I was searching for the alpha release of Firefox 2 (Bon Echo) and I landed in a link to Firefox 3(MineField). I guess the installable available at this link of Firefox 2 which I guess is used as base for the next version of Firefox i.e. Minefield. I went ahead and installed the same and the browser seems to be working fine. But I saw some features which were slated to be in Firefox 2, which is confirming my belief that the download available at this location is of Firefox 2.
Some of the new features in this version
1. First thing you will notice is that now you have a close button for each tab (similar to the one in IE7 Beta)
2. The search button can be configured to set it to the search engine of your choice. There is even a separate dialog to manage the search engines !
3. Another improvement is with themes and extensions management. It has been merged in a single window accessible from the Tools/Add-ons menu.
4. Feed Handling has been improved in the sense that now other than the Live Bookmarks of Firefox, you can specify the feed to be handled by a custom application such as Bloglines, Google Reader, My Yahoo
5. Now you have an inbuilt spell checker which can be used when you fill up forms.
6. Also there is a option to restore session in case the browser crashes. All the windows that were open before the crash are restored automatically.
Download Bon Echo (The name might be Minefield, but this installable is of Bon Echo I believe). If you guys know of the location of Bon Echo Release let me know.
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Separate close button, restore session, feed handling are there from Opera 8 itself.
Opera 9 has search configuration, which is very good, easily configurable with shortcuts. I can type “z da vinci code” in the address bar and it will search for “da vinci code” in amazon(z is the shortcut for amazon) and you can change the shortcuts if you like!
But, I liked the spell check option in firefox 2.
If I am using an external feed reader, whats the point of configuring that in firefox? I did not understand this.
yeah i had even read your blog on opera.. and today I decided to check if there is any benchmark to decide which is the fastest browser. I landed on this link
http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html
You might be happy to see that he found opera as the best browser!!! I am definitely going to check it out.
But on features side.. I guess firefox has some goodies like plugins which make the browser more powerful.. I am not sure if opera also has plugin support..
I am not sure why people don’t use opera.. even when I check my site statistics I see people using only IE or Firefox.. I guess the GetFireFox campaign has worked well for Firefox… I think someone should start Get opera !!
I dont know why people dont use Opera. There are so many who have not even heard of it. Opera does not have any plugins, but there are not many things I miss from not having plugins – I dont think having fancy clocks or calendars serve too much of purpose.
I think Firefox has cashed in very well on the anti-IE factor. Opera is still a long way behind in terms of popularity, but not in terms of features.
If you are trying opera for the first time, try the stable version 8.54
http://opera.com/
Version 9.0 has some good features, but is still in beta. So, it may not be that stable. However, if you want, you can get it from here:
http://opera.com/download/index.dml?ver=9.0b
Also, go though this link to know the really powerful features of Opera.
http://www.chooseopera.com/tutorials/lover/index.html
I hadn’t even noticed the search engines… Great overview!
It’s working great on Windows XP x64 edition
.
Nice to know that Arne
Aren’t these features already out on the FF2? or is it that you are explaining the features of FF2?
sorry, just noticed that date! you should bring the recent posts up and put the popular posts to the bottom!
anand yeah makes sense, I have put in the latest entries before the popular posts
I love Firefox for this spell-checker!
Good Post.Thank You
For no nonsense fast browsing Opera is the best browser and Opera9, may be beta is quite stable. But Firefox and IE7 are also have improved a lot. By the way Venu, your site loads much faster today. Really nice feeling. Have you done something…
Mohan, yeah I have heard of Opera a lot. Other than Firefox and IE, do give Safari also a try. I love the way it renders pages (but its still buggy and crashes every other time
)
Regarding site, even I noticed the change. Looks like my host Dreamhost fixed something !!