A few months ago, I wrote an article entitled Opera 9.5–My browser of choice. In that article, I made known my preference for Opera as my web browser, but I tried to make it clear I was not trying to bash Firefox, just as I am not trying to bash Opera now. The two are different programs and although both are web browsers, they are targeted towards two different kinds of users. I have had Firefox installed on my Sidux distro of Debian Linux since day one, but used it only sparingly. Since that article, I have began to experiment with Firefox for a variety of reasons, mainly to do with this blog. The WordPress editor doesn’t seem to work as good in Opera as it does in Firefox and sometimes, it can act downright crazy.

Since Firefox 3 has been released, I have used it more often than I have used Opera 9.5, mainly due to the way it works with WordPress. After installing the extensions I needed to get the full functionality I wanted, I have found that Firefox 3 is quite the little web browser and have discovered some things that I did not know about it before. It certainly is a step up from the previous versions that I have used.

One thing I have discovered about Firefox 3 is related to the WordPress editor. On a lot of my articles, I have quotes from other news and blog articles and sometimes, these articles have embedded links to other sources. Using Firefox, I have found that when copying that information and pasting it into the WordPress editor, it actually keeps the full format, including the embedded links. That really comes in handy when trying to put an article together. If I decide to not use the original formatting, then I can use the “paste as plain text” option to get the quote without the formatting. Like I said, it’s very handy and overall, it seems to work more intelligently with the editor.

One of the “problems” with the internet today is the wide variety of web pages that are online. Some have lots of graphics, some have very few. Some of the pages have large text, some have small text, and some are coded in a way that makes it almost impossible to build a web browser that will display them properly. There are some web standards that try to ensure the pages are properly coded, but that doesn’t always work. That’s one reason some pages may display in a way that forces them to be scrolled horizontally, which is a real pain in the neck, especially on smaller monitors. In trying to deal with this problem on the computers I use, both at home and at work, I have figured out a little trick that works very well in Firefox 3.

In Opera, as well as Firefox, you can use Ctrl + + to zoom a page in, Ctrl +- to zoom a page out, or Ctrl+0 to reset a page to it’s original size. With Firefox, I have found that it actually remembers if you zoom in or out of a page, to make it more viewable. If a page is too big, you can Ctrl++ until it reaches a better size for you or your monitor and even after Firefox is closed and reopened, when you visit that site again on the same computer, it actually remembers the way you have that particular page zoomed in or out. That may not be news to you, but it was to me and all I can say is kudos to the Firefox programmers. This little feature is a major help on today’s internet, with today’s different sized monitors.

As with Opera, there are themes or skins that can be applied to alter the appearance of Firefox 3. Personally, I really like the default theme that comes with Firefox for Vista, but the default theme for Linux doesn’t look nearly as good. It just doesn’t seem to be as crisp and sharp. I have tried several themes, but the one I always come back to is Mostly Crystal, by CatThief. Ms. Thief, as some affectionately call her on the Mozilla Forums, has really outdone herself on this theme. She has a lot of userChrome options that can be used to alter and adjust the appearance of the theme and it really makes the difference for me. Here is what the theme looks like on my computer.

Firefox 3 with the Mostly Crystal theme

Speaking of userChrome options, did you realize how customizable Firefox 3 is by using userChrome and userContent tweaks? Admittedly, you may to really be a geek to want to do that, but there are any number of options you can use to change the appearance of Firefox 3. Eric Wendlin has a large number of userChrome tweaks listed on his blog, both for Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 and they can be used to alter both the appearance and the actual content of the program. You can do a Google search or search the Mozilla Forums to see what I mean.

One of the main reasons I had held off using Firefox for my browser was the difference in user interface (UI) speed between Opera and Firefox. I know nothing about the coding of either program, but I have read that the UI speed has something to do with the way the programs are actually built. Until recently, I have had an older computer that was tweaked to the max, just to get every speck of power I could. I did notice that Opera had a considerable advantage in the UI speed, both in opening up and in actual operation. Now that I have a new, high powered computer, the difference is very slight and not enough to make a difference.

An article about Firefox 3 wouldn’t be complete without talking about the extensions that are available for the program. At the moment, I have 22 extensions installed, with 21 of them enabled. These extensions are:

• Adblock Plus
• Adblock Filterset.G Updater
• All-in-One Sidebar
• Autofill Forms
• BBCode
• Download Statusbar 0.9.6.3
• Fast Dial
• Firefox Showcase
• Greasemonkey
• Keyconfig
• Mediaplayerconnectivity
• Menu Editor 1.2.6
• Mouse Gestures Redox
• Mr Tech Toolkit
• Nightly Tester Tools (Disabled)
• Paste and Go 2
• Secure Login
• Share Video
• StumbleUpon
• Stylish
• Tab Mix Plus
• UserChrome.js

Obviously, some of these extensions are for purposes that some people would not need. Take BBCode for example. It puts an entry into the context menu of text entry forms, such as any VB Bulletin forum or editors such as WordPress or blog comment forms. This extension allows me to insert VB code, as well as HTML or XHTML code. When visiting and commenting on forums and blogs, it is invaluable for me. Share Video is another extension that is use for my blogging and again it is invaluable. For others, maybe not so much, but that is one of the beauties of Firefox 3.

As much as I like Opera 9.5, I have started using Firefox 3.0.3 as my default browser. It almost makes me feel guilty, because I really do like Opera. It’s a slick little browser that I still use it at times and who knows, I may go back to using it full time at a later date. However, Firefox 3 has won me over for the time being. Something my brother said sums it up. With Firefox 3, you can add as little or as much customization as you want or need and for me, that makes it a winner.

That’s my take!

Larry

[digg=http://digg.com/software/My_Firefox_3_experience]

Tags: CatThief Mozilla Themes, Debian, Extensions, Firefox, Linux, Mozilla Forums, Opera, Sidux, userchrome, usercontent, Web Browser

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 25th, 2008 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.