Firefox 3 - the evolution of browsing
The browser that came from nowhere just a few years ago, after the browser wars were supposedly lost to Internet Explorer, has now reached version 3. With Firefox 2 being a pretty dependable browser, we have to wonder if upgrading is worth the effort?
26 June 2008
Over eight million people certainly thought so on the first day of the product's launch - that's how many people downloaded Firefox 3 in its first 24 hours. (If you're interested, that's around 83 terabytes of downloads; at its peak, there were around 17,000 downloads per minute.)
Within just 5 hours, the first security flaws were found. Despite extensive testing, it's clear that some flaws will only be exposed once a product is out in the wild. While it's not great to find security flaws in a new product, it's not unusual either - and Firefox remains a pretty secure browsing platform.
So, is Firefox 3 an inconsequential update, or does it represent major change? Well, it's certainly not just had a haircut, though visually it has improved. Mozilla claims to have made over 14,000 improvements to Firefox, though many of these will be minor, under-the-bonnet tweaks. However, there are plenty of major changes to make the upgrade worthwhile.
Improved performance
The biggest under-the-bonnet change is Firefox's improved performance. Memory management has been improved, so that memory is continually cleaned as Firefox is used, and many of Firefox's memory leaks have been plugged. In use, this means you can keep Firefox running without it or your computer slowing down. Firefox now has an all-new graphics-rendering engine - which also drastically speeds up the display of text. The page rendering engine is also updated, making page loads much quicker. JavaScript is now supported up to version 1.8 and is also speeded up, making compatibility with those 'Web 2' Web sites you like so much improved significantly. If you're a Mac user, Firefox has been recoded using Cocoa, so it's a better-behaved, much faster, native application
Smart location bar
The location bar (where you type a Web site URL) is now 'smart'. How many times do you want to revisit a site and can't remember its address, so end up trawling through your history for ages? Now all you need to do is type a related phrase into the location bar, and the drop down will instantly (and we mean instantly) show all of the relevant sites from your history and bookmarks. This feature is so useful, it's worth the upgrade on its own - though Mozilla's new name for the location bar, the 'awesome bar' may make you feel queasy with its cheesiness.
Better bookmarking and site tagging
Bookmarking is now easier - all you need to do to bookmark a page is to click on the star that resides in the location bar. This instantly puts the site into an unsorted bookmarks folder, turning the star blue so that you can see that the page is bookmarked. Click the star again and you can sort the bookmark into the relevant folder. It's fast and neat - the kind of small improvement that makes a big difference. Alongside bookmarking is site tagging. When you bookmark a site, you can tag it with your own keywords, making it easier to find later - since you can now search your sites using tag keywords.
Instant Web site ID
It's always been possible to find a Web site's ID, but never simple - requiring those users who are the least technically minded to hunt through menus to find out if a site can be trusted. With Firefox 3, you just click on the favicon and get an instant identity overview. One more click gives you detailed information. There's nothing here that couldn't be done before, but accessing it is made so much easier.
Page zooming
You can now zoom in on part of a page - and what's better, if you have zoom settings for specific sites, then Firefox remembers them when you return.
Integrated search
As well as accessing search engines directly from Firefox's search bar, you can now also search popular sites such as Amazon, Wikipedia and eBay. No need to visit the site, just type search phrases into the search bar, taking you straight to what you are looking for. When typing in phrases, the search bar now offers a drop-down list of suggestions. You can also use the search bar as a calculator and converter.
Improved downloading
The download manager now lets you pause and resume downloads - either by pressing the 'pause' and 'resume' buttons, or automatically, if there has been a system crash
Improved security and privacy
If there's one thing at the top of everyone's Web agenda these days, it's security. As well as the new instant site ID feature, Firefox 3 has lots of security improvements, most of which run seamlessly all of the time. While there's no new killer feature, there have been improvements across the board. For example, Firefox automatically downloads a list of Web forgery sets 48 times a day, so that its warnings are more up to date. Firefox 3 now integrates more seamlessly with your anti-virus software. On Windows Vista, parental controls are enforced. Clearing private data is now just a one-click activity.
The conclusion, then, is that Firefox 3 is a significant advance on its predecessor in almost every way. The only real drawback to upgrading immediately is that some of your plug-ins may not have yet been updated to work with Firefox 3. Apart from that, if you are a Firefox user, the advantages of upgrading are compelling - and if you're not, perhaps it's time to take a look at this increasingly popular browser.
