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Firefox 4 is here

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Re: Firefox 4 is here

#221

Post by brianloveswords »

RossM wrote: post #10
d0m wrote: post #2

Lets say I'm a chrome user (and loving it), is Firefox4 worth a try? What are the main differences from the last version?

Different (Chrome-inspired) UI; faster (rendering speed) compared to previous versions and some techy-things like hardware acceleration. They also have synchronisation built-in now. I'm also a Chrome user but I'd quite like to switch back if they've sorted out the chronic lag issues I've always had. Update: In ff4 now, looks and feels great, if a little sluggish with page scrolling. I don't know, Chrome just feels sl…

If you're using OS X and have kinetic scrolling ("scroll with momentum") enables at the OS level, you can try disabling "Smooth Scrolling" in FF4 (Advanced -> General -> Use Smooth Scrolling).

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#222

Post by koenigdavidmj »

rradu wrote: post #199
51Cards wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I alter FF to put the close button at the end of the tab bar in one fixed location. (it's an about:config option) I like that it doesn't move, mimics the OS Window-close mouse movement (in Windows) but MOST importantly, I think it's a complete waste of space to have an X on every tab.

I had that for FF 3, but now that the tabs are on top it just feels a lot more like Chrome where I'm used to having it on each tab, so I've moved them back on the tabs. Btw, the relevant option in about:config is "browser.tabs.closeButtons" Values... 0 - One close button only on the active tab. 1 - Each tabs has its own close button (default) 2 - Removes all close buttons (no close button, right click to select optio…

You can also middle click the tab to close it.

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#223

Post by pero »

bobds wrote: post #218
hasenj wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In firefox, if flash crashes, it doesn't crash any tab; just the flash element (e.g. the youtube video box becomes gray)

I noticed that and it was a very welcome addition. The only problem is I don't remember Flash or FF crashing before, except some rare occasion. Now I see Flash crashes somewhat often.

Do you maybe have a Flash blocker installed? Flash is responsible for 100% of my browser crashes.

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#224

Post by cookiecaper »

icegreentea wrote: post #25
eapen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worth a try? Yes. Better Tab handling and has the ability to hold tabs in "groups" and a "panorama" view which allows you to view all tabs across groups. The awesome bar has also improved significantly and has some smart features (like the option of tab switching instead of opening a new tab when you already have a URL open). Better Add-ons management interface and some add-ons work without a restart of the browser.…

I've been using FF4 beta since B3... does anyone actually use the panorama/tab grouping thing? I find its performance really poor and kinda frustrating, especially since I've been using add-ons that provide similar functionality for a while.

The performance is great here on Arch Linux x64, haven't noticed any hiccups with it. I use the grouping feature to separate out tasks -- I have a work group, a research group, and a misc. group at the moment. It keeps my tab bar cleaner and more relevant and stops me from getting distracted as a flip through tabs when doing work or something. I have gmail pinned as an app tab, so that tab appears on all groups.

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#225

Post by niels_olson »

bretthoerner wrote: post #97
mbrubeck wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* Faster startup, more responsive, faster JavaScript with the new Jaegermonkey JIT. * New, less cluttered UI. * Built-in sync of bookmarks/tabs/history/passwords, fully encrypted on the client (unlike Chrome's sync which encrypts passwords only). * Sync your bookmarks, tabs, history, passwords, and form data to Firefox for Android! See also this thread for answers from various members of the Firefox team: http://www.…

But aren't those all features of Chrome? Wouldn't a happy Chrome user want to know about something FF4 does that Chrome doesn't? It's very clear that 4 > 3.6, the features you listed are awesome ... they just aren't very appealing to a current Chrome user.

You know what this really makes me? A huge fan of lastpass/xmarks (and 1password, but that's because neither lastpass nor 1password has successfully covered everything I want from a password manager, but they seem to complement each other well enough in my use case).

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#226

Post by csel »

mbrubeck wrote: post #177
csel wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, search on the address bar is the most important feature that I love about Chrome. IE9 has the same thing now. I am not sure why Firefox 4 did not put search on the address bar. So for a Chrome user, you will greatly miss that feature. :( Until FF integrates that, I am back to using Chrome.

You can search from the address bar in Firefox 4, but you won't get search suggestions as you type. If you want to change this, try: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/omnibar/ (And you can use the "Customize toolbars" window to remove the search bar if you want.) Firefox intentionally does not show suggestions in the address bar by default, because we don't want to send everything you type there to a thi…

thanks man - I just don't understand why FF didn't just integrate that as a default feature.

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#228

Post by baq »

niels_olson wrote: post #213
mbrubeck wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Press the little button in the titlebar that makes any window fill the screen. Note that tabs will appear in the titlebar when maximized on Windows only, for Firefox 4, and only if you have the menu bar hidden. (It's hidden by default in Windows Vista and 7.) Tabs in the titlebar are planned for Mac and Linux too, but weren't ready for this release.

For whatever reason, the voters seem to think I didn't try that before commenting. FF4 does not behave as described on my WinXP box at work.

they probably don't have xp anymore. works fine on 7.

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#229

Post by bad_user »

I have been using Chrome for 6 months now.

What I liked about Chrome: optimized usage of vertical space and speed. But what I really disliked about it -- Chrome add-ons are useless. Chrome would never allow something like Firebug without being built-in. And I couldn't find a plugin with proper Delicious integration either.

Also, searching the history in the address bar works a lot better in Firefox -- probably has something to do with the way Chrome encourages you to use Google. And speaking of History -- Chrome still doesn't let you search and delete items in the search results page. What's up with that?

Now Firefox 4 has it all -- the interface is still not as vertical-space efficient as in Chrome, but as I understand it on Windows tabs do move in the title bar, and that little change is coming for Linux too.

I love Firefox 4. They did an awesome job.

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#230

Post by bgray »

mbrubeck wrote: post #166
bgray wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. Is it just me or does it seem that most (if not all) of the new features in this release were inspired by Chrome? What is Firefox doing to move the web browsing experience forward?

Some of the best features in Firefox 4 are new web technologies like HTTP Strict Transport Security, WebGL, hardware acceleration, CSS3 calc() and any(), the HTML5 parser, and IndexedDB. Many of these are not yet in Chrome. See http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/technology/ for a longer list.

Upvoted. Thanks for the link!
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