I realize that I am a little late to the party with respects to reviewing Firefox 3.6, but there is a reason for this; I wanted to give the new version some real time to impress me, especially since I have always been a fan of IE8 (I know, I know). After a couple weeks of solid home use, I honestly have to say that I was impressed with the new version. When it comes to internet browsers, there are as many options as there are websites, it sometimes seems. And I do realize that there are casual users and fanboys, who take their browser more seriously than life itself. I’m not comparing Firefox to other options (okay, a little bit) and I’m not saying one is better than the others (okay, maybe I will), so keep your claws in fanboys, this is just a friendly review and my opinion.
Speed: Firefox 3.6 claims to be quicker than all previous versions. According to their website, the new version is, “more than three times as fast as Firefox 3 and 20% faster than Firefox 3.5.” This is mainly due to the JavaScript engine they have employed. My own experience places this browser faster than IE8, but just a bit slower than Chrome. Milliseconds isn’t a deal breaker for me, so I can live with that.
Taken from Firefox.com
Personalization: When it comes to customizing your browser, there is none better than firefox. The library of options is daunting to say the least. Between themes, extensions and plugins, you could literally spend all day just changing your browsers look and feel and never actually get to surfing the web. If you are looking for the minimalist glass look of Internet Explorer (which I was), you can download the Glasser 3.5.2 add-on. Another add-on I found interesting was the foxtab 1.3, which adds 3D window management options to the browser (similar to Flip 3D and Safari’s top sites page).
Performance: When I talk about performance, I mean the actual browser, not the page loading speed. That’s a seperate issue for me. The speed of the actual browser was very solid. This version lends itself to a smaller footprint, which is always nice. I didn’t have any crashes or errors in my time with 3.6, which I cannot say about IE8. 3.6 also boasts better memory management.
Features: The browser does include some useful must-have’s as well as some nice-to-have extras. The address bar, dubbed Awesome Bar, is similar to what you would experience on Chrome. It acts as a combination search and address bar. I often miss this feature when using IE8 and will type a non-address in thinking it will know what I’m thinking, resulting in a default Google search. Spell-checker, Session Restore, tabs (obviously) and save on exit are just a few of the features which makes this a solidly built option for web surfing.
Search & Support: The search box in the top right-hand corner which is ubiquitous by now, is good because, unlike IE8, the top search providers are in the drop down already. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but every time I have to reformat or switch a computer at work, which is often, I always have to go and download extra search providers.
Version 3.6 also adds some support for many fairly new technologies. The bridged and unabridged version is available at their website, but a few notables are: HTML5, CSS2.1, CSS3, APNG and SVG,
I could go on and on, but the fact of the matter is that Firefox has always been an acceptable browser and 3.6 makes this even more tempting for a longtime IE fan. As a Windows 7 user, I find 3.6 seamlessly fits into my arsenal of programs. I used to use Chrome as my second browser, but since trying out Firefox 3.6, I have now uninstalled Chrome. If Mozilla could just get their act together and get around to releasing a mobile browser on something other than a Nokia that no one uses, I’d be set.
