FireFox 3.5.1

NOTE: FireFox version 3.5.2 is now available as of early August/2009.

I've always had both IE7 and FireFox (regularly updated) on my PC.

However my preference has been for IE7 - despite the many reported advantages of FireFox - don't get me wrong I consider FireFox a very good browser - but IE just remains more prevalent therefore more compatible.

A good example is the power Download of videos using Real Player -
on IE as soon as the cache/buffer is filled the download is complete.
Whereas with FireFox - even when the buffer is filled the download still starts from zero and is slowed by the actual playing of the video - so for faster download one has to pause the playing.....

I just updated to FireFox 3.5.1 - and I must say I am very impressed.
It still doesn't solve the majority of the minor compatibility problems -
but in direct comparison with IE7 - FireFox 3.5.1 is noticeably faster - whereas before FireFox was still faster but just not as noticeable.

I must say I am very impressed, so much so, that I am now using FireFox 3.5.1 as my default browser - only going over to IE when I need the compatibility.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/performance/

I'm still running FF3 myself but I tend to wait awhile before updating so all my plugins are updated too. There has been speed comparisons of the top 4 browsers vs IE7 over at betanews a few weeks ago with FF3.5 coming out near the top on most everything but it really comes down to personal preferences once the speed is within a certain range of each other.
You may want to look at at plugins for download managers for FF I think they even have external download managers and multithreading ones. I use one called downthemall myself at times because it can capture all stuff on a page if you want to (maybe not flash or java based apps though).

for some reason FF3.5 takes forever to load on my work laptop. So ive actually started using chrome, and i must say if you havnt already tried it, you should.

Crenshaw

I recently upgraded to FF 3.5.1, and so far so good. Can't remember the last time I loaded IE - not that this bothers me.

Crenshaw said:

ive actually started using chrome, and i must say if you havnt already tried it, you should.

Click to expand...

Yes, indeed - Google Chrome is very nice - small and quick - not too sure if it's any faster than FireFox 3.5.1 (with or without FasterFox Lite).

The main problem I have with non-IE browsers is that they all have some compatibility issues - I am willing to use another browser when it shows significant speed advantages over IE7 - and accept the fact I'll have to use IE7 when I come across issues.

With FireFox 3.5.1 - I can use IE Tab or Coral IE Tab to open a tab in FireFox which is actually IE so it helps a little of not having to open a separate browser.

For example using PicasaWeb Photos with IE7 I can use their Upload control which allows drag&drop of multiple photos - but FireFox will only allow their basic loader. Using the IE tab will allow the Upload Control.....

and I am surprised that PicasaWeb Photos being a Google product that Google Chrome canNOT do the multiple drag&drop Upload control that it can in IE....


Also another example is this post I am writing under Chrome doesn't seem to be WYSYWYG like in FireFox or IE.......

I upgraded to FireFox 3.5.1 yesterday and half of my Bookmarks went missing.I had to dig through History to retrieve them. And on top of that my pop-up blocker was not compatible and had to be deleted-so guess whats happening. And then there's the colored tabs I liked so much that disappeared........

UnknownVT said:

Yes, indeed - Google Chrome is very nice - small and quick - not too sure if it's any faster than FireFox 3.5.1 (with or without FasterFox Lite).

The main problem I have with non-IE browsers is that they all have some compatibility issues - I am willing to use another browser when it shows significant speed advantages over IE7 - and accept the fact I'll have to use IE7 when I come across issues.

With FireFox 3.5.1 - I can use IE Tab or Coral IE Tab to open a tab in FireFox which is actually IE so it helps a little of not having to open a separate browser.

For example using PicasaWeb Photos with IE7 I can use their Upload control which allows drag&drop of multiple photos - but FireFox will only allow their basic loader. Using the IE tab will allow the Upload Control.....

and I am surprised that PicasaWeb Photos being a Google product that Google Chrome canNOT do the multiple drag&drop Upload control that it can in IE....


Also another example is this post I am writing under Chrome doesn't seem to be WYSYWYG like in FireFox or IE.......

Click to expand...

agreed, i happily set my default browser at work to chrome, only to discover that some stuff he had to do at work didnt work with anything other then IE. So now, thats my defualt browser there again.

I love the incognito mode for surfing cpf at work though.

i read some reviews that showed the chrome was faster under some situations, and firefox was faster for others.

personally, i dont use the add-ons anyway, so it doesnt make a massive difference. i DO like the search bar incorporated intoo the address bar for chrome.

Crenshaw

Lynx_Arc said:

I'm still running FF3 myself but I tend to wait awhile before updating so all my plugins are updated too.
You may want to look at at plugins for download managers ... I use one called downthemall myself at times because it can capture all stuff on a page if you want to (maybe not flash or java based apps though).

Click to expand...

You are referring to Extensions as Plugins are Flash, Java, Quicktime. There are Extensions like DownloadHelper.

Crenshaw said:

for some reason FF3.5 takes forever to load on my work laptop. So ive actually started using chrome, and i must say if you havnt already tried it, you should.

Crenshaw

Click to expand...

Have you tried Firefox 3.5.1 yet? as the two main reasons for this update was a security fix and to try and fix a issue some Windows users were getting on slow Firefox startups with Firefox 3.5.

ANDREAS FERRARI said:

I upgraded to FireFox 3.5.1 yesterday and on top of that my pop-up blocker was not compatible and had to be deleted-so guess whats happening.

And then there's the colored tabs I liked so much that disappeared........

Click to expand...

Firefox itself has always had a very good built-in popup blocker as any external popup blocker software can cause more problems then help. For Firefox 3.5 the Tab releated Extensions generally needs more than a simple maxversion update due to changes.

ANDREAS FERRARI said:

I upgraded to FireFox 3.5.1 yesterday... And then there's the colored tabs I liked so much that disappeared.......

Click to expand...

Fab Tabs - I used to use Colorful Tabs, but I found Fab Tabs which, color wise, I like better. I am still fiddling with the settings. You can make the active or non-active tab(s) lighter or darker than the rest. With Tab Mix Plus I change the typeface for the current tab. Together they work well.

I've been using Mozilla since the mid to late 90's and Firefox ever since it came out. As I stated in another related thread here, I usually wait till the Add-ons I use catch up before upgrading to a new version. They're all good cept for one now, so I just switched to another similar Add-on which was compatible with 3.5 and made the move.

I'm using a freshly built (2 mo) home built Vista box.

32 bit Home Premium.
3 gig Dual Core.
4 gig DDR2. (3.5 used, I know )
Not much bloat at this time, still pretty lean, so.

Like I said, I've been using FF 3.0.X and browsing with it is very fast. I've heard of all the claimed speed increase w/ 3.5 and thought... how could it be that much faster?

Well, I gotta say, it is! Don't blink, or you'll miss it turn a page. Go Back, is even faster yet. I'm surprised it's so noticable. I'm a bit stoked! oo:

One thing I've noticed is that I no longer get the spinning mouse cursor circle (busy) for that brief second when clicking on a link. Even though it may hesitate briefly, there's no spinning busy icon letting you know it has registered the click. Never. Not even if it takes a few seconds to connect to a slower site. I miss that somewhat. Is this a feature?!

Anyone else?

I upgraded to FF3.5 2 weeks ago
didn't miss a beat at any stage
nothing changed except update of my plug-ins
everything is noticably faster now

Lite_me said:

One thing I've noticed is that I no longer get the spinning mouse cursor circle (busy) for that brief second when clicking on a link. Even though it may hesitate briefly, there's no spinning busy icon letting you know it has registered the click. Never. Not even if it takes a few seconds to connect to a slower site. I miss that somewhat. Is this a feature?!

Click to expand...

Yes it was intentional and there are debates about this for accessibility and dial-up users and whether it should be brought back for only certain OS's or all three. Also was said to be removed because it was in the wrong place of code development.

As I use the nightlies for the past six years, I have gotten used to not having this in the Firefox 3.5.* and newer builds over the past months since it was removed.

gollum said:

...nothing changed except update of my plug-ins

Click to expand...

You mean the Extensions and Themes as Plugins did not need to be updated for Firefox 3.5.* as Plugins is used to refer to Flash, Java, Quicktime etc.

Flashfirstask?later said:

Yes it was intentional and there are debates about this for accessibility and dial-up users and whether it should be brought back for only certain OS's or all three. Also was said to be removed because it was in the wrong place of code development.

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Thanks. I looked around and found this. And the bug report.

It might get added back in a future update. We'll see. Or, the proper code will be posted to add it to About:config maybe?

Flashfirstask?later said:

As I use the nightlies for the past six years, I have gotten used to not having this in the Firefox 3.5.* and newer builds over the past months since it was removed.

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Yeah, I'm getting used to it already myself. Actually, it kinda makes it a bit cleaner looking without it.

3.5.2 is out -- addresses "several security issues" among other things.

chmsam said:

3.5.2 is out -- addresses "several security issues" among other things.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up; I'm downloading it now!

chmsam said:

3.5.2 is out -- addresses "several security issues" among other things.

Click to expand...

yes, thank you for the heads-up too.

I have already downloaded a copy -
but am keeping an eye on the FireFox support forum for a week or so -
to make sure no major issues crop up -
before actual installation.

Thanks,

I use the built-in Notifier/Downloader. It's hard enough to keep up with all the software updates as it is. This way, I don't have to worry about it. I've noticed it usually take a few days for the pop-up to let me know there's a new version out. That's not bad. It gets better mass testing and them a chance to pull it off the servers should there be an unforeseen problem. So I don't mind waiting the few days. I have mine set to - just let me know when there's a new version out. I decide when to install.

Lite_me said:

I use the built-in Notifier/Downloader. It's hard enough to keep up with all the software updates as it is. This way, I don't have to worry about it. I've noticed it usually take a few days for the pop-up to let me know there's a new version out. That's not bad. It gets better mass testing and them a chance to pull it off the servers should there be an unforeseen problem. So I don't mind waiting the few days. I have mine set to - just let me know when there's a new version out. I decide when to install.

Click to expand...

ha-ha! I have that set too to "ask me what I want to do" -
I guess chmsam beat the notification.

Like you, I agree - it's actually an advantage to wait a while before installing a new version just in case there are initial problems.

But still want to thank chmsam for the heads-up.

UnknownVT said:

ha-ha! I have that set too to "ask me what I want to do" -
I guess chmsam beat the notification.

Like you, I agree - it's actually an advantage to wait a while before installing a new version just in case there are initial problems.

But still want to thank chmsam for the heads-up.

Click to expand...

Just for a FYI, I went to 3.5.2 the other day.... seems fine here.

And actually, it's only been major version updates that I delay installing. In the past, a routine periodic security/stability update gets installed upon first notification. I can't recall having any issues with one.

Lite_me said:

Just for a FYI, I went to 3.5.2 the other day.... seems fine here.
And actually, it's only been major version updates that I delay installing. In the past, a routine periodic security/stability update gets installed upon first notification. I can't recall having any issues with one.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the update - this makes me a little braver to update mine to 3.5.2 as well.

I agree that's a good way of going things - however I try to read the respective support forums to see if there are any problems before committing to any (major) updates.

Thanks