alpha/beta browser war (not really)

man, let us survive this minefield (aka FF3) first, too much excitement is not good for one's blood pressure

cheers ....

 

Opera 10 is the future.

010 ftw!

 

so how faaaaaaaaaar are they now with this hot version? it was first announced in June2006 right after v9 coming out.

My wild guess was with all the bugs and securities holes popping out of v9, they toned down their "we r the best browser" attitude and concentrating in making O9.5 the better and the more acceptable browser to the mass, finally realizing that the current number of opera geeks and blinding-fans would get them nowhere.

i would happily settle, for now, for a stable O9.5 snapshot - just to have fun with testing

cheers ...

 

update O9.5snapshot9770:
. video streaming is better, small stuttering, nothing to complain about
. vista environment: hmmmm
. still slow at cnn
. regardless of its "long" list of bug fixed it is still an unusable snapshot as in general
. some (extracted) remarks:
---- from Opera development team:
"The Desktop Team is most interested in two types of feedback: constructive criticism on new functionality and notification about new bugs. They do not need to know that certain bugs have not been fixed for several weeks. Opera Software has a bug tracking system for that very purpose."
----- from testers:
"unfortunately since users do not have access to the bug tracking system and because the changelog is not complete, we the testers do not actually know if the bug we are still experiencing was supposedly fixed or not."

personal observations:
. dont complain REAL Opera users/testers, Opera will decide on its own when the version is ready for LIVE implementation.
. Opera developers still live in a geek world, and since they have enough geeks around to make noise, the real fan/user just has to be patient (until a new Product/Project manager comes along)!
. Such a sh***y attitude!

cheers ...

 

. when it will be ready for the masses? ouch, loads (if not almost all) of extensions and themes are not yet FF3 conformed - sure they would work via the tester-tool utility, but this defeats the whole purpose of security in the new FF. So we might see beta versions to wet the appetite, but real release has to wait. Just a small issue

. main improvements: so far for me, and still seeing it with each new build -
-- speed (just awsome) - no need of tweaking, it came stock! friendly browser (or is it browser friendly??) for sites!
-- much much lighter in resources
-- page presentation: more pleasant to the eyes, no more of that rough edged look.
-- less worrying about standard plugins like pdf reader, quicktime, wmp etc .... They r now part of the ff engine, better update coordination with these providers
-- extension/addon/theme will be better developed with the newest and latest web tools, with precise change control in places (i read this from development blogs, have no idea before )
-- bookmarks, browsing preferences etc are better managed
-- OS specific, well how do i explain this, example is Linux users will see it as a Linux Browser and not FF for linux, i think ...

i believe that many other testers would have other PLUSes to add. My "vigorous" testing area is still very much personal

cheers ...

 

Nah, not the masses, just the geeks.

 

update Minefield build 2008020204:
. ColorGnome 2.3 theme is conformed
. ColorfulTabs 3.0 extension - conformed - was reported in another post. (sorry Calvin, i do find this extension quite cool and good for MY eyes
. plugins list is now at 17 (DivX, iTunes, Java, MIcrosoft DRM, Quicktime, WMP, RealPlayer, RealJukeBox, Shockwave, TurnerMedia, Virtual Earth, Yahoo Application state) - all of course, with the ability to disable, if needed

cheers ...

 

The latest snapshot's cloaking thing ****ed my browsing. I'm on O9.25, the last stable release. Damn! I forgot how good it is to be on a stable release. No broken images, no memory leaks, no crashing.

 

darn it, with my previous post, i was hoping that Opera straithening out their act to really make changes to "accept" "non-conformed/bad written" web pages INSTEAD keep going on with the masking of the pages to present within Opera.

This, as stated in my posts/threads, made Opera looking like a bad player in the browser utility instead a knight-in-high-horse wanting to "teach" the whole web world how to write web pages/sites. Opera, as mentioned, in the past and current, has the tendency to "delete" sites advertissments and replaced them with their own - in the name of "conformity/standard"!

For me, it was stealing etc ... and that !!! was (for me again) the MAIN reason why Opera had such a low acceptance (side effect from cheating)

On a positive note, eventually (soon) O9.5 will be just as stable as O9.25

cheers ...

 

Something new: In the right corner of your browser it tells you how many downloads are going and when they will finish. Nice!

 

Opera or Firefox?

 

Firefox. 10

 

And also there is a key now that shows up next to the text that asks you if you want to save the password.

 

I guess that's pretty cool.

 

more in details
http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2007/11/firefox-3-themes-preview/

http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2007/12/firefox-3-icons-preview/

http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2008/01/firefox-3-theme-icons-on-windows-xp/

cheers ...

 

update Minefield 2008020304:
. Firefox Showcase extension (same developer of Speed Dial) is now FF3 conformed ( https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1810 )

cheers ...

 

update Minefield 2008020304:
... cpu spike at tweakforce site fixed!

cheers ...

 

It seems FF3 beta2 is using IE's Cleartype? Having installed FF3 beta2 in W2K, I noticed the nice page rendering is gone. I was a little disappointed having hoped FF3 might be an opportunity to breath more life into my W2K machine. But alas, it seems FF3 is using IE elements to render its pages. Can anyone more familiar with the code in FF3 explain?

 

never heard about this

could u expand this a bit more? fonts relevant? speed relevant?

i m sure that it is getting there, alone with its less resources usage and speed that would make any w2k machines happy

may be u needed to explain a bit more about "IE elements", were they IE codes? were they IE icon packages? were they IE fonts? ....

each site/page has its own presentation, u can always turn off this option under Tools/Options/Contents/Advanced and set the page according to ur preferred fonts and sizes

not a developer myself, but it is open source. may be someone (you) wanted to review the "page rendering" kernel code and see? i read nowhere that said "from IE bla bla bla ..."

cheers ...

 

It's missing the ClearType in W2K. The problem wont affect XP or Vista users, but with W2K.... Oh well. Most are in XP or Vista anyway.

 

hmmm, i was not aware that:
. w2k could support ClearType or
. Firefox had ClearType theme or extension unless u were talking about a patch ( http://andy.jgknet.de/blog/archives/73-ClearType-Patch-for-Firefox-2.html )

cheers ...

 

The link you provide suggests Firefox is using Microsoft's ClearType; The patch enables ClearType for FF2. FF3 apparently uses ClearType by default without any patch. I'll do some Googling to see if I can find a ClearType update for W2K.

Edit: Well it doesn't look good. It seems ClearType is limited to XP and later. Oh Well, I'm just going to have to think about retiring the W2K machine.

 

i did not believe that was the suggestion that firefox was using Microsoft Clear Type but, taking advantage of it when it was being activated within the OS display properties

taking a step further, Opera and Safari have their OWN rendering engine. But Firefox, being an open source browser, would not be crazy enough to "borrow" anyone else codes.

Many W2K users, myself included, are using ClearType patch, not just for Firefox, but for the whole display engine. The patch offered to firefox under w2k has NOTHING to do with firefox using microsoft properties, but only to force firefox to see that ClearType was being available and activated.

nope, not by default, but only when cleartype is being activated under XP and vista - i just verified this on my XP

share with us when u find something that worked well, i used to use some tuner, but it just made it worse. At the moment, my work around involved using Finderbar fonts (ttf) for the whole w2k display.

cheers ...

 

I think we are saying the same thing.

 

tried this?
http://www.grc.com/freeandclear.htm
i used it for a while before going with the "photoshop font" mode.

cheers ...

 

I've been using the ColorfulTabs addon for awhile now. I like pretty.

 

update Minefield build 2008020423
. 3.0b 4pre
. all just conformed extensions/themes had to go back to the drawing board

cheers ...

 

- Bookmark toolbar is now disabled (default)

Don't know if I like that one

 

update Minefield build 2008020504:
. cool
. @n0elia: check it again? bookmarks toolbar default was on by me

cheers ...

 

update Opera 9.5 snapshot 9789:
. stuttering in video streaming, poor pic quality
. watch out for flash using sites, most of the times not loading or causing static noise to ur speakers
. useless (still) under vista, linux for what i do
. installation exe stayed active in memory AFTER installation and close of browser, must be manually terminated
. blew my Minefield to pieces when starting the installation (never did this before) from the download dialog

update Minefield build 2008021004:
. more extensions/addons getting "conformed"
. no hiccup for the last 8 builds

cheers ...

 

Hmm, I don't see any "major" improvements in last couple of Opera builds Seems they've really slowed down on the development

- Tweakforce still not fixed in Minefield

 

re. broken (again)

cheers ...

 

I'm gonna try out the FF3 beta 3 later on, along with making a separate profile to make sure i can test it right.

 

make sure to fasten ur "seat-belt"
have fun testing, and pls share ur experiences BEFORE blasting it

cheers ...

 

Yeah i'll be sure to do that. I just want to get sued to the GUI and changes before it comes out so my transition can be smoother.

 

cool, i stopped using FF2xxxx for long time now. Only reviewing it when pertaining queries arised and only at updates, just to have for the back-up

cheers ...

 

I don't really use that many addons, or visit many sites so i may be fine with using FF3 as my main browser.

 

u will be surprised as how little of the extensions u will need in FF3. Other than the video downloader and the IE View, i got nothing else but the defaults included in the builds. For theme i m using Fission and ColourfulTabs (like it pretty and kinda sucker for mac look)

and NO tweak (fastfox per example, was no longer needed, for me anyway)!

cheers ...

 

sure there were beaucoup improvements along with beaucoup bugs. And no, i do not believe that the development was being slowing down, au contraire, but it ain't easy gaining ground when one must first clear the bushes

cheers ...

 

Wow....wow...and wow. Firefox 3 beta 3 is blazing fast even though i don't have fasterfox! I like it so much that i uninstalled Firefox 2.0.12 and i'm using this as my regular browser now. I like the bookmark feature, the new addons download thing in the addons windows is kind of unnecessary but it's fine. All i can say is that it's fast, the text looks clearer (but you have to kinda be looking for it to notice) and it has a very tiny memory footprint!

 

Also, i just installed Adblock Plus and it seems to be doing a superb job. I could never get it to work in FF 2.0 but now it's blocking ads left and right for me.

 

I don't think FasterFox is necessary in FF3 because most (if not all) of the changes FasterFox made have been (or will be) implemented in FF3.

All the positive talk about FF3 Beta3 makes me consider trying it out.

 

and it is so

cheers ...

 

try once a day going in tools->addons->choose "get add.ons"

as more and more extensions/themes starting to get conformed, this is where u would get the most out of FF3 performance and joy

cheers ....

 

Will do qhn.

 

Thats an awesome feature but, it doesn't work(atleast for me )
I've noticed a few bugs(I'm a browser geek) & it's an improvement over Beta 2.
Lets wait until the 28th....
So, what does everyone think of the new GUI?

 

I find the GUI works, it's a nice refresh from the usual, boring GUI and once OS themes are fully developed it'll look even better.

For a short while the new addons feature didn't work i thought i was because of AdBlock Plus but now i know it's just a browser bug because now it's working and it goes on and off over time.

 

It'll take them a while on the addons feture, but I may prefer the addons website at times
I like the themes, I already have a proto(the os x theme) preview on it & it looks nice. If FF3 is stable, it may replace Camino.

 

FF3 is stable for me, and i haven't encountered any problems except that one for yahoo (which i easily fixed by using yahoo classic). But if you mean the final then yeah, it'll be super stable.

 

Let's hope.....