No seriously, I've been using Firefox since 0.x releases. I loved it. Every release, despite having no huge features, was a great update. Version 3, however, totally messes everything up. Its default interface is ugly. And no Home button, really ??? (ps. I kno i can drag it back from the bookmarks toolbar but still, its stupid). The address bar search thing. I liked the concept, but I am so used to the old way, this actually distracts me, I don't want to search my history everytime I type a new address. Plus the slide out is huge now making the whole thing feel too bulky. And finally the seemingly small and seemingly insignificant changes (like download manager) are exactly the kind of changes that are supposed to be left to the user to decide, via extensions.

Really to improve Firefox only needed to make certain experiences like installing addons and themes seamless (like no restarts and compatibility issues). And they needed a sleek new interface. Honestly why isn't there a single great theme out there for Firefox?

Anyways, despite all the flaws I guess I'll just have to get used to it, because even is if sucks now, it sucks less than every other alternative out there.

Come to think about it, there aren't so many features that differentiate it from other browsers anymore, except for the extensions.

Opera has speed. IE has integration. Konqueror has dual functions. (Well, then again, so does IE...)

The only thing that's keeping Firefox from plummeting and Opera from rising up is the extensions. People love them, and it's this that hooks Mozilla to the world. Otherwise, it's just like Animal Farm. Lead them away from oppression, only to oppress them yourself.

Well I beg to differ on the problems you have with firefox 3:

-With the address bar it works with the bookmark system and using keywords from your book marks you will no longer have to open your bookmark folder and then click on a website. All you have to od is type in some keywords and your website will show up just like that, and thus the reason why it seems bulky like that since it is using keywords from the title and whatever else info is on there. Of course if you don't want to see your history all you have to do is clear the cookies, history when you close out, and that solvs your problem right there.

-I will agree that making the add-on's work the moment you install them they work right away, and the download window is bad as well. As for the interface you need to keep it as simple as possible so people who download the software don't have to spend much figuring out where everything is. However, if you want to design your own theme there are several websites out there that teach you how design one.

As for sucking I highly doubt it FF3b3 is the most complete version of the browser, since the web standards are near perfect, it uses less memory, and it even gives your more info about the websites that you visit when you click on the favicon.

Despite everything, you must admit, Firefox isn't what it used to be. When v1 and v2 came out it was an amazing product. Now its not, its just another browser. I really hope that v4 will be revolutionary. Or IE8 or Opera10 will take up innovation.

Well you can't really reinvent the wheel, all you can do is improve, and that is all browsers are doing now since their first versions, and that is all they did was improve on what they did already. I believe though that with Opera and firefox I think all the new idea's are over unless something is missing which I highly doubt.

Are you serious? The web is changing and we are seeing new technologies being implemented everyday, the browser on the other hand hasn't really changed at all. The browsers should now re-invent itself as as a platform for developing RIAs.

For starters the functionality of Greasemonkey and Stylish should be built into the browser, ie. the ability to set a stylesheet and javascript for individual sites.

Certain functions that are common among all sites should be built into the browser, for example why do we need to register for every site we go to by giving the same information over and over again. Why cant the browser do that for us? And I don't mean a form filler, but rather something more akin to CardSpace.

Managing downloads also need work. We can have multithreaded downloads with pause-resume feature that actually works, as well as the possibility to automatically search for mirror (by matching filename/format/size). And lets not forget about support for torrents, etc.

History and Bookmark could use a lot of work as well.

...and a back button that works on AJAX sites.

RIA... surely you don't mean "recording industry association"? America has one of those already, and one is enough.

I think Firefox supports multi-threaded downloads. You just have to tweak the about:config registry a little... huh...

Opera's Wand does the CardSpace thing.

History and bookmarks can have a search function, but I think that's as useful as it can get.

No, they can still be left to users to decide via extensions. All these users have to do is wait for these extensions to come out, just like they did with the current ones.


I was always fond of the minimalistic theme known as "Breeze." Although i'm not really the minimalistic type, that one attracted me the most.


You can always downgrade if you want to limit yourself to Firefox. Version 3 isn't stable yet, i believe, so the installer for version 2 should still be available.


What were the differences? And what did they have that other browsers didn't? They both always seemed the same to me. Firefox is mostly popular because of its extensions. Remove the extensions and the only reasons people would be giving themselves are, "It's not Internet Explorer" and "It has more 'support' (emphasis on the quotations) for websites."

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The only reason i prefer Firefox 3 over version 2 is because they've (finally) added extra support for the CSS property "display." That is, they gave it "table-cell" support. This is one of the main reasons why it passes the acid test. As a web designer, this is a relief.