On Firefox 3

I HATE that Campbell-Ewald won't allow me to run Firefox 3 and hate it even more that I'm not allowed to update my iTunes to 7.7, largely because both releases of these applications are just that good.



Here's my rundown on why Firefox 3 is "the balls."

1. It's Fast, Fast, Fast

Did I mention it's fast. It's light years away from Firefox 2 in my opinion. Thanks to the Gekko 1.9 engine, the browser renders pages so much faster faster and uses fewer system resources overall.

2. Changes to the location bar

I know a LOT of people find this feature annoying. I however have found it to be incredibly useful. Previously known as Smart Location Bar searches through your history as you type in a URL. This bar searches through your history and bookmarks simultaneously and presents a drop-down list of recently accessed pages with that same keyword. It works even if you already know the URL.

Best of all, if you hate it and you have even a moderate amount of coding background so there is a way to disable it requiring a small tweak to the about:config file. An Add-On further allows you to learn which of the search results you want to always be on top.

3. OPEN SOURCE!

As a former add-on (i always preferred "extensions") and theme developer, I love how accessible the browser is. I really dig that there are so many adopters of a browser I've been using as long as I remember it being out there. Firefox 3 is Acid 2 Browser Test compliant , which makes it standardized alongside Opera 9 and Safari 3. Read, get with the fucking program already IE . Anyone who reads this blog knows I'm a stickler to adhering to web standards in both page design, coding and programming.

4. Security updates

As said in the CNet review "There are also numerous security features such as Malware and Phishing protection, Instant Web site ID, support for the Extended Validation Secure Socket Layer (EV SSL), enhancements to the Password manager, and greater security for Add-Ons."

Nuff said there.

5. Web developer specific tools!

For developers there are new Web-based content handlers, greater search engine keyword support, a new password manager, the Firefox 3 Extension Manager (EM) and oodles more.

My favorites are the beginnings of the Firefox intentity network, better integration with Mac OS X's look and feel and site specific preferences that are now integrated directly into the browser sans extensions. With Firefox 3 you also get an early look at FUEL (Firefox User Extension Library), a JavaScript library designed to make it easier for extension developers by minimizing XPCOM formality and using more "modern" JavaScript ideas.

Go download it. Immediately.