A quick note about the recent release of Firefox 4: While I am usually bit reluctant to immediately update to new software versions that are likely to break some add-ons until the authors have caught up with the version numbering I gave Firefox 4 a try as I could install it in a separate directory on my Ubuntu netbook and could thus go back to 3.6 if I didn't like what I saw. And indeed, some add-ons I occasionally use don't work with the new version for the moment. However, there are two major new features that more than make-up for it:
- Two more lines: On netbooks, vertical screen resolution is a premium. In version 4 the status bar has been removed once the page is fully loaded and the main menu has been put into a drop down menu. In other words, two more lines of screen space for web pages. Fantastic, that makes a big difference! I am not sure if the reason this was done was because of netbook screen size limitations but in any case it's very helpful!
- Java script speed-up: This has been promised a number of times before but I've never experienced a big difference where it hurt most, the Java Script based editor of Typepad that I use to write blog entries. But with this version it's different, the speedup of the editor is remarkable!
Apart from those two features I like the new "eye candy" of the clockwise and counter clockwise rotation of the activity indication in the tabs. When you click on a link the activity indicator starts rotating in one direction and once the connection to the server has been established it changes color and starts turning the other way around.
A very worthwhile update indeed, kudos to the guys over at Mozilla!
Is there any reason you prefer not to use Chrome?