Archive for: Mozilla Firefox
StatCounter published a chart representing the top 12 browser versions existing; which we can distribute among continents or even particular countries. In this data I’m pretty sure you can find some surprises, take a look.
Ok, there’s no surprise if I say Internet Explorer is ruling over the world (Microsoft already had a lot of problems regarding this); but what do you think about Internet Explorer 6 (developed in 2001) being the third most used browser? Or that Firefox 2.0 has more popularity than Opera 10?
Here are some other facts:
- Worldwide data says that Internet Explorer 8, 7 and 6 are the most used browsers.
- In the US, Firefox 3.5 is the third most used browser; behind IE 8 and 7.
- In Africa, IE 6 is the most used browser with 29% of the current share.
- In Antarctica the most used browser is Firefox 3.0. Yes, I said Antarctica.
These charts are using one year stats, from May 09 to May 10.
And you? Which is your favorite browser?
Microsoft’s answering the European Commission after a lot of struggling and starting tomorrow, March 1st, Windows users will have the chance to decide which browser will be your default in your machine.
Web Browser Ballot will be available in Windows XP, Vista and 7 operating systems as a Windows update. Soon as you download the update, a window will appear where the browsers will be listed randomly from which you’ll select your default browser.
I found very interesting the feature available for randomly listing the browsers, which avoids any suggestion that could induce a user to make a pick according to the location in your screen of the browsers. Here’s evidence of the random is actually working:
Internet Explorer 8 showing third in browser’s list.
Internet Explorer 8 showing first in browser’s list.
From what we know, the ballot will only appear to users that have Internet Explorer as the default browser; if you have any other as default, the list won’t appear to you.
For more information, here’s the official document with Microsoft’s commitment.
The Twitter homepage, while useful, is left in the dust when compared to the other alternative desktop applications out there and even some of the mobile apps. While it has the core functions it lacks in terms of productivity and extra features which could be so easily added.
A great ad-on for Chrome and Firefox called FlyMonkey pretty much fixes all of that. Below, you can see a screenshot of my Twitter with three columns, each serving it own purpose. This is done by adding features to your Twitter page (via a red ‘+’ sign above your screen). You can add extra columns for DMs, replies, mentions and an arsenal of different options.
They also integrated the Bit.ly URL shortener and Twitpic into Twitter. As you are typing a tweet, two options appear below called ‘Photo’ and ‘URL Shortener’. I found these very handy indeed.
So if you want to change your Twitter experience but don’t fancy moving to a third-party alternative, get FlyMonkey.
Even though all the rumors said that we were going to have an official beta of Firefox 3.6, as we’ve discussed earlier, Mozilla will be releasing a 3.6 build, but as an early beta.
This “test build”, that should contain several bugs, will be a small preview of the real 3.6 beta that will be available to the public on October 21st (yes, one day before Windows 7 official release to the public). To take a nice preview of what’s coming in 3.6, you can access Mozilla FTP and download the build.
As we’ve said earlier, Firefox 3.6 (codename Namoroka) won’t bring us big changes, the features that you’ll find here:
- Lightweight themes with Vista-like interface.
- Improvements in TraceMonkey JavaScript engine
- Bookmark synchronization
- Optimized session restore feature.
- Enhanced page rendering.
- New additions for CSS.
- Previews of tabs
We’ll have to wait for 3.7 to expect major differences.
Mozilla team it’s working really hard on another release, the 3.6. And they are expecting to make public the first Beta on October 13, according to The Register. But the date it is just an estimative, so don’t be surprised if they postpone it for a few days more.
We’ve been talking about the incoming versions of Firefox, especially Firefox 3.7. And using some official statements from Mozilla, the main idea of that version is to remove the menu bar and introduce a very similar look-n-feel of the Office 2007/2010 ribbon (but later, other statements tried to dismiss this article by saying that they are not considering a ribbon, just hiding the menu bar).
Glassy look for Mozilla Firefox 3.7 (no preview of that on 3.6, too bad)
On the other hand Firefox 3.6 seems that is only going to take minor tweaks, here are some of them:
- Lightweight themes
- Improvements in TraceMonkey JavaScript engine
- Optimized session restore feature.
- Enhanced page rendering.
- New additions for CSS.
Mozilla team is working really hard on brainstorming the idea and design of Firefox 3.7 (currently in 3.5, 3.6 it’s just around the corner). What’s the main idea? Hide the Menu bar and use a very similar look-n-feel of Office 2007/Office 2010 Ribbon.
They are using their Wiki to give us some of the advances made so far, the ideas floating in the air and of course receive feedback from most of the Mozilla lovers (and non-lovers as well, why not?). And here are the ideas that they have so far:
- Embracing Glass: Toolbar and Tabs using Glass. Raised translucent buttons that are slightly glossy to meld with the toolbar. Raised 3D look to achieve tactile “feel”.
- Neutral Tones: Overall neutral color scheme that can transition among platforms. Can remain attractive and slick without fighting for focus from web content.
- Hiding the Menu Bar: Hiding the menubar by default (on Vista/7) allows us to use Glass, free up vertical space and retain platform consistency.
- Page and Tools Buttons: Condense and trim existing menu structure into two buttons “Page” and “Tools”. Similar to Safari and Chrome.
- Combine Stop/Reload: Combine Stop and Reload into one button. Reduces visual “clutter” and combines two buttons that have mutually exclusive functionality.
- Home Button/Tab: Remove “Home” Button from default toolbar. Move functionality to a “Home Tab” containing your homepage.
More info: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Sprints/Windows_Theme_Revamp/Direction_and_Feedback
Personally I think those are very nice and significant changes. Office, Vista and 7 seems that they are setting the standards of any UI (no surprise there, Windows will still be the world’s main OS for a few years more). But the good news is that Mozilla it is also trying to establish browsers standards, like the “Page and Tools Buttons” that is a common feature in Safari and Chrome.
And also the “Combine Stop/Reload” feature it is something that I’ve been waiting to see in Firefox for a long time. I know, it’s a very tiny thing, but don’t you love having the same functionality in different browsers?
And what are the other changes that you would include?
Finally after a lot of expectation and three release candidates (all were published within less that two weeks) Mozilla announced that the the final version for Firefox 3.5 will be available to the public on the morning of Tuesday, June 30.
Seems that development team is running against the clock, considering that on June 24 they’ve released the RC3 version for Firefox 3.5 and originally the announcement about the final version stated that “end of June” will be the date. Well they sure are keeping the promise, taking the last day of the month to release it.
Since RC1, the two other versions that were public basically focused in bug fixing, so if you installed were using any of these versions you shouldn’t expect greatest differences with the final one.
Download Firefox 3.5 RC3.
Besides the Firefox Add-On official site, where anyone can download/upload the add-ons and share it with the community; you can also find Mozdev.org where there are over 250 projects related to Mozilla that are actively in motion by several developers in the mission to “establish Mozilla as a viable application development platform”.
Within the site, you will find several very interesting add-ons and plug-ins to use with Mozilla Firefox. Including the Top-50 most viewed and downloaded projects.
On this list you’ll find very, very useful tools that you can install to improve your browsing experience: Integration with Thunderbird, FTP client, autocopy highlighted text, proxy configurations, RSS reader, etc etc.
Again, another open source project that shows a lot of maturity, adding value and constant improvement. Cheers to that
We’ve announced earlier the release for Firefox 3.5 RC1, but the Mozilla development team already prepared a new build: Firefox 3.5 RC2. This new version has no bigger differences with the RC1, mostly fixing some bugs before making it the final version.
Company’s strategy it is quite interesting actually, releasing two RC versions in one week. They sure are very confident about the beta and RC stability, I can’t imagine Microsoft releasing release candidates versions of the same product in such short period of time.
That definitive version for Mozilla Firefox 3.5 it is expected in a few days more, ending June. You can check the release notes and improvements about the RC2 version here.
And you can download it from here.
With updates to Flock, Firefox, Opera, and even IE, browsers are becoming key factors in how we choose to integrate our online experiences with our daily lives. Each of the above mentioned browsers have key factors that stand out and make them useful to someone, all depending on our tastes. What if you could find a search engine that learned, adapted, and showed you extra content that you would not have found otherwise?
Worio is the social search that has somehow found a way to intelligently learn from your search habits and adapt itself to your likes and dislikes. Worio creator Ali Davar focuses on the search as a form of discovery. He comments that Worio will show you things that you perhaps never even thought of, but are related to your initial search.
The idea of discovery is key to Worio, and information is collected and saved on your habits. The mechanism can be turned off and it will simply function like any other search engine, but the uniqueness also comes in being able to share your favorite links and sites right from the search, without having to rely on social bookmarketing efforts or emailing people. Anyone within your network can see your habits and you can see theirs. Taking this concept a step further, Worio now supports Facebook connect. Now you can directly share your passion, your searches with friends in Facebook and open people up to a whole new world of discovery.
The search looks very promising and has a bright future, we’d love to hear what you think.
