Firefox 3 Review

Firefox 2 in my opinion has been a flop from the memory leaks, the interface, and it’s dated when compared to Safari or Opera.

All memory leak issues are fixed.
It runs faster (start and page-load)
It’s more reliable (No more javascript or flash issues)
It looks so much better than the old Firefox
Safari is almost 10x faster (in my CSStest file I got from the internet)

I just don’t like the rendering feel of firefox-it doesn’t feel mac. On Windows I love it because it feels windows, but on mac it feels like something from the pre-X days. When you click a link the text has a box around it and feels so much worse than when you click a link in Safari.

The new Firefox also takes longer to start-up, load pages, and performs poorly on (asa mentioned before) CSS tests (not to mention that Safari beats Firefox 3 at the Acid 3 test-Safari=74, Firefox=71)

To conclude this, I should mention that this is my first look at Firefox 3, to make sure that I know Firefox I should use it over the next few weeks to see if it’s really as bad as I think it is.

***UPDATE***

Just to note: as mention on Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson’s podcast “Security Now!” it is recommended to switch off third-party cookies. Firefox 3, unlike Firefox 2 has the ability to disable this feature for enhanced (privacy) security: to disable third party cookies you have to go to Tools > Options then you select the “Privacy” Tab. In the section labeled “Cookies” Uncheck the box that says “Accept third-party cookies”. (For added (privacy) security also change the drop-down list that says “Keep until:” from “they expire” to “I close Firefox”. Finally click “OK” and restart Firefox. Or you can watch this screen-cast I’ve prepared and follow along with it.