I’ve been using Firefox more lately because Safari seems to bomb, particularly with Java items.
The things I don’t like about Firefox are…
1. When you install an extension you then have to restart. How dumb/retro is that? Clue… dur…
2. The buttons and fields look kinda goofy, like using X windows in 1990.
3. There is no bug reporting widget. So… if you do a File/Open File when a tool window is open, nothing happens… makes me think there are other bugs lurking in there.
4. The themes won’t install (see 3)
5. Most themes are laughable.
6. There are lots of tools for geeks. Which I know will end in sites being built that need X, Y and F extensions loaded to work… sigh.
7. I can’t believe that we/I am still even interested which browser I use… should it really make a difference?
8. Firefox actively prevents me from re-sizing windoids.. grr…
The things I like about Firefox are..
1. There are lots of tools for geeks. Things like being able to edit the CSS file “live” is great. Whilst having too many tools is a “bad” thing. Anything that helps the geeks make better sites, even by just making it easier to tweak, is a definite “good” thing. Really good geeky tools make a big difference to the end user experience.
Really, we should have one browser for developers piled high with validation tools, pickers, consoles, editors, bug reporter etc. and one for the rest of us.
2. The RSS readers are “quite good”. Not ace, but free and serviceable. Sage is nice but doesn’t let you view aggregated, all feeds at once.
Finally, didn’t there use to be a Preference somewhere to set “My Default Browser”… can find it anywhere… help…
On my copy of Firefox (on Windows) the General section of the Options (Tools -> Options on the menu) has a “Default Browser” subsection.
I’m on MacOS X and it doesn’t seem to have that setting anywhere… thanks tho..
Apple went nuts a couple of years ago and decided that the only place to set the default browser should be in their browser. You can also use tools like RCDefaultApp to reset it, but if Firefox doesn’t offer it as an option, then you’ll have to use Safari to fix it.
The long, wittery version of this is http://husk.org/blog/arch/internet_config_a_circular_history.html
Ha.. blimey.. I’d NEVER have got that one.. thanks…
One of the problems developers face is serving two masters. The very technical users of Firefox and the mere mortals in the rest of the world that do not understand all of technical jargon used with this complex application.
It is difficult to explain a complex product, such as Firefox in simple terms that most people can understand. What may be trivial for a sophisticated user is difficult for the ordinary user that lacks the necessary sophistacion.
I prefer FF over IE mostly because of the tabs. I complained when I lost my bookmarks while using an earlier version of the code. My complaint set off a tirade of nasty replies telling me that I should have known better and IE is worse. My point was that in the 21st century no product should lose my data. I just installed the latest and greatest version 1.0.6.0 and noticed there is now a process whereby a copy of the bookmarks are saved on the Mozilla server. However on the usability side there was no pointer to where the use of this feature is described.
Extensions have always been a bit baffling to me. If an extension is really well used then doesn’t it make sense to make it a standard feature.
Reporting a problem is a bit difficult becasue there is no single point of contact. I agree it is much nicer for the volunteers that are supporting FF to not have to deal with users who don’t always understand where and how to report a problem. If you report it to the wrong place you get nasty grams from some of tghe techies who are not very tolerant of mere mortals.
For example, as part of version 1.0.6.0 I tried to install the recommended list if extensions. The java installation failed. I do not know where or how to report this problem.
In order for FF to increase its number of users there must be a way to attract the common ordinary user with simple ways of installing and using this complex product. Until that happens I do not believe FF will continue to grow.
That is the fundamental dilemma of all complex products. How do you allow the very talented and knowledgeable people to use the product while simultaneously making it easy for the non-technical person to use and maintain.