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Firefox 4 is here

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Re: Firefox 4 is here

#231

Post by jfager »

Dobbs wrote: post #6
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?

The Tab Candy ( http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/tabcandy/ ) feature is pretty cool. The big thing about Firefox is the Addons: FireBug, NoScript, Adblock Plus, and Pentadactyl (was known as Vimperator) all add up to a fantastic experience. With Firefox 4 I get the fantastic experience with something much closer to Chrome's speed and tab usability. I don't know if I would say Firefox 4 is quite there yet but it is muc…

Pentadactyl is not the new name for Vimperator, it's the name of a fork of Vimperator. Both projects still exist and are both still being actively developed.

In my experience, at least as of last Friday, you have to use a nightly to get a working version of Pentadactyl, while the version of Vimperator up on the Mozilla add-ons site is fine. I'm personally using Vimperator, just b/c I haven't yet had an itch that it doesn't scratch, and I'm not really clear on what Pentadactyl actually does better (because I'm too lazy to figure it out myself and haven't been able to find a current bullet-pointed list that tells me).

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#232

Post by mbrubeck »

jmcnevin wrote: post #227

I just noticed that FF4 also has shiny new javascript confirm and alert popups, complete with a lightbox effect. Nice!

And not only are they shiny... they no longer prevent you from switching to other tabs!

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#233

Post by jim_h »

JustinSeriously wrote: post #219
jim_h wrote: post #217

I hope the addons also get updated for FF4. I upgraded to FF4, but I miss having the CS Lite addon. 'CS Lite' lets me manage cookie permissions for current site without having to go into the preference and go through the long process. Very useful since I usually block cookies and only turn on when needed. The reviews for CS Monster doesn't seem as good.

Sometimes you can work around this. Find the install.rdf file for the plugin, and change the maxVersion variable to "4.*". It doesn't always work, but I've had good luck with it.

Thanks. I'll give it a try later tonight.

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#234

Post by jokermatt999 »

narag wrote: post #55
lordlarm wrote: post #37

Am I the only one that does not understand why Firefox still has a 'Google search' field at the left? Why not use Chrome's approach and merge the two of them - at least give me the possibility to hide it. (And I am aware of the possibility so search in other sites than google, but I 'never' want to do that.)

You're not the only one. I use Seamonkey instead because this and other similar annoyances.

Why not just remove it through "Customize"? You can just right click on any empty spot in the tool bar, click Customize, and then remove the search box. Wouldn't that be easier?

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#236

Post by thinkalone »

IChrisI wrote: post #190
kristiandupont wrote: post #176

To everybody asking what Firefox has that Chrome lacks: The Awesomebar. I haven't seen it mentioned here but it's by far the thing I miss the most from FF (along with FireBug and TreeStyle Tabs). It practically replaces bookmarks for me because because it searches through the history. In Chrome it feels like I have to re-google everything unless I remember the exact url.

Personally, I like Chrome's address bar better than Firefox 4's. In Chrome, I can type g-m- to go to Gmail. In Firefox, it's g-m- - . It's a little thing, but it makes a difference to me. Can't live without Tree Style Tabs though. Firefox is my "heavy lifting" browser.

You can change FF's behavior to match Chrome: setting browser.urlbar.autoFill to true in about:config will enable inline autocomplete in the awesomebar, instead of having to arrow down or tab down.

The solution I use is bookmarking sites and aliasing keywords to the bookmark - right click on a bookmark, go to properties, and add a keyword. For example, I have "hn" as the keyword for the Hacker News homepage, so if I type "hn" and hit enter, it expands to the full URL and goes to the page.

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#237

Post by niels_olson »

sid0 wrote: post #159
niels_olson wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is this "maximize"? Is it an add-on? A button I'm not seeing? edit: why the downvotes? I'm at work on my rickety WinXP corporate box, and FF4 definitely does not behave as described above. (Do really think I didn't try that?!)

Maximize as in what your OS allows you to do. edit: Oh, Windows XP. You'll have to disable the menu bar to get it to work there, I think.

check. That works, thanks!

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#238

Post by w1ntermute »

IChrisI wrote: post #190
kristiandupont wrote: post #176

To everybody asking what Firefox has that Chrome lacks: The Awesomebar. I haven't seen it mentioned here but it's by far the thing I miss the most from FF (along with FireBug and TreeStyle Tabs). It practically replaces bookmarks for me because because it searches through the history. In Chrome it feels like I have to re-google everything unless I remember the exact url.

Personally, I like Chrome's address bar better than Firefox 4's. In Chrome, I can type g-m- to go to Gmail. In Firefox, it's g-m- - . It's a little thing, but it makes a difference to me. Can't live without Tree Style Tabs though. Firefox is my "heavy lifting" browser.

> In Chrome, I can type g-m- to go to Gmail. In Firefox, it's g-m--. It's a little thing, but it makes a difference to me.

This is really easy to do in Firefox with keyword bookmarks[0]. In fact, this is one of the things I hate about Chrome - keyword bookmarks are a total hack (you have to create a search engine without the %s, for string substitution).

0: http://lifehacker.com/#!196779/hack-attack-firefox-and-the-a...

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#239

Post by m3koval »

ootachi wrote: post #107
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?

IMHO the biggest thing that Firefox 4 has over Chrome is graphics acceleration via Direct2D on Windows and GL retained layers on the Mac. Chrome has neither in stable builds. Graphics acceleration helps scrolling performance in particular and is what allows things like the Panorama zoom animation to look smooth.

I am not sure if it is in the stable builds, but Chrome dev builds have had an option to enable GPU accelerated compositing in chrome://flags for some time. Unfortunately, I haven't noticed any performance with it on or off. You can read more about it here:

https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/dev/developers/desig...

Re: Firefox 4 is here

#240

Post by mushtar »

bad_user wrote: post #229

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 so…

Why do you say that Firefox 4 is not as vertical-space efficient as Chrome?

Right click on your tabs, and select 'Tabs on top'. Right click on the Menu bar and uncheck 'Menu bar'. Done--looks like Chrome!

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