ChristiansUnite Forums

I'm just curious how many folks are already using Firefox 3 and what they think about it. The full and final version is out for Windows and a few other platforms, and it's supposed to have over 15,000 improvements - including more SPEED.

It isn't available yet for my distribution of Linux, but I am playing with a beta version of it. So far, it looks great. I don't plan to install it as my default browser until the full version of 3 is available for my version of Linux. I thought that Firefox 2 beat every other browser on the market - certainly including Microsoft Internet Explorer. In fact, I'm not aware of anything that came close to even competing with Firefox. I can't test the full version of the new Firefox yet, but the beta version indicates that the new Firefox is head and shoulders above everything - including the old Firefox version. The architecture of the new Firefox is very friendly for extension developers, so many new extensions are being developed that do just about everything you can dream of. This is one of the powers of Open Source Software. All programmers can contribute something and pretty quickly make it the best available - all completely FREE.

I'm only aware of one problem for Firefox 3:  some of the previously existing extensions for Firefox 2 have not been upgraded yet to be used by Firefox 3. Other than this, I'm not aware of any problems. Everything I've read and experimented with so far indicates that Firefox 3 will be the fastest, most powerful, and easiest to use browser there is. If anyone has any experience with the full version, please consider sharing it here.

That sounds awesome. I hope the new one saves websites in address bar for more than a couple weeks.

Running it at home...no problems so far.  Not using a ton of extensions at the moment...but what I have does work.

Hello All,

I see that tons of extensions are being updated as we speak. I haven't checked yet to see if all of my favorites are updated yet, but there is reason to believe that they will be. The NEW and UPDATED portions of the Firefox add-on site is a busy place right now. In fact, it doesn't appear that they can keep up with it. The Mozilla engineers test extensions before they make them available to the public, and it appears they are behind. That's really good because I would rather wait and know that what I'm downloading is safe. Some extension developers have been around for a long time and have a lengthy record for safety, so I think their work gets published and made available more quickly, but they are even behind on this category. That doesn't bother me a bit. I'm glad that they take the time and effort to check things because this is all part of the safety of Firefox and other programs in the Mozilla family. They give their extension and theme developers considerable help and good tools to use in development. This is just one reason for their success.

I upgraded to it on my Vista laptop and it worked fine, but some of my extensions and my antivirus weren't compatible so I held off installing it on my XP desktop and kept Firefox 2 on that. However, everything I use has now been upgraded so it works on version 3 so I will probably upgrade my desktop soon. Just haven't gotten around to it.

I don't see a whole lot of difference on speed, but my connection is so slow anyway it wouldn't matter. I can go get a cup of coffee while a page loads whatever browser I use!!!  To be honest, the way I use Firefox I don't see much difference between the two versions.

Hello Brother Rhys,

Thanks for the information!

I understand completely about dial-up. I was finally able to afford something faster about a year ago. Mine isn't the fastest, but it's much faster than what I had on dial-up and makes a huge difference. We might even have more choices in my location now. Some people these days have such fast connections that web pages load almost instantly. It's also great for downloads in a reasonable time. I don't know the speed rating of what I currently have - I just know that I like it .

We should be seeing some new extensions soon that take advantage of the new Firefox architecture. Current reviews are excellent, so who knows what we'll see soon. I'm still waiting for the new version to come out for Linux Ubuntu, and that should be any day now.

Hi brother, yes I have been using Firefox 3, for a week, or 2 now. I haven't seen any problems yet. I have noticed, using a counter, that Firefox 3, is a touch faster on dial-up. Hopefully next month, I'll find out on a faster connection.

Hello DreamWeaver,

Thanks for the information Brother. I'm still waiting for the Linux version to come out, and I'm looking forward to it.

Ref. the getting away from dial-up, I remember that like it was yesterday. That's a massive and very positive change. You'll love it. I don't have the super fast connections that some folks have, but I do have what's available for my area that I can afford. My modem is wireless and it hooks up through the Ethernet connection, so the modem reports a blazing speed that can't be true - 10 MB/s. I'm sure that's just the limit for the Ethernet connection if my computer was connected to a LAN. I really don't know what the speed is, but I feel pretty certain it's at least 10 times faster than I ever had on dial-up. If you're like me, this will be one of the most positive changes you've made on your computer. I did mine just about a year ago, and I don't want to ever go back to dial-up. Have fun.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Been using it since release date and have not had one problem. No conflicts whatsoever Themes and Extensions are being updated quickly and the speed of the browser is excellent. Way to go Mozilla.

Hello Brother Joey,

It's nice to hear from you. Thanks for the information on Firefox. I've now read lots of good things about it. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for the final Firefox 3.0 to come out for Linux. I'm looking forward to trying it. As far as I'm concerned, Firefox was by far the best even before the new one. The new one is supposed to have an architecture that allows a larger variety of extensions and ease in making them. I honestly don't think that anything compares to it, and it's FREE.

Love In Christ,
Tom

 I tried it but just about every one of my ext. would not work on it. Colorful Tabs, savewithurl, UnMht, Print context Menu, menu Editor, Translator, CopyAllUrls, etc. Will have to wait. Let patience have her perfect work, even in this minor issue.

Colourful Tabs most definitely work with FF3 as i use it myself. Not sure about the others you mention but if they are not working yet, you can be sure they will very shortly

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/three_lions/Capture-3.jpg)

Brothers,

I appreciate the information on Firefox 3.

I've decided to wait, and I've really decided to not get in any hurry about upgrades of any kind on any of my software that I like and use. This is different for me, but I've learned some lessons recently that I'm trying to remember. If I'm using software that I really like that does everything I want it to, why upgrade unless there are serious security issues?

So, I might be dull and boring in terms of changing software, but I'm happy and everything works right now.

See Firefox 3 Add-on compatibility chart with links: http://people.mozilla.com/~polvi/threedom/status-bars.html

THANKS BROTHER DANIEL!

I honestly didn't know that anything like this was in existence. That's a ton of information on one page, and it should help many people decide when to change or upgrade. I'm happy that I decided to wait. I have some Firefox extensions that I use every day for Christian functions. They work perfectly right now, so I'll keep waiting or just stay right where I am. I noticed my favorite extensions on that list. I just want to mention one I use every day that's great - Scrapbook. I use it for collecting bits and pieces of information I want to spend more leisure time with later. I use it mainly for portions of Bible studies and things like that. It makes a database of everything you collect, so you can find it quickly with simple keyword searches. I'm sure it would work for just about anything, but I can see many Christian applications. It has a simple add-on that also collects the URL where you got the material in case you want to go back and look some more. You can actually make it like a separate file system with categorized folders or just about whatever you can dream of.

Thanks Again!

Love In Christ,
Tom

I Tried Mozilla Firefox three and did not care for it as it is Still needing Upgrades! So, I went back to Mozilla Firefox 2.0, because it is Stable and is just as Fast as three!

Firefox three Still don't have all the plug ins for certain projects yet. You can Still Use Firefox 2.0 and all its wonderful Plug ins and it works Great! I think Firefox Three will be good in the near future when they are done upgrading it!

FireFox 3.0.3 bug

There seems to be a problem with 3.0.3 in viewing videos. Irregardless of your computer or internet speed videos will hesitate appearing to be broken up. Occasionally this problem will lock up FireFox requiring you to shut down FireFox and restarting it and perhaps even have to restart your computer in order to clear it.

This problem has been reported and is currently being worked on. A new fix is expected to be out soon.

THANKS PASTOR ROGER!

Brother, I appreciate the information sincerely. I'm just going to be patient and keep using Firefox 2 until all the problems are worked out. In fact, I'm very happy with everything as it is right now and really don't know why I would want to change. All of my favorite extensions work perfectly, and everything is stable, so I think that I'll just enjoy what I have.

He PR. 
Did that mention what types of videos cause that problem?  I have been watching all sorts of videos at home and on one computer (with very old graphics card) I get stutters, but I blamed that on the graphics card.  Cause on my laptop I have no problems whatsoever.  The only other difference is laptop is Vista.  I hate it but it came with tons of free apps from HP and I would hate to have to pay to replace them...so I live with Vista.

It is videos such as youtube and godtube displays.

Those would be FLV (flash player).  It is odd how I get that more on the XP machine than I do on the Vista box...It is possible that the Vista box simply has better video card, faster processor, and more ram so the effects are not as noticeable as the XP machine.  But the browser and everything else is the same....oh well I will update when it comes out :)

I have XP but I also have an excellent video card and fairly fast processor. It handles even the biggest games such as the one the Army puts out, "America's Army". I didn't have the problem until I upgraded to FF 3.0.3 (and even then it is not a consistent problem) and I can still get them without problems if I use IE.

I think that the majority of the videos on GODTube are in the ".flv" format.

I have an older computer with fairly average speed, low memory, and a tiny low-power video card by today's standards. I also have Linux Ubuntu as an operating system and Firefox 2 as my browser. I don't have a problem of any kind in watching the videos on GODTube.

I can't find out for sure right now, but I think that I also use a generic, open source video player made for Linux. I can't even find the name of it right now, but it's tiny compared to the Big Name Brand that's usually installed, and it uses much less system resources while running. I'll try to find out more on this, BUT I think it only works on Linux. Regardless, it has high ratings, and I chose it on purpose the last time I updated my Linux Ubuntu software. I must add that Linux uses a lot of generic, open source software, and I haven't had a problem with any of it. There are many examples of OUTSTANDING open source software. You wouldn't even recognize many of the names except the biggest and most popular ones like Open Office. I think that many of them actually work BETTER than the BIG NAME stuff.

I'm using Firefox 3.03 now, and I think it's great. All of my favorite extensions work. Overall, Firefox is head and shoulders above anything else out there, and that includes speed, security, and functions. It's versatile enough for anyone to customize it to their liking and fulfill just about any need a browser can fulfill. This especially includes people with eyesight problems or other disabilities.

I must add that there are continually new extensions now and think that it must have something to do with the open architecture of the browser engine. The gecho engine has improved dramatically, and it's faster than ever. I don't think that anyone can compete with the Firefox Browser - NOT even close - and it's still free. Nearly all of the themes and extensions are also free. I did pay a whopping 99 cents for a theme recently, and it's my favorite - Bible BlueFox. There's a new Bible BlueFox for Thunderbird that is free - so you can have a matching browser and email program.

I recently got the new Open Office 3.0, and it's wonderful. It also works with Firefox 3.03 great, so you have access to a complete and first-class office suite in Firefox now.

I'm playing with a few new extensions right now that look promising. I'll let everyone know what I find out. I'll just say for now that I can't imagine using anything except Firefox and Thunderbird. They share the same speed, security, and flexibility. Thunderbird also has a large number of themes and extensions available for it, so they are a power-packed duo together.

P.S. I'm also happy to report that all of my favorite extensions are backward compatible with previously saved information. This was especially nice for two of my favorites:  ScrapBook and Clippings. I had considerable information saved with both of them and had grown used to using them for Bible Verses, Bible Studies, and bits and pieces of information I want to study later.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Proverbs 15:1-2 NASB  A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.  The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly.