What makes Firefox so special to internet users

Posted by Rakesh in Technology

Jan
31

: Image via CrunchBase

I do not remember how many times I used and will use Mozilla Firefox. But I have remembered, how many times I used Microsoft Internet Explorer – it would be approximately one hundred times (not more than this, I guess). Of course, Mozilla Firefox is best browser for me. There are many reasons to love Mozilla Firefox. It’s Open Source Software and one of the best browsers out there on the market, and it’s free (as in liberating).

Through the unique development methods of Open Source, they are able to make a product with impressive speed and less bugs than programs developed by traditional methods. Mozilla Firefox has a number of unique features, and it is overall a good product.

Mozilla Firefox has a superb Firebug extension and I’m fan of this tool. Probably the single most useful extension for web development. I love how you can examine your webpage structure and even change styles or HTML elements on the fly. The Javascript console is really handy for testing JQuery statements and other scripts.

There are many other features which I like most such as:

firefox -ProfileManager -no-remote

This is how you start a separate session of Firefox, so you can test your site using, say, an admin account and a regular user account at the same time. Bonus: you can set up a test profile with very few add-ons, so that your add-ons don’t interfere with the site you’re testing.

Other ways to accomplish this: run a separate browser, or use the Devel module to switch back and forth. Not as convenient, though.

Tamper Data [Click here fo the adon]

The Tamper Data module is handy when you’re debugging form submits or page redirects, because you can step through the requests or change any of the submitted values. You can use tamperdata to view and modify HTTP/HTTPS headers and post parameters…

Macros [click here for the addon]

Automate, record and replay repetitious browser-based work or tasks. If you love the Firefox web browser, but are tired of repetitive tasks like visiting the same sites every days, filling out forms, and remembering passwords, then iMacros for Firefox is the solution you’ve been dreaming of! ***Whatever you do with Firefox, iMacros can automate it.***

about:config

The about:config shows an interface for viewing and setting a wide variety of configuration variables, many of which are not otherwise accessible through the GUI.

what makes Firefox so special to internet users

A big part of what makes Firefox so special to power users is its extensibility with extensions, add-ons, plug-ins and themes, and Firefox 3’s Add-ons dialog got the attention it deserved.

Mozilla tweaked and updated a whole lot of little things here and there throughout Firefox 3, which amounts to a big overall boost in usability.

protection against malware and phishing sites

Firefox 3 has stronger filters and protection against malware, phishing sites, cookies, and other tools that compromise privacy and security. A malware warning shows up when you visit sites known to install malicious software, Firefox 3 doesn’t show the content of knock-off sites. Now you can feel even better switching your less tech-aware relatives over to the open-source browser.

natural extension of your system

Your browser is a serious part of your computer time, so having it look like nothing else on your system can be seriously annoying. Firefox’s designers made system integration a priority with this release, and it shows—even Windows XP’s and Vista’s button layouts have subtle differences in color and shading. There’s differences at deeper levels, too, with Cover Flow-type styling in the add-ons manager for OS X, transparencies in key places in Vista and OS X, and other tweaks that make your browser feel like a natural extension of your system.

no more guess for right password

No more guessing whether you’re saving the right password or clicking “Cancel” on unnecessary pop-up requests. Gran Paradiso only asks you to utilize its password-saving function once you’re already in and sure everything worked, and it won’t block you from seeing the logged-out version of a page if you don’t want to sign in.

smart bookmarks

Much like iTunes’ Smart Playlists, Firefox 3’s new Smart Bookmarks function can analyze your browsing habits and create lists of links based on it. The default bookmark toolbar only comes with three standards, “Most Visited,” “Recently Bookmarked,” and “Recent Tags” (more on that later), but it’s none too hard to make your own.

Previous versions of Firefox’s bookmark organizer have been pretty utilitarian affairs that make you drag and drop your links around nested folders. With Firefox 3’s new Places Organizer, those with reams of URLs can find them using boolean rule searches and multi-column results, as well as keep them better organized with a tagging system. Better still, you can save those smart searches for when you next need them.

smart location bar

Like a personal assistant who telepathically knows when you’re going to need just the right phone number (or Starbucks fix), Firefox 3’s address bar, now dubbed the Smart Location Bar, helps you get to your frequently visited, or recently discovered, sites in super-quick fashion. That application you just read about on AIRAKESH’s Weblog, but can’t remember the name? Type “m” into your address bar, and Firefox instantly pulls the relevant sites from your history. The bar also learns through repetition, so the next time you start searching with “m,” it knows you’re looking for Mozilla, not Microsoft.

snappier browser performance

It’s not flashy, and it doesn’t have any social networking features, but Firefox 3’s actual performance is the best reason anyone should consider upgrading, or making the switch to the ‘fox. Firefox’s engineers claim that their third major release is 9.3 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 in JavaScript performance, and 2.7 times faster than Firefox 2. This means snappier browser performance when you’re using webapps like Gmail, Remember the Milk, and more. Even more important, especially for Mac users, is the improved memory usage and more than 15,000 improvements that make for a less crash-prone browser. I’ve seen noticeable speed-ups in page loading in Linux, XP, and Vista, but the real reason I’ve switched over to using Release Candidate 1 is that I haven’t had to cross my fingers every time a Flash-based video loads. Graphed comparison of memory use amongst browsers in Vista courtesy of John Resig.

Useful links:

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/features/
https://addons.mozilla.org/

: Image via CrunchBase