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Firefox 3.0 Official Release
Posted: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:40 am
by banana
It's official. The most anticipated browser release of 2008 is now available. As touted, it's faster, more resource efficient and the tabbing is much smoother. Some existing add-ons may not work but it's only a matter of time before developers catch on.
Those who rely on the URL bar history to find websites might have have to reevaluate their habits, otherwise it's awesome. Also, it apparently has heaps of built in security features but that's never been a problem for me so can't really verify.
If you're still reading this on IE,
click here now.
Posted: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 7:05 am
by sundaymorningstaple
Hey 'nana, what took you so long. It's old news. It's been out for 4 days now!
I was able to finally get 2.0.0.5 off and 3.0b3 as well. Couldn't use the beta due to reasons you noted above (primarily FireFTP). With version .99 up now. it was as clean switch. If you have the problems with needing to read the backends of certain gov't websites after logging in through psi that don't function in FF be sure to download IE in FF Tabs which is also good from quick checking between the same site viewed with both browsers.
Another nice add-in is PicLens. Check it out. FF 3 rocks. I've been a FF user since Beta .9 back in 2003. Matter of fact I've got a commemorative FF 1.0 Full Release T-shirt with November 2004 across the back of it! Darn fast now as well. Agreed!
Posted: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 7:15 am
by durain
hey, i use FireFTP too. excellent piece of add-in. does exactly what it says on the tin. another add-in i use is FasterFox. the fox is not fast enuf, so has to be faster.
Posted: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 2:14 pm
by banana
can't hog the spotlight all the time eh?
Totally enjoying the FF3 experience so far. FasterFox isn't compatible but it's not really necessary, I don't reckon. In fact standalone, FF3 is still much faster than FF2 with FasterFox.
IE Tab is great, very convenient for dealing with lazy sites like you mentioned, and for developers to quickly check if their work will render properly across browsers. They're updated for 3.0.
Some other add-ons I use are Better Gmail 2.0 and WOT. BG2.0 is what it says. It makes Gmail much better.
WOT is Web of Trust, which basically tells you at a glance if the site you're intending to visit is considered trustworthy by your peers.
Interestingly enough, the add-ons that are not updated are mostly the ones for big name proprietary software like Adobe, Skype and various anti-virus apps.
The best for me
Posted: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 3:50 pm
by Asdracles
wow, dont know how to explain this properly in english but what I really really like is that in the address bar, the autocomplete function detects any text chain, even if is not the beginning of the website.
I mean, if you type 'expat' you will see this forum website, or any other web address that contents that word.
Really useful as shorcut![/u]
Posted: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 3:59 pm
by banana
Yup, that's the 'Awesome Bar'. You either love it or hate it. Evidently you belong to the former camp.
It searches not only your browsing history but your bookmarks as well.
Posted: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 4:52 pm
by durain
spotlight? what spotlight? a FF add-in?
anyway, was using fasterfox on FF1 and FF2. only used FF3 beta on another PC.
Posted: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 1:34 pm
by banana
durain wrote:spotlight? what spotlight? a FF add-in?
anyway, was using fasterfox on FF1 and FF2. only used FF3 beta on another PC.
my bad, that bit was in response to SMS. FF3 is no longer beta.
Posted: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 4:17 pm
by Strong Eagle
Well, it aint all roses. My AVG program won't work with it and it will not read pdf files in the browser.
Posted: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:19 pm
by sundaymorningstaple
Don't know about AVG, but it will read PDF files if you first save them to your HDD. You can set it to open in Adobe Acrobat in a new window or open in a tab in the browser. Or you can view it in html. Works okay for me.
Not using AVG on my PC but son has it on his, but I don't think he's using FF.
Posted: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:02 am
by banana
SE, what do you mean AVG won't work with FF3? If you're referring to the Safe Search and Security Toolbar add-ons, then yeah you just have to wait it out until AVG release compatibility updates. FF3 should not interfere with the core functionality of AVG.
As for PDFs, I too have no problems viewing PDFs on FF3. Try searching for the Adobe Acrobat plug-ins either on the Adobe or Mozilla website.
Posted: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:51 pm
by Strong Eagle
banana wrote:SE, what do you mean AVG won't work with FF3? If you're referring to the Safe Search and Security Toolbar add-ons, then yeah you just have to wait it out until AVG release compatibility updates. FF3 should not interfere with the core functionality of AVG.
As for PDFs, I too have no problems viewing PDFs on FF3. Try searching for the Adobe Acrobat plug-ins either on the Adobe or Mozilla website.
All I know is that the first time FF3 started, it gave me a message saying AVG was incompatible, then asked if I wanted to search for updates. When I said yes it came back and said no updates were available.
As for Adobe I get the message, "Could not launch Acrobat" when I click a pdf link. I am running Adobe Acrobat 8.x Professional, not the reader. Worked fine under FF2.
This page shows others having the same problem.
http://support.mozilla.com/tiki-view_fo ... &forumId=1
A google search has not turned up a plugin and IE7 does read the pdf's without problem.
Posted: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 1:34 pm
by banana
Yeah don't worry about AVG, your Resident Shield should still be active. The only functionality you're missing out on is the Link Shield component that tells you in advance if a particular site on Google/Yahoo/MSN is considered safe. They should fix this pretty soon.
As for PDFs, type 'about:plugins' into the URL bar and tell me what it says under Adobe Acrobat.
Posted: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 3:37 pm
by Strong Eagle
banana wrote:Yeah don't worry about AVG, your Resident Shield should still be active. The only functionality you're missing out on is the Link Shield component that tells you in advance if a particular site on Google/Yahoo/MSN is considered safe. They should fix this pretty soon.
As for PDFs, type 'about:plugins' into the URL bar and tell me what it says under Adobe Acrobat.
Interesting. Here's what it sez.
Adobe Acrobat
File name: nppdf32.dll
Adobe PDF Plug-In For Firefox and Netscape
MIME Type Description Suffixes Enabled
application/pdf Acrobat Portable Document Format pdf Yes
application/vnd.adobe.x-mars Acrobat Portable XML Document Format mars Yes
application/vnd.fdf Acrobat Forms Data Format fdf Yes
application/vnd.adobe.xfdf XML Version of Acrobat Forms Data Format xfdf Yes
application/vnd.adobe.xdp+xml Acrobat XML Data Package xdp Yes
application/vnd.adobe.xfd+xml Adobe FormFlow99 Data File xfd Yes
Posted: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 5:52 pm
by banana
Interesting indeed. I hate to go all IT help desk on you but have you restarted your PC since installing FF3? Or run an update check on Acrobat? And most of all, are you running Vista?