I have been using Internet Explorer (IE) for as long as I have known the internet. I have never used any other browser as consistently as I have used IE and as these statistics suggest it is the case with most users around the world.
I have tried the likes of Netscape Navigator, Opera, Safari, Firefox etc but haven’t ever felt the need to switch to one of them permanently since IE did the job and none of the others provided me anything that made things considerably better.
But now that has changed. Firefox 3.0 was released to download on June 17 – also dubbed “Download Day 2008″ with Firefox aiming to set the record for the most software downloads in 24 hours. I have used earlier versions of Firefox but I’ve never been more impressed by version 3.0 which to put it simply, “rocks”. And I say this with an element of surprise since I never thought I would ever look beyond IE. And I will tell you why 3.0 rocks.
The User Interface, which I am personally very particular about, is a major improvement and looks extremely well designed. The browser blends in with the environment by recognizing the OS it’s running on and accordingly matches it’s interface. They’ve got some really cool themes on their add-on website. Downloading the themes is a breeze via the Download Manager which again is an improvement from earlier Fx versions.
The most notable feature and improvement has to be the speed at which the pages load. And isn’t that what everyone wants. I’ve never really noticed a difference in speeds across different browsers but with 3.0 it is quite apparent.
Bookmarking for most people is an essential task which lets one keep a tab on important and useful websites and pages. It’s been made easier by “one click bookmarking”. One click on a little star at the end of the address bar lets you bookmark the current page being browsed. Organizing bookmarks has also been made simpler.
Some other nifty features include smart keywords and tags via which you can assign keywords for commonly accessed websites and search prompting which helps you with suggestions when typing out a URL. The spell checker is also vastly improved. Session Restore allows you to recover lost web pages, tabs and entered text if you unexpectedly close the browser.
It’s only been a few days since I’ve been using version 3.0 and I have been very very impressed. I don’t hold anything against IE. Personally, I think it’s safe to say that Firefox is here to stay for a long time.
Detailed features available at Official Firefox website
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One Comment
Good for you for switching. FF is faster, more customizable, and more secure than IE.
-John
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