Firefox 3.0 is pretty snappy

[ticopelp]

I downloaded version 3.0a8, and despite a few funny behaviors (it is an alpha, after all), I really like it so far. Best of all, I like that it's not as bloated and slow as Firefox, which has become an incredible hog over the last few versions. Right now, 3.0 "Gran Paradiso" reminds me a bit of Epiphany, except it has the Google search box, which I have a hard time living without. (Yes, I know you can build a Google bookmark in Epiphany, which is a neat feature, but I like the search box better.)

Has anyone else tried it out?

[Sunflower1970]

I've been using "Minefield" for a few months now. Just updated to the beta2pre last night. It does seem a bit more responsive on all my systems, and doesn't seem to use as much memory if I have a few tabs open like 2.x. Still not as fast as Opera 9.50 Beta though. (I'm hoping that someday FF will be as fast as Opera)

Only bad thing about Firefox 3 Beta is none of my themes, plugins or extensions work. (yet) Can't wait till they do. In the meantime, I go back & forth between 2 & 3.

[Linuxratty]

I have yet to try it,but the current FF does not seem bloated to me.

[ticopelp]

Only bad thing about Firefox 3 Beta is none of my themes, plugins or extensions work. (yet) Can't wait till they do. In the meantime, I go back & forth between 2 & 3.

I noticed the same thing -- I'd miss adblock, Download StatusBar and those other plugins after awhile. If I could have those and still get the responsiveness that 3.0 has right now, I'd be very happy.

[janfsd]

To make them compatible, just go to about:config and add a boolean key: extensions.checkCompatibility and set it to false.
Now you can use any extentions you want, just be carefule, because some of them could not be stable. Btw download statusbar has a beta version that works with the firefox beta, and as far as i know, adblock plus should work without problems.

[n3tfury]

er, maybe it doesn't "seem" as bloated because you don't have all of your extensions.

[FG123]

I dunno n3tfury, I've been hearing good things about FF3 for a while. Easy to be cynical in this business I suppose, but I'd like to think Mozilla Corp are getting their act together and improving their browser.

[NoWhereMan]

I don't know if it's for the tons of extensions I have in FF2, but netscape navigator feels lighter, and looks like it uses less memory... anybody knows why? or is it just a placebo? :P

[n3tfury]

I dunno n3tfury, I've been hearing good things about FF3 for a while. Easy to be cynical in this business I suppose, but I'd like to think Mozilla Corp are getting their act together and improving their browser.

it is easy to be cynical for something that should have been fixed awhile ago. i still use it, but go between FF2x and the latest Opera. i'd use Opera full time if it played a little better with gmail.

[Hairy_Palms]

after reading this i tried it, its definitely faster, and the tabs follow my clearlooks style too, check them out.

[miwaypet]

Opera will always rule. Firefox will always be bloated. Be careful of the fleabots!:lolflag:

[Hairy_Palms]

shame opera doesnt follow your theme, and is impossible to get the mplayer plugin to work in it. and its closed source, dont get me wrong, under windows opera is my first choice browser, but the linux version is sub-par.

EDIT
has anyone seen the slideshow thing you can get when you open images in tabs? looks awesome!

[miwaypet]

Why would I use Mplayer when I have totem xine? I don't use Firefluke for any thing since it was used to download Opera 9.5! As far as I am concerned, the Opera 9.5/Ubuntu 7.10 combo is the best thing going, and I don't have to worry about a bloat problem or fleabots. I can seamlessly link all my desktop enviroments with Opera Link and I can skin Opera to blend in with any flavor of Ubuntu I care to have. It upgrades without any troubles and is faster than Firefluke will ever think of being.

Com'on. You know you want it!:)

[-grubby]

which is what I say here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=603963) ..........

[bruce89]

shame opera doesnt follow your theme, and is impossible to get the mplayer plugin to work in it. and its closed source, dont get me wrong, under windows opera is my first choice browser, but the linux version is sub-par.

What do you expect, GNOME uses GTK+, Opera uses QT.

2.0 -> 3.0 is a blatant version number inflation.

[Hairy_Palms]

What do you expect, GNOME uses GTK+, Opera uses QT.
i know it does, but miwaypet said

I can skin Opera to blend in with any flavor of Ubuntu I care to have
and i was disagreeing

[undine]

Why would I use Mplayer when I have totem xine? I don't use Firefluke for any thing since it was used to download Opera 9.5! As far as I am concerned, the Opera 9.5/Ubuntu 7.10 combo is the best thing going, and I don't have to worry about a bloat problem or fleabots. I can seamlessly link all my desktop enviroments with Opera Link and I can skin Opera to blend in with any flavor of Ubuntu I care to have. It upgrades without any troubles and is faster than Firefluke will ever think of being.

Com'on. You know you want it!:)

How do you skin the system bar to fit in, without having to install a whole bunch of KDE stuff?

[Polygon]

Opera will always rule. Firefox will always be bloated. Be careful of the fleabots!:lolflag:

and opera + flash plugin = flash plugin crashing wayyyyy more then it has to. Not to mention the themes looks downright ugly, and the ones you can download are pretty bad as well. i also agree with the closed source and shaky embedded video thing as well

[herrma29]

It's following my theme! I'm using a mac theme for ubuntu and ff 3.0 is following it perfectly :-D The buttons are still the default for firefox I believe, but it looks great to me!50279

[oneadvent]

Is the
File Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help
bar missing?

I cant stand that in IE7. I hope Firefox isn't copying !*******!???

[herrma29]

Is the
File Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help
bar missing?

I cant stand that in IE7. I hope Firefox isn't copying !*******!???

Mine still has it.

[oneadvent]

Well does anyone have any insight on if it comes standard with it, and if it does, why does one of the thumbnails not have it.?

[Xanatos Craven]

What do you expect, GNOME uses GTK+, Opera uses QT.

2.0 -> 3.0 is a blatant version number inflation.
lawl, marketing pressures on an open-source project

Opera will probably never use GTK+ unless it starts making sense to (like if GNOME suddenly skyrockets in popularity over KDE), but at least Opera 9.5 will use QT4, which at least has a (dated) Clearlooks style and... uh, nothing else. I don't understand why Trolltech can't just give us full GNOME/GTK theme integration like they do for Windows and OS X... but I suppose it's better than nothing.

[Colonel Kilkenny]

lawl, marketing pressures on an open-source project

Opera will probably never use GTK+ unless it starts making sense to (like if GNOME suddenly skyrockets in popularity over KDE), but at least Opera 9.5 will use QT4, which at least has a (dated) Clearlooks style and... uh, nothing else. I don't understand why Trolltech can't just give us full GNOME/GTK theme integration like they do for Windows and OS X... but I suppose it's better than nothing.

A bit offtopic but...
Yeah. And newest betas also use GTKFileChooser when Opera is used in Gnome (or XFCE). KDE dialogs are also coming.
And this whole mplayerplugin-not-working-thing is still pretty stupid. Mplayerplugin is old and it is made for Mozilla browsers. Same author is currently developing Gecko Media Player which works just fine on Opera. (Although atm with the latest snapshot the whole plugin system is pretty messed up because of massive rewriting and all plugins are pretty unstable)

And I'm wondering whether Firefox 3 will really be faster than previous release. 2.0 was also pretty snappy in alpha-stage (or at least I thought it was when comparing to 1.5) but somehow the final release felt just as slow as 1.5. Though I can't really say that I've used it that much...

[LaRoza]

I am looking forward to Firefox 3, which is the original topic of this thread, but now have been using Opera almost exclusively. Interestingly, I have had no problem with Flash on Opera (in Linux or Windows), I love my theme, but can't find a similar one for Firefox, and don't mind the closed source of Opera, because unlike other closed software, Opera works fine.

[epimer]

Well does anyone have any insight on if it comes standard with it, and if it does, why does one of the thumbnails not have it.?

It's there as the default setting. I assume it's not in somebody's screenshot because you have the option (like with the other toolbars) of moving it about or removing it, just like in 2.0 or earlier.

[Andrewie]

does the beta have pr0n mode? the mode that won't safe history or cookies

[Billy_McBong]

does the beta have pr0n mode? the mode that won't safe history or cookies
is the final version gonna have that?

[gruvsyco]

The Minefield builds of Firefox3 starting today are using the icons from your current theme. I'm kind of curious if that mac menu hack for gnome works with the new builds.

[FranMichaels]

The Minefield builds of Firefox3 starting today are using the icons from your current theme. I'm kind of curious if that mac menu hack for gnome works with the new builds.

I just updated, and indeed, the firefox icons match those of my gnome theme :) Yay!
Also, now my tabs are consistent, before the area with the title was slightly larger than the area of the tab close button. Now all is well.

No idea about the menu hack though...

[Andrewie]

is the final version gonna have that?

that was one of the features in planning, I'm not sure if it made final

[Polygon]

i tried firefox 3, and it completely erased all of my bookmarks.. thanks firefox!

anyway, recovering from the backups that firefox IS smart enough to make (thanks firefox!) its pretty much the same stuff

one thing im looking forward to if they can implement it well is saving pages to pdfs. The current version of the plugin works, but it doesnt save any background images or anything....

[happysmileman]

I'll wait until it's released and then compile it (I'm on Gentoo), it'd need a lot of improvement to beat Opera 9.5b though