As with many programs that run for hours and hours a day, Firefox can have memory fragmentation issues. If there is a dark side to using Firefox, it is memory usage. And, of course, the browser does a great job of rendering web pages in compliance with web standards, a boast that IE6 and IE7 cannot make. For example, surfers can zoom in and out, use the aforementioned “awesome bar,” and have the option to save the current session before closing. The vanilla-flavored Firefox browser is not without functionality. Firefox Companion for eBay-tracks items on eBay whether you’re buying or selling.FoxyProxy-is an advanced proxy manager to boosts Firefox’s native capacities.FireGestures-lets users create custom mouse gestures that execute various commands and user scripts.Firebug-lets developers examine CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript while they browse.YSlow-uses Yahoo’s high-performance recommendations to analyze web pages.Speed Dial-Works just like Opera 9’s Speed Dial and is very similar to IE7’s Quick Tabs, allowing users to access their favorite pages with a single click. This is great for users that watch a lot of video on demand from sites like or use Microsoft SharePoint for work. IE Tab-lets you run an instance of Internet Explorer in a Firefox tab. New Tab Button on Right-creates a new tab button just like IE7’s.Firefox also offers user created themes for those who want their web browser to sport their teams colors or have butterfly graphics for the tool bar. Usability: Firefox Add-ons Extend Functionalityĭownload Firefox and voila, you have a good -even great- browser, but out of the box Firefox would be second to Chrome in spite of cool, built-in features like the “awesome bar” that prompts users with likely URLs when they start typing a web address.īut almost no one uses Firefox without downloading several of its excellent add-ons, and it is these extensions that really separate Firefox from the crowd and keep it ahead of Google’s Chrome-at least for now. And Firefox will warn you about potentially harmful sites before you click on to them. Usability: Safe and Secure Web Browsingįirefox has a reputation for safe browsing and includes features like malware and phishing protection, support for the Extended Validation Secure Socket Layer or EV SSL protocol, website ID on the fly (just hover on the favicon), an excellent password manager that only stores data after you confirm it is correct, and a number of powerful security add-ons.Īs a specific example, when you download a file via Firefox, the browser notifies your anti-virus software, so it can examine the file. This browser’s users can expect a fast surfing experience, especially when compared to older versions of Internet Explorer (IE6 still accounts for 22 percent of browser use) that are considerably slower. What is clear is that Firefox is not slow. So it is probably a stretch to call Firefox the fastest around, especially when dealing with the JavaScript-intensive pages that Chrome loves. All three browsers were within hundreds of a second of each other. A quick and non-scientific test on a Practical eCommerce staff member’s PC demonstrated that Firefox opened a series of three web pages (, , and ) only slightly faster than IE7 and as quickly as Chrome. While actual benchmarks are subject to much discussion, some sites still rate Firefox as the speediest for overall web surfing. Since then, Google released Chrome, which is notably faster at handling JavaScript. When Mozilla, a non-profit organization aimed at promoting an open and innovative Internet, released the latest version of Firefox in June (a new version might come this week), the browser was generally dubbed the quickest available by the likes of CNET’s Seth Rosenblatt and much of the Internet illuminati. And in future installments we will examine Chrome, Safari, Camino, Opera, Maxthon, and the forthcoming Internet Explorer 8. Last week, we reviewed Internet Explorer, which makes a great second browser. Google’s action was the first shot in a new, more heated browser war, so Practical eCommerce began a review of the coming battle’s superpowers-the top browsers. But last month, Google released the beta version of its Chrome browser. All of those web surfers must use a browser to visit websites or shop at online stores, and if browsing speed, security, and functionality matter, those users should be cruising the information super highway with the Mozilla Firefox 3 web browser.įor years, Firefox, the second most used browser in the world, has been wrestling with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) for supremacy in a sort of Internet cold war. By some estimates, more than 1.4 billion people use the Internet for work, entertainment, or commerce.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |