Killer Features
Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: Firefox, 3, review | Themes: Software, The Internet
3. Killer Features
In terms of speed, Firefox 3 brings more of it than you would expect. The boot time is drastically reduced and the performance is noticeably snappier. Opening dozens of tabs does not seem to bring a penalty in performance or responsiveness - unlike Firefox 2, which crawls to a halt if you open too many tabs.
We found that flipping between tabs is faster and web pages load faster as well. The most significant speed gain can be seen with Web 2.0 sites and web applications, thanks to an optimized SpiderMonkey technology that is powering Firefox 3’s JavaScript engine. Speed and performance is Firefox 3’s primary killer feature, no question about it.
If you think speed isn’t that important, we are pretty certain that you will change your mind when you try Firefox 3. In the end, it is the latest version of an application that’s not loaded with features you don’t need and is actually faster than the previous version. The speedy, smooth performance contributes greatly to a more relaxed and streamlined online experience. I haven’t done any speed tests but my initial impression is that Firefox 3 is the fastest browser on the market at this time.
Firefox 3’s stability is the second biggest improvement. The browser has not yet crashed after a full day on two of our test PCs. And even when it does crash (you know it is just a matter of time), it retains your browsing sessions, open tabs, preferences, bookmarks and other data securely stored in an internal transactional database. The application is particularly more reliable in a low-memory situation. Gone are the memory leaks that have plagued previous Firefox releases.
Malware protection and phishing filters are in Firefox 3 are stronger and rely on Google’s database of known malicious sites. There are redesigned warning pages that warn you when you visit a suspected forgery site, offering a first line of online protection. Another security layer is Extended Validation SSL certificate support (EV), which is built-in IE7.
It will show a green button when you reach a site with an integrated EV certificate, which enables you to check the site owner’s ID, connection encryption etc. A great new security feature is that the software now notifies your anti-virus software whenever it wraps up the download of an executable file.
With these features, Firefox 3 has finally caught up with IE7 in terms of security. There is now a solid base of security features, especially useful to less experienced Web users who are easier to lure into online scams and malware downloads. However, I have to admit that I was hoping for more ideas in this area. It turns out that the security improvements have brought Firefox 3 on par with IE7, but not ahead of it.
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So like I said, nice article. Oh and the "intelligent bar" is commonly known as the "Awesome Bar".
Also, @Titanius, nice quadruple post.
Also doesn't opera have the zoom feature and has had it for years?
Also, why is it that the new browser must be overflowing with new features? I think the author unfairly criticizes Firefox in that regard. As it is, most people complain about the feature creep which is starting to manifest itself in Firefox. I think it is nice when useful new features are added, but the devs should focus on providing increased speed, security, and stability (which, to their credit, they have done). If with every release they cater to the demands of people who want more features, we will soon end up with a bloated browser that no longer does its job well. A hammer works best when it is used as a hammer: one does not add a saw blade to a hammer because they think it might be a good idea. The same principle applies here.
I also agree on Zorak to some point. A browser is nice when it's light, clean and having only necessary features. But I see that what Firefox has added and Toms' suggestion are helpful to many users, and thus I don't see it walking towards being a bloated browser. IMO complimenting them won't change the direction much.
FireFox users do know now what is the mean of "fast", Opera users know that for years, and keep the "fastest" status.
- with its mobile orientation, Opera's cloud platform was a no-brainer feature. It really was logical for Opera to add this, and to host it. It also has a small enough user base to host the cloud, and is "fixed-function" enough (ie. you can't really extend Opera) to remain stable.
- with its toolbox working mode, Firefox needed to get faster everywhere: it's pretty much a platform using XUL, CSS and Javascript to write applications with, allowing websites to make use of the whole browser to provide applications to the user; the off-line mode, although discrete, is there; enjoy off-line Google Apps right now! Please note: storing session settings in the cloud was already available in Firefox 2, through several extensions.
- its integration with Apple systems makes Safari the ideal iTunes+Quicktime companion; if you have a Windows machine crawling with Apple apps, Safari is a good choice for UI consistency. However, chances are you'd already have a Mac.
Still, these browsers really are faster: loading Yahoo!Mail, Gmail or Hotmail on any of these browsers is now an order of magnitude faster than on IE. Firefox 3 got a great speed-up over 2 in this area (DOM-heavy, standards-compliant websites).
Mitch
Adblock Plus, Adblock's element hiding add-on, RIP, and Greasemonkey.
It's not the speed-- it's being able to view web pages without the SAME OLD ads (both text and flash) hurting my eyes, over and over and over again.
This is really annoying...
On the bright side, we only had to do very minor tweaks for our app to work in FF3. That is, it was working fine in FF2 and the backward compatibility seems to be almost perfect.
i doubt mozilla would want to host this features as mozilla it not really a for-profit organization and it cost money to host such services.
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