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Review: Firefox Browser 2
From Related Firefox Resources
An Excellent Alternative to Microsoft IE
At version 2, Mozilla’s Firefox browser is still brand new software. Yet with recent detail improvements, this browser is already a wonderful alternative to using Microsoft’s IE6 or IE7 browser.
OVERVIEW
Good: Firefox has a super-small installation (4.9MB), tabbed browsing, multiple shortcut features, integrating pop-up ad blocking, integrated Google search, large viewing area, compatibility with IE shortcuts/ favorites/cookies, clean interface, very user friendly design, and no glaring security holes. It sometimes render pages faster even on dial-up which make you feel like your using a DSL connection.
Bad: Some online banks and other password-protected websites are not designed to allow Firefox users.
Overall: Despite its small flaws, Firefox is an excellent browser that is within a two years of unseating Microsoft IE from its throne.
BACKGROUND
In the mid 1990’s, a heated courtroom battle of Microsoft IE versus Netscape Navigator was waged. After years of legal wrestling, Microsoft triumphed with the permission to bundle its IE browser into its Windows software and distribute it freely. By the sheer inertia of this distribution, 90% of the world now uses Microsoft IE to surf the web.
Netscape, while losing the market share battle, did preserve a spot in the universe by starting the Mozilla Project in 1998, where they published the Netscape source code for open developer use. Within six years, “Firebird” was designed, which has now become “Firefox”, a very respectable browser that will give Microsoft a run for its money.
Now, Firefox is available as free software at www.mozilla.org.and at www.getfirefox.com
FIREFOX PROS
1. The Mozilla Firefox browser is amazingly lean. At just over 4.9MB to download and install, Firefox does not suffer from being overweight (unlike Microsoft IE6 at 80MB). The 4.9MB Firefox install does not include plug-ins like Java Virtual Machine, Flash Player, Quicktime and Shockwave, but those features can be added through 30 minutes of user effort.
2. Firefox supports plenty of user shortcuts and keystrokes. Both novices and power users will like the helpful little perks like “Type Ahead”, CTRL-enter to complete URLs, and CTRL-T to launch new tabs. In many ways, it feels like Microsoft IE, and IE users will find it easy to switch to Firefox.
3. Integrated pop-up blocking! Yes, Firefox will shut down those pesky advertisements for you. No need to install 3rd party software…just set your Firefox options in your Tools menu to prevent pop-ups.
4. Power User Feature: Firefox can prevent annoying Javascript code from hiding your status bar, resizing or moving your window.
5. Larger viewing area than IE. With smaller toolbars, Firefox can fit nearly 10% more surface area onto your monitor.
6. Nifty bookmarking features for researchers! It is possible to bookmark and folder-organize multiple tabs at once.
THE BEST FEATURE
Tabbed browsing. This is the most elegant and efficient way to run multiple windows at once. Instead of loading another 40MB of code into your computer’s memory, each new “tab” window in Firefox adds less than 1MB of overhead load. With a simple press of keystroke CTRL-T, you can have a Google window, a Hotmail window, a news window, an Icebergradio.com window, and multiple other browsing screens. This is particularly useful for people on dial-up who want to multi-task while waiting for slow pages. Microsoft IE should take a lesson from this extremely useful tabbed design.
PERSONAL COMMENTS
I must confess, despite my devout loyalty to Microsoft’s IE browser, I absolutely adore Firefox! It’s clean, fast, similar enough to IE for immediate transition, and better in many little aspects. I am particularly fond of the tabbed pages, group bookmarking, and personal skin options. For repetitive browsing, searching, and viewing 90% of web pages, Mozilla’s Firefox is now my preferred choice.
Most significantly: I prefer to do online financial transactions in Firefox instead of IE. Firefox is much more reliable for encrypting my passwords and protecting my online PINS.
Granted, there are times I need to switch back to IE: viewing my web calendars, synching my Pocket PC, and viewing a select few web pages that render better in IE. But outside of these few exceptions, I am now a Firefox convert.
SUMMARY
Whether you are loyal to IE, Opera, Safari, Mozilla, or Netscape, the imperfect-but-lean Firefox is a highly recommended alternative. With so many helpful little features like pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, horizontal bookmarks, and integrated Google, Mozilla’s Firefox is working hard to win its users affection. By focusing on the most-appreciated browsing features, the Mozilla developers are giving users a slick and lean alternative to the bloated-and-insecure Microsoft IE browser.
Is this the end of Microsoft IE? No, not by a long shot, but this is the first really serious threat to IE’s market share, and perhaps the beginning of Browser War II. As of this writing, an estimated 35 million users have switched from IE to Firefox, or roughly 15% of the Internet public. Accordingly Microsoft’s market share has dropped from 90% to less than 80% since Firefox was released.
Try Firefox out for yourself. Maybe you’ll see why so many users are switching over.
[From: http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/understandyourbrowser/fr/firefox1xreview.htm]
