Firefox 3 advancing, but IE6 not going away…

Yesterday I proceeded to download the newest version of my favorite browser (Firefox). Firefox 3.5 has many improvements such as speed, security, and features.

I was proudly telling people to upgrade via Twitter and Facebook, when someone made a great comment. It stated,

“I don’t want to hear about Firefox advances! Not until I know IE has caught up! Slow down FF!”

Now, I still enjoy the neat things that Firefox is doing, but seeing IE6 fade into the oblivion would make me more excited. Frankly, Firefox 3.5 is light-years better than IE8 – never mind comparing it to IE6. Remember we as developers can’t really use the new features until it works across all browsers anyways.

Here are the latest browser statistics according to W3Schools,

Both

IE – 41%
Firefox – 47.7%

IE

IE8 – 4.2%
IE7 – 21.3%
IE6 – 14.5%

Firefox

3.0 – 44.3%
2.0 – 2.9%

Is there a reason that pretty much all Firefox users upgrade to the newest version, and IE doesn’t? Well I think there are a couple reasons:

1. Firefox prompts you to upgrade, and makes it real easy
2. Firefox promotes its product better, and makes sure to improve it each time
3. On the other hand, IE focuses its time and effort in implementing a COMPATIBILITY MODE?!?!

Will Microsoft ever learn from their mistakes? Maybe they should focus on their operating systems…

Instead of dwelling on the negatives, let’s focus on some of the cool new Firefox features!

Improved View Source

Have you ever found it annoying in the past when you go to view a sites web source and you need to copy and paste a URL just to check it out? Firefox 3.5 now converts these URLs into actual links that you can click on. It is such a little thing, but should save me a TON of time!

Private Browsing

Private browsing is a nice security feature that Firefox has added. When you select this mode (Tools>>Start Private Browsing) no history will be recorded. This is a feature that mirrors in some ways what Google Chrome did with its “incognito window”.

New JavaScript Engine

Perhaps the most talked about feature is the dramatic improvement in performance. We as internet surfers don’t read the web, we SCAN. We are creatures that want information as quick as possible, and nothing is ever fast enough.

Firefox’s new “TraceMonkey” JavaScript engine keeps the JavaScript executing at top speeds.

Location Aware Browsing

This feature allows Firefox to determine your location using your IP Address. It will then allow websites to tailor their sites depending on what location you are browsing their site from.

Flickr is one site that has already implemented this. It determines your location and then shows photos from other people in your local area.

Support for HTML 5 and @font-face

Firefox 3.5 now supports @font-face which allows a designer to add a fancy font to an element using CSS. Remember IE is still trying to figure out the box model, so they haven’t added this feature yet.

HTML 5 is also the new standard projected in the near future. Firefox likes being ahead of the curve as you probably have noticed. HTML 5 includes audio and video tags, along with supporting the <canvas> element which essentially is a drawing surface.

Conclusion

I hope this review of Firefox 3 has encouraged you to upgrade, and if you are on IE6 maybe it is time you upgrade?

If I missed any neat features please leave a comment below.

Related posts:

1. Firefox 3
2. Firefox Saved Passwords… handy, but insecure?
3. Want to test IE6 on Windows Vista?
4. Hacking Add-ons To Work in Firefox 3.5
5. Firebug: A Developers Best Friend

Written by Brenley Dueck