Firefox, bah humbug

ZDNet ^ | November 4, 2004 | John Carroll

[BigSkyFreeper]

Commentary--Firefox has been getting a lot of press lately. Firefox is free software in the Stallman-sanctioned sense--released under a GPL license and built atop technology developed for the Mozilla project. Everybody LOVES Firefox. Not only is it a great browser, but it will make your teeth whiter and secure you a date with Carmen Electra.

Okay, perhaps I exaggerate, but on that note, I haven’t seen ANYONE criticize Firefox. To a certain extent, this is because it is the best alternative in a world dominated by Internet Explorer (cue Opera/Safari/Konqueror fans to go into a frothing rage). On the other hand, as I can personally attest, it is politically incorrect in the extreme to criticize anything stamped with the open source moniker.

In short, though Firefox is a good browser, political considerations have allowed it to escape some deserved criticism. Firefox supporters make some rather costly demands of Web sites, particularly given that it commands such a small, albeit growing, share of the browser marketplace. Recent feverish Firefox support pieces aside, I still think that ignoring IE’s non-standard features will prove a large, and unnecessary, barrier to the success of the best alternative to Internet Explorer.

My Experience providing support for Firefox
As a certain square-jawed actor might have said had he been abducted by aliens and forced to write software, "the experience of one programmer doesn’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." Even so, for a browser that touts its support for HTML standards, I was surprised to find that it had difficulty with standard HTML.

[CDB]

Not if you use the most current version of Acrobat Reader (v. 6.01?).

I used to use IE, but tired of playing Sherlock Holmes ever time some 13-year-old hacker decided to "exploit" yet another of IE;s security vulnerabilties. For a list of the current wave of security holes, check out this Department of Homeland Security link:

http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA04-293A.html

[ShadowAce]

If you closed the browser, then opened it up again, the same tabs would open back the way they were.

I believe that is a setting you can set in FF.

If you hit "Home", you went ton one page. In FF, you have to program "Home" to be a series of tabs in order to open up multiple tabs.

You can set your Home page to only one tab if you wish. Nothing stopping you.

[Terpfen]

I really don't have a problem with the bookmark interface, but the Firefox guys do get a lot of complaints in that area. A new interface is going to be introduced in later versions: it was originally planned for 1.0, along with a bunch of other things, but they had to drop them in order to actually get a realistic release date.

There ARE some bookmarks extensions that add the type of usability you seem to want, but I agree the interface could be better. Still, it's quite workable for basic use.

[1L]

>> I believe that is a setting you can set in FF.<<

You'll have to inform me, since I haven't found it.

>> You can set your Home page to only one tab if you wish. Nothing stopping you.<<

That's true, but if you have only one page as your home page, you have to manually load additinal tabs when you open FF.

I want to open additional tabs at startup (preferably the ones that I left open when the application closed) and have only one home page. Avant does it that way.

[LowOiL]

Crashes using Acrobat which makes it useless.

I have had that problem too with FireFox. Acrobat seems to lock it up for some reason.

Speed wise, the two are about the same in my opinion. I can't tell much difference between IE and FF.

All in all, just for spite, I use FF. I have a few little digs with FF, like you have to click enter to go to URL and can't just point your pointer at the enter(Go). Also the Favorites is awkward to navigate (no renaming the faves either).

[PokeyJoe]

WEll.... focus.self; self.window=null; self.close() doesn't work in firefox. =/

[Revel]

"There ARE some bookmarks extensions that add the type of usability you seem to want,"

If you know the names of them then let me know.

Thanks.

[Knitebane]

No and no.

You can't have it both ways.

[TruBluKentuckian]

I have Firefox on my computer. I've used it from time to time. I've tried most the extentions.

It's still clunky compared to Opera.

I just don't understand the love affair with Firefox that, appearently, many people have. When compared side by side with Opera it loses, big time. This is admittedly MY opinion, but I find Opera faster, more customizable, better looking (with the right skins), more intutitive, more feature rich and just plain better.

When using Firefox I feel like I'm in 1994 again using Netscape. It seems like a step backward.

[ShadowAce]

Hmm. I can't find it either, now. I could've sworn that I've seen it before though.

Sorry.

[Terpfen]

Unfortunately, each one does a completely different thing: you'll have to wade through 'em on your own, as I'd probably screw up the recommendation.

http://update.mozilla.org
http://www.extensionsmirror.nl

[1L]

It crashed on me again tonight. Don't know why, but when it crashes, the tabs come back up like they were, at least on the same link.

Its stability may be a little overrated, but its way better than any alternative. I hope they upgrade it to fix the issues I've complained about and make it more stable.

[buzzyboop]

dittos to the other responses to Acrobat. I have never had a problem with .pdf files.... ever.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Firefox is a huge PITA when trying to load certain webpages. Putting the National Weather Service radar into motion literally takes almost a minute, while in IE it was nearly instaneous.

[John Lenin]

I like Firefox it's a good browser and you don't need spywaare removers like you do with MS.

[Eagle9]

Nope. I'm using Acrobat 6.0, and have been using 6.0 since the initial release of Windows XP.

Crashes using Acrobat which makes it useless.
______________________________________________________

I'm no expert. Have you read the following info at http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/windows.html
It solved that problem for me.
______________________________________________________

Acrobat Adobe Reader

Version: 4.0 and later
The Acrobat Reader 5.x and Adobe Reader 6.0x installers will automatically detect your browser's plugins folder and install the plugin.

 All users of Adobe Reader 6.0.x should update to Adobe Reader 6.02. Download this update.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Firefox is a huge PITA when trying to load certain webpages. Putting the National Weather Service radar into motion literally takes almost a minute, while in IE it was nearly instaneous.

All the while both IE (in Win XP) and FF use the same Java engine from Sun, and IE executes the Java applets faster.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Neither can you. Your still putting money into Gate's pocket even if you bought a computer with Windows already on it, despite the fact you may think your getting a free copy, which you're not. That's why computers cost as much as they do.

[BigSkyFreeper]

The look of FF reminds me of Netscape 2.0. You're right, it is like stepping into a time warp.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the cntrl-T feature. Still learning with Firefox and Fedora-Linus.... It is super fast on my machine...

Not as fast as this one though:

IBM Supercomputer Again Claims Record (nearly doubles its record set few months earlier )