Filed under: Software, Internet Tools
Firefox 3 to be more integrated with OS
Alex Faaborg has an interesting post up on the visual design of the forthcoming version 3 of Firefox. Basically reversing their long-standing policy of trying to make Firefox look the same across all platforms, version 3.0 will feature OS specific design "to achieve an even closer level of visual integration than we have had in previous releases." What this means of OS X is something close to the new unified style that's coming in Leopard and has already been demonstrated in iTunes and iLife '08.
I know that many Mac users prefer Camino to Firefox (both of which use the Mozilla gecko rendering engine) because Firefox just doesn't "look right" in OS X. It will be interesting to see how well Firefox 3 works with Leopard (and Tiger) and whether that will be enough to convert Camino users like myself. Of course, as we've mentioned before, the page widgets will also be an important aspect of getting the look right in OS X.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Johnny Thrash said 1:42PM on 10-22-2007
Camino is a nice browser, but for sites like TUAW.com, I gotta have my AdBlock... which is why I typically stick to Firefox for most sites. =)
It's nice to see they will be making it appear more OS-like, because some of us just like the OS X visual elements.
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Matt said 1:48PM on 10-22-2007
@Johnny Thrash --
While Camino doesn't have the same plug-in architecture that Firefox has, there is an adblock setting in the preferences. Not perfect, but it works as well as what I've seen in Firefox -- and it's working for me on TUAW right now :)
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Ryan said 1:52PM on 10-22-2007
Since safari 3 I rarely use FF or camino anymore.
Safari3 - Most all browsing.
Camino - For the (now rare) site that doesn't work with Safari3
Fire Fox - Only launched when doing web development, FireBug rocks!
Don't care about ad's on sites.
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akatsuki said 1:52PM on 10-22-2007
If Firefox uses a native interface, they really should just fold in whatever they can from Camino and close up shop, since the goal was to port the engine over in a native interface. It is not like Camino has been trying to push the browser space feature wise (like Shiira and Flock), so unless they are going to really start doing something different, there is no point in continuing development. Although this sounds harsh, I think it is actually a sign that Camino has "won".
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Johnny Thrash said 1:55PM on 10-22-2007
It's possible it's something I've completely overlooked in my "rush" to get rid of ads and popups. lol
I will download on my MBP after lunch. Thanks for the heads-up. =)
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Joseph said 1:56PM on 10-22-2007
@Johnny Thrash: Nice way to tell the nice people at TUAW you don't care about them paying their own bills.
I use an ad blocker on most sites I visit, but sites like TUAW go on the exceptions list. They deserve the revenue.
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Chuck said 1:58PM on 10-22-2007
I don't know what the hubbub is about...my Firefox already looks quite Mac-like!
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/31673/2002066075724310539_rs.jpg
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Johnny Thrash said 2:02PM on 10-22-2007
@6 They still get credit for the "displaying" of ads, but I don't have to view the garbage.
I use an ad blocking style sheet to turn off DIVs and styles and I use AdBlock to block the display of the stuff in my browser.
Since I can't turn it off at the server level, or edit the content of the pages directly, they still get the display numbers and therefore still get their checks from the ad agencies.
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Jeff said 2:02PM on 10-22-2007
I hope that the many, many ugly bits in that screen shot are caused by the compression...
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Rob said 2:03PM on 10-22-2007
I think the addon/plugin features of Firefox are the killer app of the browser world. Especially google's browser sync addon. If the browser doesn't support it... there is no point in trying it.
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djdead said 2:04PM on 10-22-2007
For those that dislike firefox's default theme, why not use one that makes it look like an OS X app? I use the grApple (Eos Pro) theme (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1323) for my firefox and it works great. Combine that with the Fission plugin (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1951) and you've got a Safari-like browser with all the goodness of firefox. =)
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Mo said 2:09PM on 10-22-2007
I only ever use Firefox for web development (WebKit really needs a plugin architecture that can support something akin to Firebug). Safari 3 for mainstream browsing. Both need restarting from time to time, though—memory leaks ahoy! (Difference is, mind, Firefox is a stable release, and Safari 3 is a beta…)
I don't bother with adblocking—though not because I like/want to see/ever click on the ads—except for the obnoxious ones. If they're lucky, I null-route the ad server at my gateway. If they're unlucky, I never visit the site again.
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Object-X said 2:19PM on 10-22-2007
I use my browser full-screen now, so it doesn't matter. Just get rid of the scroll bar on the right please.
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David Chartier said 2:22PM on 10-22-2007
For a while I preferred Camino over Firefox primarily because Camino is a much better functional Mac OS X citizen, in addition to simply looking the part. This is largely due to Camino's use of Mac OS X's system-wide Keychain for storing passwords.
If Firefox on Mac OS X would finally use the Keychain and plug into other Mac OS X services like spell checking (yes, I know it has its own spell checker. I don't care) so I can keep one custom dictionary synced across all my apps, I'll give it another spin.
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David Chartier said 2:24PM on 10-22-2007
For a while I preferred Camino over Firefox primarily because Camino is a much better functional Mac OS X citizen, in addition to simply looking the part. This is largely due to Camino's use of Mac OS X's system-wide Keychain for storing passwords.
If Firefox on Mac OS X would finally use the Keychain and plug into other Mac OS X services like spell checking (yes, I know it has its own spell checker. I don't care) so I can keep one custom dictionary synced across all my apps, I'll give it another spin.
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island hermit said 2:32PM on 10-22-2007
I'd like to see Safari become more like Firefox but that's only because one of the primary sites that I use daily (hourly) doesn't display properly in Safari.
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James said 2:33PM on 10-22-2007
It's my impression that very few people actually like Firefox itself. It's only the plug-ins they are after. Firefox the browser could definitely use some improvements: I find it mostly inferior to Safari or Camino.
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Jt Hollister said 2:39PM on 10-22-2007
No matter what it looks like, Firefox will always be a bloated browser with way too many great features.
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jax sedrin said 2:48PM on 10-22-2007
I used Firefox for a long time, but I ended up switching back to Safari for one reason and one reason only: it's faster.
Firefox takes FORever to load up on my PBG4, and it just got tiresome. (I heard Camino solves this problem, but I just never got around to trying it). But that would be one reason to keep Camino around, even if they both have a mac-native interface - the speed.
Unless Firefox 3 brings some major performance improvements with it.
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Matt M said 2:52PM on 10-22-2007
This is good news. Hopefully, along with a prettier GUI, the OS X version of Firefox 3 will be a lot snappier. As it stands, I am using Safari primarily because it is faster at rendering pages and loads quicker than Firefox 2 on OS X.
I do, however, use Firefox Portable as my main browser on PCs. I have an XP embedded-based winterm in my office and a LaCie 80GB USB hard drive connected to it with the portableapps.com menu loading all my portable apps like Firefox. It works great if you have 512 MB or more memory.
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