Firefox Version 4 !!! It's excellent!

[Kym]

I've been running Firefox 4 (beta versions, now beta 11) and it's excellent, also very fast.
Edit: I'm now running the Beta12 'candidate' build. 25/Feb Beta 12 next week and RC soon after

The new layout with tabs on the top (Windows Aero) is a big improvement re: vertical screen space.

If you're not technical then stick with V3.6 for a few months until all your plugins are upgraded.

If you're a techie then go for it now! Use the Nightly tester Tools to override plugin compatibility.:th3:

The final release is due around the end of February March.

For the early adopters, use the British dictionary as the Aussie one needs upgrading.

See: http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showlibrary.php?title=Indexes:Firefox_Tips_and_Tricks

Upgrade:
Install the FEBE plugin to backup your cookies, bookmarks, passwords etc.
Then uninstall Firefox 3.x (and delete all personal data)
Install Firefox 4
Install FEBE (the V7 beta that is Firefox 4 compatible)
Restore your bookmarks, cookies and passwords.
Install the other plugins you need

__________________
My plugin set:

1. Adblock Plus — Ads were yesterday!
2. British English Dictionary — British English Dictionary R1.19 for Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey by David Bartlett.
3. Color Inspector 3D — Shows all colors of an image in a rotatable RGB-color cube.
4. DOM Inspector — Inspects the structure and properties of a window and its contents.
5. DownThemAll! — The mass downloader for Firefox.
6. Exif Viewer — Extracts and displays the Exif (Exchangeable Image File), IPTC-NAA/IIM (International Press Telecommunications Council / Newspaper Association of America / Information Interchange Model), and IPTC Core (Adobe XMP, Extensible Metadata Platform) metadata, as stored by digital still cameras, in both local and remote JPEG images.
7. FEBE — Backup your Firefox data
8. Firebug — Web Development Evolved.
9. FxIF — View EXIF data in image properties
10. Histogram Viewer — Generates the histogram of a selected image.
11. IE View — Open pages in IE via Firefox menus
12. Net Usage Item — Displays your internet usage on the toolbar.
13. Nightly Tester Tools — Useful tools for the nightly tester.
14. SQLite Manager — Manage any SQLite database on your computer
15. Tab Mix Plus — Tab browsing with an added boost.
16. ViewSourceWith — View page source with external application
17. Web Developer — Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.
18. deskCut — Create desktop shortcuts from the context-menu. Windows, Linux and Mac supported.

[Kym]

Sample: (IF full screen the tabs move up to the same line as 'Firefox')

67721

[Astroman]

Looks good Kym, can't wait till full version, shame the plugins don't work straight out of the box, but I guess thats the effect of moving forward.

[arthurking83]

I'm checking it out now.

Can't say it's all that much faster ATM, considering my three plugins are now disabled.

One problem tho, the text quality is 'bad'. The default font looks less clear.. like clear type is turned off or something.

The actual font is nicer tho. I recently tried Ubuntu on a stick, and noticed that it's firefox version used the same font, which seems nicer, but the text quality on Ubuntu was more clear, than it is now on Win7.

Another point.. colour management is 'not supported' or something like that. That was the message I got when I opened FF4 for the first time, so it disabled it.

anyhow, if any locals want to give this beta a try too, download it from the AARNET server(monstrously quick). it came through at 1.9Mb/s(crikey! I didn't know my connection was even that quick!).
I'm going into the configs to play with different font types to see what's going on there, otherwise it don't look too bad.

wish I could get FF running on my mobile phone(Samsung S8003-Jet) tho.

[Kym]

on the font issue.... its actually a M$ bug... and can be worked around...

http://www.manast.com/2010/09/10/how-to-fix-bad-fonts-in-firefox-4-beta-5/
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2060933

This issue was not present in the previous Beta releases but now the fonts look badly rendered due to the use of Direct 2D on Windows.

To fix this issue:


Open Mozilla Firefox 4, go to the address bar and type about:config
Search for the property gfx.direct2d.disabled
Double click on it to set it to True.
Restart Firefox

[arthurking83]

thanks Kym.

will do now and post back.

[arthurking83]

OK.. done, and done well.

Thanks Kym. (I knew I wasn't imagining it)

While I was there I also enabled clear type font for something like content or whatever.
(I hope I don't break something)

[arthurking83]

OH!

the other thing I was going to ask.

you said uninstall the previous(3.6.13 for me) version, whereas I kept it installed.

Is there(was there) a reason you mentioned to uninstall the previous version Kym?

As far as I can see, they both work fine installed at the same time.
The only thing I did was to only install a linky to FF4 onto my desktop, and so kept the toolbar quick link to FF3 safe.
I can't run both versions at the same time, but I can close down which ever version is running at the time and then switch to the other version.

[Kym]

I find that if you don't un-install old settings can sometimes cause issues.

So the method I recommend is the safest, especially for Beta software.

[Kym]

Think IE9 is going to be good?

Compare IE9 (in Beta/RC mode) and Firefox 4 (in Beta/RC) mode...

http://people.mozilla.com/~prouget/ie9/ie9_vs_fx4.html

[macmich]

kym
i took your advice on firefox 4 and it is way better than any of the other firefox versions over the years
cheers macca

[ving]

thanks, I'll have to tell cheryl. :)

[Kym]

Arthur et. al. This may help fix the Direct2D issue (M$ bug) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2488113

[rellik666]

Trying it now....first thing I noticed is I am missing the recent pages drop down....I use that a LOT! But seems good otherwise....bit weird not having the bottom bar though....but good! :th3:

Thanks

Roo

[Kym]

Trying it now....first thing I noticed is I am missing the recent pages drop down....I use that a LOT! But seems good otherwise....bit weird not having the bottom bar though....but good! :th3:


Check your settings, also look at the way you can configure your tool bar.
Bottom bar can be configured.

[rellik666]

I tried looking it up...apprently it has been removed from V4...... :( Trying to keep the clean look I suppose.....but I have fed it back to Mozilla.... :th3:

[rellik666]

Found it.....am really stupid me....all is good!

Except whenever I log in I find it has logged me out of everything....It keeps my passwords but I have to log back into AP, facebook, google etc....very annoying...any ideas why? :(

Roo

[Kym]

Found it.....am really stupid me....all is good!
Except whenever I log in I find it has logged me out of everything....It keeps my passwords but I have to log back into AP, facebook, google etc....very annoying...any ideas why? :(
Roo

Mine are all there. Check your security settings (Options/Security). "Remember passwords for sites" and the exceptions list.

[Kym]

Things I like a lot!

a) More vertical screen real estate
b) Resizable text boxes (drag the botton right corner)
c) Speed

[arthurking83]

I didn't get the crazy frames rates you got Rich, but I got 64fps when On, and 23fps with it Off. That spinning wheel of images made my head spin too! :p

I dunno if I'll leave it off or on, it's now easy to set either way with a link to the config file.

[Kym]

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/beta/ Beta 12 is out.

The next will be RC1 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02/25/firefox_4_beta_12_final_before_release_candidate/

BTW The blurry is a M$ bug in Direct 2D

[Kym]

92 FPS on the desktop and 64 on the notebook :D

[Jcas]

Thanks for the info Kym, i have been reading a lot of reviews and not sure wether to take the plunge or not, think i will after reading this thread through .. :)

[arthurking83]

Oh! and FWIW.. since updating to the b12 version, either the font issue with that M$ direct 2D problem(or whatever it was called) is either minimal, gone or now I'm simply used to it.. but as that link implies(that Richard posted), page rendering is faster when you leave the D2D config file enabled, and slower when disabled.
I have got up to 87 or 89fps on that spinning rendering link thingy, but that in itself isn't important, page render times are visually quicker in many cases(compared to v3) but that also depends on connection speed(my cable connection is more than adequately for that).
I only just uninstalled v3 and am now running only 4 beta on this PC. Have yet to check out how well/fast it runs on my old problematic PC, that my son uses now.

[Grug]

The current beta of Firefox has certainly improved alot. The earlier versions from as early as a month ago were flakey with credential holding.

I used to use Flock alot for the way it handled social networking and RSS feeds, but with the improvements of Firefox and the transition of Flock toward a Chromium based browser (which does not allow mouse gestures on all page types) - I found I havn't opened Flock for a long time now.

It looks like I am going to make a full time return to the Firefox fold.

[ricktas]

FF4 doesnt like some embedded video. I visited the www.news.com.au site yesterday, and found in FF4 I cannot view or watch their videos. They are just big blank black boxes on each page. Opened in FF3.6 and they are fine.

[rellik666]

^^ Yep, Same here.....have solved the log in holding issue, needed a change in the root folders....hopefully a new version will solve this.

Miss the drop down box on the back button so you can pick which page you go back to.

But using it perm now and pretty happy! :th3:

[Kym]

New flash player loaded today, that may help. I'll have to check tonight

RC1 is due around the 15th.

[Kym]

Its arrived ... http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/RC/ Release Candidate #1 :th3:

[wideangle]

Bet it's still not as fast as Chrome

[Kym]

Bet it's still not as fast as Chrome

Maybe, but it does not violate privacy and send your data back to Google :p

Anything is better than M$ Internet Exploder

AP Feb 2011 stats
MS Internet Explorer 41.8 %
Firefox 40.5 %
Safari 9.1 %
Google Chrome 6.4 %
Opera 0.8 %

3,451,494 pages 13,967,494 hits 124.95 GB (excluding spiders/bots)

Windows 84.1 %
Macintosh 13.3 %
The remainder being Linux & Mobile devices

[Kym]

IE 8 / Win 7 64bit - hacked. Another reason NOT to use IE.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/pwn2own-2011-ie8-on-windows-7-hijacked-with-3-vulnerabilities/8367?tag=nl.e539

The attack successfully bypassed DEP (data execution prevention) and ASLR (address space layout randomization), two key protection mechanisms built into the newest versions of Windows.

Its not like we are dealing with old platforms (XP/IE6), but the latest and greatest.

[Kym]

news.com.au have a bug, its been reported to them https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=630851 hmmm!!