Firefox 3 was released a couple of weeks ago. Now I bet that many of you all’s firefox hasn’t updated yet to the newest version. If that’s the case then this might prepare you for when you do get to experience it first hand. For others who actually have theirs updated this will be nothing new. You could always comment and tell me if I missed something.
Whenever Firefox 3 came out and I heard of the news I waited very little time to download it. I’m to impatient on these kind of matters to wait for auto-updates. Though, one of the extensions I have I knew was not going to work, and so I was a little uneasy about downloading it right away. I didn’t know how many other extensions were also not compatible with the new version. And I’m quite a big on the whole add-ons thing. Like at the time I had 28 extensions installed, and whenever they aren’t working I freak out, especially if its like the main ones that I use.
I contemplated on the issue and thought I could always use version 2 if I wasn’t yet ready for version 3. Therefore I went and downloaded version 3. Just as I suspected a lot of the add-ons were not yet compatible yet, especially the main one I use – “All-in One Sidebar”. So I decided I’d use version 2 until at least that extension got updated. Let me warn you though, only update when you feel ready to update, because switching back isn’t that easy. First off I couldn’t even find the firefox 2 download link on their website. Then once it actually got reinstalled I was having a few more issues. In the end I ended up just using Firefox 3 and putting up with the lack of my extensions.
And now that I’m done rambling about that I guess its a good time to actually tell you the new features that Firefox 3 is packed with. But obviously its got thousands of varioius fixes and new features, so I’m not gonna get through them all. Here’s the ones though that I’ve noticed on my own so far with no reading on what Firefox 3 came with or anything.
- New Theme – This was probably the first thing I noticed. Firefox 3 comes with a new look, one of which I really didn’t like as much as the old one. For people that want something new and having a more glossier feel then you will enjoy this. For others, like myself, you may find yourself hunting for a new theme. I found one which I thought was only going to be a makeshift theme until I found something else, but Azerty III seems to have grown on me.
- Most Visited Bookmarks Folder – A new folder has now been added into your bookmarks toolbar folder. The name kind of gives away the purpose, but inside is your most visited sites – amazing! I removed mine from the bookmarks toolbar though, it was making those bookmarks overflow.
- Easier Bookmarking - In the URL bar there’s a new Star Icon. If its hollow then you haven’t bookmarked the page you’re at, if it’s yellow then you have. You can click it to bookmark it to a new “uncategorized” bookmarks folder. Or, if the page already is bookmarked then you can click it to change the location of the bookmark, change the tags associated with the bookmark, or to remove it.
- Revamped Recent Sites in URL Bar – You can now type a url in the URL Bar, or you can type just a word or something. Where it used to just display a list of recent history it now displays the URL the page title, whether or not its bookmarked, etc. I like it a lot better. Plus you can now type just a word in and it will search your history and display the top results right there.
- Revamped Extension Manager – The last big change I’ve noticed so far is the add-on manager. The main addition to it being a new tab showing recommended add-ons that you can download.
You know that doesn’t seem like much, but when you update firefox it really does feel like a new piece of software. After a while you get everything adjusted to how you want it (and all your extensions will become compatible), its just a little shocking when you first download it.
