No not those bits of land everyone loves to squabble and fight over which in time will be either at the bottom of a sea, or pitching and yawing broiling in the mantle, or perched atop a mountain top with some new species, all ready to conquer!
No, I’m talking about the recently released FF4. A new Firefox which certainly loads faster than FF3, not as fast as Chrome – with the same number of extensions in both, but the release puts it firmly back into pleasurable browser usage territory, instead of turning into an IE6 look-alike; simply down to usage perceptions. So kudos to the hard work put into this release, by all of those involved.
I find (and counting myself in here), that many Firefox users load in add-ons as though legislation is being hurriedly enacted banning them from ever using their favourite crutch again. The poor browsers are so encumbered with add-ons, they creak and groan under the combined weight of anything from the latest top 10, to looking up the defining quote for beibergit (definition of which is still awaiting entry). Those older stalwart users remember the days of memory hogging - where the program grabbed as much memory as it could handle until your pc fell over – making the entire experience slower than watching paint dry, twice!
Naturally, over the years, this has inevitably led to Chrome becoming the default due to its unmatched speed; but even here, the inclusion of many extensions has reduced this once proud road runner to a slightly speedy wile e coyote.
I have being using Firefox since its inception and wanted to return to those halcyon days of tear-jerk quality every techno-nerd finds a need to return to. This latest incarnation (including the table mats) once again makes Firefox a viable browser of choice.
So, in pictures…
Ah yes, so where does giving away estates come into things, I hear the pondering?
If you look compare and look closely at the top bars of Chrome and Firefox, you’ll notice Firefox has a 3mm extra drop – if you look closely. Don’t knock it, perception of size matters. For those who don’t give a fig, give it a whirl and definitely try the table mats Ctrl + Shft + E in the browser, it’ll open up a whole new world of browsing possibilities.
Firefox 4, browsing to the future
