Hands-On: Firefox 3 fixes what's broke and keeps what's right

Features

Often, when it comes time to look at a product's new features, I end up writing what amounts to a laundry list of functions that no one is ever likely to use in the real world. That's not the case with Firefox 3.

For example, the protection mechanisms against malware and cross-site scripting actually work. Firefox warns you before you enter sites that have been known to carry malware -- you can continue, if you really want to, but at least you'll know you're heading into trouble. Protection against cross-site scripts -- a.k.a. Web forgery -- goes farther. Firefox 3 won't even show you content that seems to be coming from an illegitimate site or is trying to play break-in games with JavaScript. You can still force Firefox to show you the site's content -- but on your own head be it.

Firefox 3 also gives you more information about the sites you visit than earlier versions did. The drop-down listing of possible addresses that appears when you start typing in an URL has been enhanced to be easier to read and show more information. Clicking on the favicon -- the tiny icon to the left of an URL address -- will give you a window that, hopefully, will show such information as who owns the site, what cookies have been set and other elements that may have been delivered. Unfortunately, that feature isn't all that useful yet -- few Web sites bother with identity information -- but it's got potential.

Another nice feature is that when (as is so often the case) you come across a Web site with an SSL security certificate that's not quite right, Firefox displays enough information about the certificate so you can make an informed decision about whether you want to trust the site or not. It's still an error message, but at least now it's an easy-to-understand error message.

Firefox now asks if you want to save your password only after you've successfully logged in to a Web site. For those of us who always type in passwords wrong the first time, this can be darn handy.

Bookmarking has also been improved. For example, the new Smart Bookmarks folder, which appears in your bookmarks toolbar, automatically picks up and lists your most-often visited pages. Firefox 3 also enables you to add keyword tags to your bookmarks and then sort your bookmarks by these tags.

On a purely aesthetic basis, Firefox will now adjust its look to match that of your Mac OS X, Linux or Windows operating system. This worked perfectly on my XP, Vista, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and Linux systems running both KDE and GNOME. It sounds small, but I found the overall effect to be surprisingly easy on my eyes.

Care with extensions

If you can't live without a particular browser extension, you'll want to hesitate before immediately upgrading to Version 3. Firefox's new extension subsystem insists that any extension provide a secure Web site for updates; it also changed some of the APIs. Extensions that don't currently support these changes (as of this writing, this included Google Toolbar) won't work with Firefox 3.

On the other hand, you may find that you don't need many extensions commonly used with Version 2. For example, with the new Firefox you can increase text size, so you may no longer need extensions like NoSquint.

Firefox also finally has an improved download manager, which supports interrupted download resumption, so you may not need a third-party download manager. In addition, Firefox can now register Web-based protocol handlers. This means that you can now open mailto and iCal links with your Web application of choice without adding an extension.

In other words, if you don't absolutely need incompatible extensions, there's a lot to be said for upgrading today.

Firefox has also improved its help system. It now reaches out to the Firefox support Web site for help information. Everyone has the experience of searching for help, only to find that the on-PC help is hopelessly outdated. With Firefox 3, you can always get to the most current information.

Conclusions

Nothing is perfect in this world. Still, when it comes to Web browsers, Firefox 3 is as good as they come. Certainly, compared with the forthcoming Internet Explorer 8 and the security problem-prone Safari, Firefox 3 is the standout browser for 2008.

Since Firefox first appeared on the scene in 2004, it has set the standard for Web browsers. Not only did it break Microsoft's iron grasp on Web browsing, its very existence forced Microsoft and the other browser companies to up their game. All of the Web browsers are far better than they were before Firefox came along.

Now Mozilla's open-source developers have set the bar even higher. Firefox 3 is the best of the breed.

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