Firefox 3.5 Goodies
Firefox 3.5 is finally available for everyone. Hooray! Make that three times and then wonder about the goodies coming with it because that's exactly what I've been doing in the last two days. While I usually don't have any problem trying out "Beta" software if I speak about Firefox 3.5 I managed to keep the distance until the final release came out. Apart from the goodies some people also claim that Firefox 3.5 has various issues but this usually happens because the old extensions aren't compatible with the new version yet. Anyway let's get this thing rolling shall we?
Firefox 3.5 comes with a new icon and while some may say this is a minor change I think that the fox got more color in it and this matches perfectly the addition of HTML 5 support. What are we talking here about? Well forget the theory behind it don't event search the Web for additional info on HTML 5 simply think about the chance to view videos and enjoy music without installing any Flash plugin! Obviously this is not all of it but it's a damn good start...
... and it seems that this feature quickly became a major hit because the open video section of Dailymotion works extremely slow. Just don't worry about it I am sure this is only a temporary issue. Now I can only dream about the day when YouTube will switch to open video but I don't think this is something that can't happen.
Available now in over 70 languages Firefox 3.5 is not exactly the browser you should be using. Yupp you got that right - I use Firefox on a daily basis I enjoy that but I can't call myself "a fan" mainly because I like to keep an open mind and try everything there is even browsers with a user base that can barely fill my favorite restaurant (no I am not eating on a football stadium!) like KMLite (formerly known as K-Ninja - RIP by the way).
As I just said Firefox is not the browser you should be using because that depends on a lot of things but it's surely the browser you must try I can't deny that. The list of goodies available in version 3.5 also includes Private Browsing Mode (nothing really out of this world here but it's a good addition) a new and faster JavaScript engine Location Aware Browsing a bunch of other improvements as well as support for a lot of new technologies like ICC profiles SVG transforms CSS media queries and more.
Wondering about the Firefox 3.5 problems you may encounter? I said it before and I say it again - it's all about addons! In my case most of them worked just fine including Cooliris Firebug SEO For Firefox DownloadHelper the StumbleUpon Toolbar as well as a few others. The only addon not compatible with this new version is Mr Uptime but I am sure they'll solve this in a timely manner.
At last let me tell you about a must have tool for any Firefox user - MozBackup. After all everybody needs backups and if you think you don't... let me tell you that you're wrong!!!
Other than all the above... there's plenty to say about Firefox and its extensions and I'll probably get back to this topic in the future. After all there can always be more than just one browser on your computer - no matter what your friends told you using more than a Web browser on a regular basis is not like having a harem! ;)