashes and fix them.
• - String changes made Firefox 3% faster.
• - Files being downloaded are now moved to the target directory (with a temporary ".part" extension) as soon as the user selects the desired location
Firefox features include:
Tabbed Browsing
Popup Blocking
Firefox shields you from unwanted popup windows. It also lets you allow certain sites to open popup windows if necessary.
Integrated Search
Firefox makes finding things easy. The built-in Google bar provides convenient access to the best search engine on the web.
Efficient Navigation
Firefox makes it easy to navigate without using the mouse. You can open links simply by typing some of the text in the link.
AutoDownload
Automatically download files to your Desktop or another location with AutoDownload. Downloading becomes much simpler without windows popping up asking you where to save.
Find Stuff Faster
Firefox's Google Bar remembers previous searches. Much of the time you spend using a web browser is spent looking for things. That's why Firefox has the best search functions of any browser. Ctrl+K takes you to the Google bar. Enter what you're searching for and hit Enter to search Google. Entering a search into the Location bar does an "I'm feeling lucky" Google search (that is, it automatically loads the first result returned by Google for that search).
Firefox's collection of Smart Keywords make it easy to look up words in the Dictionary,
Firefox's Smart Keywords lets you find things faster. check on stock quotes, etc. Just type the keyword, then the word, stock symbol or other value in the Location Bar, and hit Enter.
Bookmarks QuickFind in action open search results in background tabs, and flick between them to compare. Bookmarks and History have QuickFind bars that let you quickly locate a bookmark in a long list, or a place you visited several days ago. Firefox's handy browser context menus also let you instantly search for selected text.
Simplified Privacy
Firefox has sophisticated privacy controls you've been surfing, such as things you've typed into forms, Cookies, files you've downloaded, pages you've visited (History), and so on. You can quickly clear any of these things from the Privacy panel of Tools, Options. If you're using a public or shared computer, you can also instantly clear all stored information with a single click.
Annoyance Eliminator
Aside from preventing popup windows, Firefox will also stop a number of other actions. Firefox puts an end to web page tricks that have been annoying web surfers for years, like status bar tricks (e.g. animating status bar tickers, and spoofing that prevents you from seeing where links really go). We've designed Firefox so that the standard settings offer the least annoyance. Controls for these settings can be found in the Web Features page under Options.
Firefox comes with the same sophisticated set of controls as Mozilla that allow you to control cookies, Javascript, and other settings to suit your tastes.
Better Bookmarks and History.
Firefox makes it easier to organize your Bookmark collection with its handy Bookmarks manager (Bookmarks, Manage Bookmarks... menu item). Create folders to group similar items, and add annotations to remind yourself of why you bookmarked a particular item later. Sort on any of a number of properties including Name, Location, Date Last Visited, etc. Firefox also lets you associate a Keyword with any bookmark so you can open it by simply typing its keyword in the Location Bar of the browser.
Both Bookmarks and History are available as convenient Side Bar panels for quick access. Simply hit Ctrl+B for Bookmarks, and Ctrl+H for History. Links open with a click.
Best Accessibility
Firefox offers the best set of keyboard shortcuts about. Ctrl+L quickly focuses the Location Bar. Ctrl+K the Google Bar. Ctrl+T opens a new tab and Ctrl+S does what it should do - save the current page. A full set of keyboard shortcuts is available here.
Type Ahead Find in Action
Firefox also features sophisticated 'Type-Ahead Find' for links that make it easier for users with accessibility needs (such as those using screen readers, or even laptop users with inconvenient pointing devices) to select links. Simply start typing the name of the link that you want to select and Firefox will shift focus to it.
Intelligent
Firefox helps you fill out web forms and remembers what you've searched for
Firefox remembers what you've filled in web forms, to make searching for things again, or filling out things like your name and address a simple process. Firefox also features a handy Password Manager that automatically fills out user-name/password fields on sites that require you to log in.
More Responsive
Firefox feels more responsive in day-to-day browsing than competitors like Internet Explorer. Pages appear on screen sooner, and there are fewer annoying lock ups. The effect is a browser that feels faster.
Customize Toolbars
Set up your toolbars the way you want them. Have just a thin strip with everything on one bar. Have a set of toolbars with every option available within reach. Firefox's toolbars are fully customizable so you can have it the way you like it. Choose View, Toolbars, Customize... and simply drag on the items you want. Firefox even lets you create new toolbars. Third party extensions often add Toolbar items to the Customize Palette as well.
Most Extensible
Firefox's user interface can be extended by developers using industry standards such as XML, CSS, JavaScript etc, as well as complex C++ add on modules. Examples of such extensions include everything from relatively simple utilities to advanced tools such as a JavaScript Debugger and Document Inspector. A full list of existing extensions is available here. Extensions are easily installed.
More Space for Pages
Firefox has more space devoted to web pages than Internet Explorer, Opera, or Mozilla. Firefox offers 2% more space to web pages than Mozilla, 4% more than Internet Explorer, and a whopping 10% more than Opera. (Standard configurations tested, sidebars closed, window maximized at 1600x1200). You can get even more space by rearranging the content of the toolbars. Firefox also offers a Full Screen mode (Press F11 to enter/exit) that devotes even more of the screen to the web page.
Simplified User Interface
Browsers like Mozilla and Opera seem to be focused more on esoteric features, at the expense of all-round usability. FireFox works in the simplest and most straight-forward way out of the box. Defaults have been carefully chosen so you don't need to spend time setting up the browser. Menus and dialog boxes are kept clean and free of options that only a marginal number of people use. If there's a feature that Mozilla or Opera has that Firefox lacks, it's probably for good reason. But if you really do need a particular enhancement, a large number of quality extensions are available for free.
Personalize With Themes
Firefox supports a large number of quality themes which can be downloaded for free. These themes can change the appearance of everything from the browser window, to dialog boxes, buttons, menus, etc.
Industry Leading Standards Support
Firefox has support for W3C standards like CSS, DOM, etc. Where browsers like Opera may fail on a dynamic page, Firefox usually succeeds.
Mozilla Firefox is freeware
For more information, visit:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
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