Apple Archive

Firefox at 2.0: A Very Good Browser Gets Even Better

- 2006.10.26

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Earlier this week, Mozilla released its upgraded version of Firefox. Interestingly enough, Firefox 2.0 comes just after Microsoft upgraded Internet Explorer to version 7.0. While the new version of Internet Explorer doesn't run on the Mac, it's important in the overall context of the browser marketplace.

Internet Explorer 7 includes "innovations" such as tabbed browsing, which Firefox and Safari have had for some time. IE 7 now includes protection against phishing attacks by directing you away from websites that are on a list of known malicious sites, as well as - finally - an RSS reader.

However, IE 7's main issue is that it only runs on Windows XP SP2. While many Windows users run XP, there are a significant number of corporate customers who still use Windows 2000 (I run 2000 on my ThinkPad, so no IE 7 for me).

Microsoft also requires you to go through a "validation" process before you can even install the browser - to make sure that your copy of Windows is "genuine". In my opinion, it's not a very respectful way to treat customers, assuming that they're criminals just because they're running the software and want to download a so-called "free" update.

Anyway, this brings me to Firefox 2.0. Version 2 has much improved handling of tabs (each tab has a close box, as in Safari), a better RSS reader (which lets you subscribe to feeds right from a link on a page), built-in spell checking, and protection against phishing, just like IE 7. Firefox is also truly cross-platform - it's compatible with Windows 98/Me, 2000, and XP, as well as Linux and Mac OS X 10.2 and later - and there's no software validation to go through.

I don't know how I lived without the spell checking is something. It's bringing Web-based applications closer to practicality by integrating a central feature of desktop applications (such as Microsoft Word and Apple's Mail) into website text boxes. At the same time, it's making life much easier for those of us who post on forums, blogs, or even just to send an email using a Web-based email service. Instead of relying on Gmail's spelling tools, I can automatically see misspelled words underlined in red when using Firefox 2.0.

Phishing protection in Firefox is interesting. There are two different options, one of which is to use a central list to check the site you're on, to make sure it doesn't correspond with a list of known phishing sites. The other option is where Firefox sends all of the URLs that you visit to Google, to have them verify that it's not a phishing site. While I would imagine that Google's list may be more up-to-date, I also find it a bit scary sending such personal information and essentially asking Google's permission whether I can visit a given site. That's putting a lot of trust in a large company.

How does Firefox 2.0 run on the Mac? On my dual 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5, it seems to load sites slightly faster than Firefox 1.5. However, it still eats up RAM as badly as all previous versions.

If you open too many tabs at once, the whole computer slows down, and the only way to regain system performance is to quit Firefox and reopen it. Given that Firefox 2.0 gives you the option of reopening all the tabs you previously had open, that may not be too bad. Still, keeping tabs to a minimum is probably the best idea.

Firefox 2.0

Firefox 2.0 is still relatively un-Mac-like. The radio buttons and dialogue boxes look like those on a Windows machine, though Firefoxy, an application that adds Mac-like "widgets", can help fix that problem. As for the appearance of the application, I like the "pinstripe" theme, though there are several others that attempt to be Mac-like.

Don't forget that there's still support for extensions in Firefox, such as AdBlock Plus, Viamatic foXpose (Exposé for Firefox tabs), and Forecastfox. Neither IE 7 nor Safari have the capability for such add-ons.

I still like Firefox. It's not perfect, but it's a solid browser with a lot of nice features. Version 2.0 isn't a huge upgrade, but it's a nice one that, in my opinion, still lets it keep its edge over Internet Explorer.

Whether you're using Windows, Linux, or a Mac, it's worth a try.  LEM

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