After few weeks of thinking about doing it, I have actually decided to write a short review of the Firefox browser. I have already been using the Linux version of the browser, but few weeks ago I decided to try it for Windows. I am a big-time supporter of Internet Explorer, so for me to try Firefox, either the browser really has to interest me, or the media must be making a lot of noise about it. In this case the media was making noise about it, so I gave it a try. It is still running on my box.
I find the Linux version very attractive, because I don’t have to install the software. I can have the browser directory burned onto a CD and I can load it from there on any Linux box. Unlike its mother, the Mozilla browser, which I do have to mess around with the system to install, Firefox is as simple as it is flexible and full of features.
What I like about Firefox? Numerous things! One for example is the ability to use tabbed windows within a window. This feature is very helpful, by limiting the clutter on my tool bar, and it comes especially handy when I do my web design. Instead of having 6 windows open, I can have two. One with tabs of the pages I am working on, and the second with pages displaying code or instructions I have researched to help me enrich my knowledge about different tricks I want to implement in the pages I am working on.
The next features I like about the browser are the extensions and themes. In other words, the plug-ins and making the application look like anything you want and with pretty colors. Unlike IE, which does not come with any plug-in enhancements, and Microsoft will not open their source code for anyone to express their creativity. One will have to install additional software, like MyIE2 or Avant, to actually be able to enhance the experience with IE and receive a feature rich browser environment. Firefox will allow you to add extensions to enhance the application and not have to use additional software. Many can be found on their enhancement site, and if none are attractive, a person can write their own. For example, few of the extensions which I am using are an RSS feed reader, search engine link preview, and download manager enhancement. Oh, which by the way reminds me to mention that with the Firefox download manager, a user can pause downloads or redownload the same files latter without having to search for them through pages.
One thing that I don’t like about the browser is that it crashes often. In my case, the most common crash I have is when I start doing things on a page and it hasn’t finished loading. Today I even had it crash just by idling on Google’s home page. That was something new. Haa! But things will be improving, the browser is just starting to gain popularity and in another couple of months web pages will be more compatible with it.