Firefox is a free download from Mozilla.org,
and its userbase is growing daily. It's currently enjoying over
80 million users, and both USA Today and Forbes Magazine recommend
using Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. So what's so great
about Firefox? Follow along as I install and walk through this
browser, which picks up where Netscape left off.
First, the download is quick and easy to install. Once installed,
the browser opens to a simple Firefox-branded homepage at Google.com.
The browser skin looks and feels like a hybrid of Netscape and
IE, yet with the best features of Netscape put forward, including
tabbed browsing. Tabs allow you to open multiple sites in the
same window, then tab through them, like sorting through sheets
of paper.
In using Firefox for the first time, I'm instantly thrilled
by the speed of it. The browser is light, quick, and loads and
renders pages with impressive speed. Though it's no secret that
I've been a longtime Netscape devotee, this is even faster and
seems to run with less "bloat" than Netscape. From
a web developer's perspective, pages render accurately in Firefox,
without displaying any anomalies or differences in code.
You'll quickly notice one of the best features of Firefox too
if you click the "Latest Headlines" button in the
toolbar - live bookmarks. Anything you bookmark in Firefox that
features RSS-enabled Live Bookmarks automatically updates the
title tag of each site into your bookmark list. So, clicking
the Latest Headlines button instantly gives you a list of today's
news branded for today's date. You can click each story and
instantly jump to it at news sites all over the world.
I'm going to continue using Firefox as my primary browser,
and I'll report back soon on more findings. From a testing standpoint,
it's a good idea for anyone in the web development field to
download and test pages in this as well, to give yourself a
better idea of what your potential users may be seeing.
Webmaster's Corner is written biweekly by Jill
Cataldo, Senior Web Developer for NewRamp.com. She has been
working in web development since 1996. Articles are copyright
©2005 NewRamp and may not be reproduced without permission.
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