Yes, I’m a very happy user of Firefox. Internet Explorer is so 2002. (Or insert any other random year, excluding the current year.) Tabs are lovely. Essential, actually. And all the extensions are pretty darn nice.
So, how do I use Firefox? Well, right now I use the iPox theme (it has a nice Mac-ish feel to it). The only extension I use on a regular basis is Web Developer (very handy), but as I get more into Ajax, some of the Javascript utilities will surely find a soft spot in my heart. (I have Greasemonkey installed, along with a weather thingie and a few other little tools, but I use them pretty rarely.)
I use the bookmark toolbar for quick access to the sites I use on a daily basis. For example, I have a folder with links to all my blogs, a separate folder with links to the admin pages for all of them, and links to the clock in/out page for work, my Bloglines account, del.icio.us bookmarklets, Backpack, Google Calendar, and the various projects I’m working on.
As for tabs that I usually leave open, there’s my Backpack account, Gmail, and occasionally Bloglines. When I browse, I open links in new tabs (in the background), which almost inevitably means that within a few minutes I have 10-20 tabs open, like tendrils reaching out in this information network. If only I could read all of them at the same time. :)
[tags]web, tabs, Firefox, iPox, Ajax, Javasript, Greasemonkey[/tags]
Comments
Ya know, I really don’t see what makes Firefox so much better than IE. Other than avoiding spyware slightly better (which I’m convinced is mostly due to its obscurity, rather thanbeing “more secure”), they really are pretty much the same to me. I guess tabs are nice. I don’t really use them that much, since I prefer to have, at most, 2-3 webpages open at a time. It feels so cluttered to me to have lots of stuff going on at once. The only time I use them is when I work on a research paper, and that’s because the HBLL website tends to open like five windows before you can get what you want.
I’ve been quite happy with IE. I personally don’t like tabs; the task bar exists for a reason. Now, the task bar, that could use some work. But tabs just complicate the whole situation. Of course, when I get IE7 I’ll probably change my tune. Maybe they really are all that wonderful? I just couldn’t ever get used to them.
Liz: As a web developer, it’s extremely frustrating to develop for IE, because it’s pathetically uncompliant when it comes to web standards — in fact, it’s the least compliant of all the browsers out there. Firefox is very standards compliant, which means you don’t have to create ugly hacks to get things to work.
But from a user’s standpoint (since most people aren’t web developers :)), Firefox is better because it’s cross-platform (unlike IE or Safari, and no, the old versions of IE don’t count because they’re old), there are nice extensions, it’s more secure (Firefox is anything but obscure!), bugs get fixed faster (because it’s open source), and pop-up blocking works better than in IE. And tabs.
Hmm, I sense these may not be enough to convince the average user. Hmm… Firefox is better, unequivocally. I need to find better evidence as to why. To see other people’s reasons why, check out FirefoxFlicks.com. Anyway, I never use IE if I can avoid it.
Hilton: Having different web browser windows in the taskbar is rather annoying, because you have to click on the top one to be able to see all the others. With tabs, on the other hand, you can see at a glance what’s open. It’s not really all that complicated, I promise. Try them out for a week before deciding whether or not you could get used to them. :)
Well, I do turn off taskbar grouping :).
Oh, excuse me. The stats I was looking at were out of date. Firefox does have about 1/4 of the market, but IE still has about 1/2. I still remain skeptical about the real robustness of Firefox, but then again, not being more than an amateur programmer, I really don’t know much about it.
I feel the same way as Hilton about tabs: works just as well as the toolbar, but in a different place. When I’m switching between word and some browser windows, I first have to click on the Firefox icon on the task bar, then go back up to the tabs and click on the one I want. Yes, I know I could alt-tab, but that still involves letting go of the mouse and then coming back. Way too much movement. :) Now if tabs were at the bottom, it might be different . . . actually, not really.
As for pop-up blocker, I notice about the same percentage of blocks in each. Plus, Firefox sometimes blocks popups even when I right click on the link and ask it to open in a new window. So really, they are about the same to me.
I suppose for me the biggest thing is that it’s open source, free, and part of the community. In contrast, Internet Explorer is proprietary and locked up. And it comes from Microsoft. So I’m definitely biased against it. (I’m a Mac guy, and I ran Linux before that.) While I’m not against all commercial software (I use Photoshop and Illustrator and InDesign, and OS X isn’t free), if there’s a free alternative that’s equal or superior when it comes to quality, I prefer it just on principle. Openness and freedom lead to better tools and more innovation. And no, I’m not a big fan of intellectual property laws. (I rush to add that I do abide by them, of course, but I certainly don’t like them.) That’s why I license all of my stuff under a Creative Commons license. I’m here to make the world a better place, not to make money.
Um, I’d better make it clear that I’m not really against making money through software development, but that’s definitely not my style. Software wants to be free. And I feel a lot better about giving stuff away than selling it. (But I do realize that that’s just my personality.) This is why I’m going to be a poor but happy librarian for the rest of my life. :)
Throw in your two cents