Mozilla launches Firefox 4 browser

Postby **mechana2015** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 11:27 am

I only said that because IE8 is the only browser I've ever used where I got a virus from an ad THROUGH a firewall and an antivirus program (or even possibly 2 of each). After that I've tended to view IE like one would view an unwanted hole in the wall of a house.

Postby **ShiroiHikari** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 11:31 am

People still use IE?

Postby **Mithrandir** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 11:32 am

I've done extensive research into security and usability of web browsers, as part of my job. I'm currently giving a series of lectures specifically on on-line security and id theft.

Given that upwards of 80% of all web browsers being used on the Internet are vulnerable to one hack or another, this is a pretty serious subject.

The academic research seems pretty clear that you're really only "safe" if you use a browser with all scripting disabled.

Since this isn't really convenient, the best compromise is Firefox with the following add-ons: NoScript, Flashbock, AdBlock Plus, and maybe Ghostery for good measure (if you want to know who's tracking you).

While FF 4 is "newer" than FF 3, there's still some room for improvement on the speed question - especially when a user gets beyond 25 tabs. For this reason, I've started using Delicious to store "tabs that I want to go back and read later." It's made my life quite a bit easier.

Oh, and a couple of the aforementioned security lectures have been recorded and are in the process of being edited for online/TV distribution. If people are interested, I can send you links when they're ready.

Postby **ShiroiHikari** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 11:39 am

AdBlock Plus is your friend.

Postby **Bobtheduck** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 8:45 pm

It doesn't like my computer. It seems to run a bit SLOWER, but I haven't noticed the cumulative effect that I used to get on 3 yet. Maybe it's slower because my laptop doesn't actually have a 3d processor (integrated or otherwise)

One thing I don't like (though I'm sure there's a setting to change it) is the fact the stop and reload buttons take up the same space. Thing is, I like to re-ping websites if I'm not getting in fast enough so I don't time out, so if I'm only allowed to stop while something's loading, that makes me nervous... I just don't like seeing the "This page has timed out" thing, for various reasons.

I had some things on the bottom, and I liked the status bar thing that used to be there, but now they're all hidden. Fox-clocks, for instance. I don't want "streamlined" like I don't want a one button mouse. If I wanted a mac I would have gotten a mac. I like having lots of options at my finger tips. Oh, and when I tried to move my links bar to the bottom, it went away completely, not sure how to bring it back.

I don't really like it so far, but at least I got my file toolbar back. Unlike in word... I hate Office 2007. I hope Open Office doesn't emulate that too closely, or at least gives us the option of keeping it the old way.

Postby **Roy Mustang** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:27 am

[quote="goldenspines"]But overall, Firefox 4.0 looks okay]

You can move all the buttons around to your liking. Just right click on the tool bar and click customize. You then can move the buttons around as well as add new ones.

Postby **ADXC** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 8:32 am

Firefox 4 looks very similar to Chrome in my opinion.

Postby **shooraijin** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:08 am

Too similar. Some of us long-time Mozilla users don't really care for Mozilla trying to out-Chrome Chrome in some respects (such as the nature of updates, user interface, etc). Frankly, I think Mozilla's efforts are misplaced, because those people who want to use Chrome aren't necessarily going to be lured back by that.

Btw, your real name is in your screen shots. Not sure if you intended that.

Postby **ADXC** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:47 am

I don't really care about my name being displayed.

Postby **Midori** » Sat Mar 26, 2011 4:26 pm

Tabs on top and chromely status bar are, in my opinion, improvements. I don't value originality of ease of use.

ADXC (post: 1467601) wrote:I don't really care about my name being displayed.

But do your friends care about their names being displayed?

Postby **ADXC** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 12:17 am

Meh, there are many other people with that same names (Except for the first one.). I do not think it matters too much. If they get requests from people they do not know, then they can delete the requests.

Postby **Bobtheduck** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:56 am

shooraijin (post: 1467595) wrote:Too similar. Some of us long-time Mozilla users don't really care for Mozilla trying to out-Chrome Chrome in some respects (such as the nature of updates, user interface, etc).

Agreed. I wish there was a way to make the layout exactly the same as the previous version... And does ANYONE know how to get my links back? I got foxclocks back on there, but it looks like my links bar is gone completely. EDIT OK, found it. It showed up as "bookmarks toolbar items" and I dragged that to my newly remade add-ons bar.

And... I gotta say now, while I don't like the positioning of the reload and stop and home buttons, I do like the fact my links are on the bottom now (when I finally figured out how to get them there). They won't get in my way.

Postby **Shao Feng-Li** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 2:20 pm

Ok, anyone know how to drag bookmarks into the toolbar? Why is that gone?

Postby **goldenspines** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 2:41 pm

Shao Feng-Li (post: 1469590) wrote:Ok, anyone know how to drag bookmarks into the toolbar? Why is that gone?

It is? It works fine for me. I just open up my bookmarks, and click and drag the one I want to the toolbar and it creates a shortcut. o.o;

Postby **Roy Mustang** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 7:24 am

It still there. You need to have bookmark toolbar check,

view>tool bar>then see if bookmark toolbar is check

Then you can go

Open bookmarks>show all bookmarks>drag the bookmark to bookmark tool bar or just drag the bookmark to the toolbar.

Postby **Shao Feng-Li** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 11:14 pm

No, I meant I could highlight the URL in the address bar and drag it into the toolbar. That seems to be gone.

Postby **Sheenar** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:31 am

I love Firefox so much more than IE --the main problem is that most internet games/flash/quicktime things are made to run with IE and won't load properly or sometimes even work at all with Firefox. And that makes me very sad.

As for add-ons, Ad-Blocker and Web of Trust are my favorites. WOT gives a scoring for websites in your search results to help you avoid those that aren't secure/safe.

Postby **ChristianKitsune** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 3:08 am

Is anyone else having issues with Firefox 4? It's loading some web pages pretty funny like DA and Yahoo, and stuff like that...

I'm looking at the same web pages on Chrome and IE and they look fine...

Postby **shooraijin** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 8:55 am

There were a couple bugs with Yahoo forms, but nothing major.

Postby **ChristianKitsune** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 12:19 pm

Yah, its still loading them like basic HTML code...with the white background and the blue links and stuff... its just weird. O_o

might have to uninstall-reinstall again.... I'm using Chrome and I don't like iiiit...

Postby **ShiroiHikari** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 12:26 pm

I use Firefox 3.x (can't remember exactly), and I've had some pages loading as plain text lately too. No idea what that's all about.

Postby **Midori** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 12:59 pm

If the page loads without the stylesheet loading that can happen, especially if the stylesheet is in a seperate location, and thus requires a seperate HTTP request to download. It can happen with all browsers due to network errors, but I find when it happens to me it's usually because I've been disconnected from the network, and Firefox has cached the page but not the stylesheet.

Postby **ChristianKitsune** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 1:13 pm

But I'm not disconnected from the network... O_o
maybe if I clear the cache...
EDIT: that seemed to have fixed the problem. ^^; sorry guys, I should have known it would have been that simple...

Postby **Warrior4Christ** » Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:14 am

I can't believe no one's compared the UI to Opera yet. I was shocked when I first saw Firefox 4!

ADXC (post: 1467576) wrote:Firefox 4 looks very similar to Chrome in my opinion.

Um... have you seen Opera 11? Firefox 4 looks much closer to that than Chrome. The MENU! And no slanty sides to tabs.

I definitely agree that the address bar belongs to the tab, and are glad that Firefox have caught on to display this connection visually. They've also got the search bar showing that it belongs to the tab. In Opera, it is just that - each tab has its own search bar. But in Firefox, it all the one search bar across all tabs! That's contrary to displaying it under that tabs though! Me no like.
It is an improvement from Firefox 3 though. It's just that it hasn't surpassed Opera 11 still IMO.

ChristianKitsune (post: 1470303) wrote:Yah, its still loading them like basic HTML code...with the white background and the blue links and stuff... its just weird. O_o

might have to uninstall-reinstall again.... I'm using Chrome and I don't like iiiit...

Yeah, that happened to me for weeks with Wikipedia and Youtube in Opera. That was annoying. I just semi-reset my profile and it was alright.

Postby **Slater** » Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:17 am

I find it funny how Firefox 5 is scheduled to come out in a few months XD

At the moment, I'm more or less sold on Chrome though. Having to support both Firefox and Chrome for work projects (webapps for Teachscape Inc.) has opened my eyes to some of the funky things that Firefox does and does not do. But we shall see if the old dog can win my heart back~!

Mozilla launches Firefox 4 browser

Who is online

Loading