A decade ago, geeks greeted the release of Netscape's new web browser with great anticipation. A similar sense of expectation surrounded each subsequent version of Netscape Navigator and, to a much lesser extent, updates to Microsoft's upstart Internet Explorer.
All that excitement came to an end three or four years ago, when Microsoft seemed to have won the so-called browser wars and promptly stopped adding new features to IE. But it was déjà vu all over again Tuesday, complete with swamped servers and abused refresh keys, with the release of Firefox 1.0.
The Mozilla Foundation, inheritor of the Netscape programming code base, made the very first non-beta version of its open-source browser available for free at 1 a.m. PT Tuesday. Soon after its release, Mozilla's servers were overwhelmed.
Firefox 1.0, available for the Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems in more than a dozen languages, is the result of two years of work. The browser is an absolute joy to use – smart, fast and very user-friendly, while still offering a slew of advanced programmable and customizable functions for those who want to tinker.
In a press release, the Mozilla Foundation states that Firefox 1.0 is more compatible with websites written specifically for Internet Explorer than the beta versions that preceded it, and has new updating capabilities which will grab and install new browser versions, extensions or security fixes automatically.
There's also a new find function that appears in a toolbar across the bottom of the page, better bookmarking, more flexible pop-up blocking, live bookmarks that display Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, news feeds from the bookmark itself or in a sidebar, and good online fraud-protection features.
I'd downloaded the preview release of Firefox 1.0 (Firefox 1.0PR) about three weeks ago, along with about 8 million other people, according to the Mozilla Foundation's download stats. I didn't see – and didn't expect to see – much that was visibly new in the final 1.0 version as compared to the preview, but those who are still using 0.9 or earlier versions will find a good collection of great new features.
The final version feels a bit snappier than the preview release did. Web pages seem to be coming up a few seconds faster, but that's a subjective opinion – I didn't time the page loads. There is a short list of bug fixes that have been incorporated into the final release of version 1.0.
I installed Firefox 1.0 on three machines – one PC running Windows XP which has been running Firefox as a primary browser for more than a year, another PC running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (XP2), whose user runs Internet Explorer exclusively, and a Mac running OS X version 10.2 with Apple Computer's Safari browser.
Installation on all three machines was almost flawless. On the XP PC, I didn't even uninstall the previous version of Firefox, as you are supposed to. The program still installed perfectly, moved my bookmarks and settings over to the new version quickly and booted and ran without problems. I've had big issues with running previous versions of Firefox (the 0.9 series) without uninstalling the older version first.
Installing Firefox on the XP2 and Mac machines was just as easy, although not completely without problems, on the Mac. After the installation routine finished, a dialog box opened and offered to move settings and bookmarks (favorites, as Explorer refers to them) from IE/Safari to Firefox. After selecting yes, all settings were quickly applied and all bookmarks were moved from the PC without a snag. Safari didn't seem to want to give up the bookmarks, so I used a third-party utility.
The only problem with the XP2 machine was that many of my extensions – plug-in programs that add extra features to Firefox – weren't compatible with version 1.0. They'd all worked with the preview version, so I'd expected them to work with the final release.
Firefox does have a nifty auto-update feature for extensions. Most of my extensions have now been updated, although a couple remain unusable until their programmers update them for 1.0.
Firefox has long boasted the best and easiest-to-use privacy settings of any browser, allowing users full control of the contents of their history, saved form, saved passwords, cookies and cache files. The browser's integrated pop-up ad blocker can be configured to allow specific sites to spawn new windows (some websites, like many car rental sites, rely on pop-ups), and the browser can also be customized to allow specified sites to install software.
You can also enable or disable Java and JavaScript with one click, and the change takes effect immediately, with no need to reboot the browser as is required by IE. I love this feature, as there are overzealous website programmers who opt to turn off right-click functions to prevent people from copying images from their sites. Problem is, using JavaScript to disable right-click also means I can't right-click to open a link in a new tab. Temporarily disabling JavaScript restores right-click functionality.
Firefox's advanced JavaScript option settings also allow users to disable other stupid website coding tricks, like blocking scripts that move or resize windows, disabling or replacing context menus, or hiding or altering the status bar.
Firefox also clearly indicates when you are on a secure web page, suitable for transmitting credit card data for example, by highlighting the page's URL in yellow. The browser also indicated when I was viewing bogus sites set up specifically to steal credit card information and passwords – an attempt at online fraud commonly known as phishing.
Firefox 1.0 has excellent bookmark-management features, some of which were present in earlier versions of the browser. Users can, with one click, sort bookmarks according to site name, location, date last visited, etc. The newest bookmark feature is Live Bookmarks, which allows users to browse RSS feeds from their favorite websites directly from the site's bookmark or in sidebar in the browser window.
Another very useful feature that's been present in the browser for a while is Keywords. You can assign a keyword – or even a key letter – to any bookmark, and then download a website simply by typing the keyword into the URL bar. As an example, I type "W" and hit enter to view the Wired News front page. You can also create Smart Keywords that allow you to run a quick search directly from the URL bar.
I've gotten so used to Firefox's tabbed browsing, which allows you to display many web pages within a single browser window, that I'm no longer consciously aware of what a great feature it is. The people who lent me their computers for this evaluation hadn't used Firefox before, and were quite taken with the tab feature. Tabs have been slightly improved in 1.0: Users can now make links opened by websites open into a new tab instead of in a new window, or can opt to reuse an already open tab.
Mozilla claims that Firefox is now more compatible with sites that were coded only with Internet Explorer in mind. My bank used to insist on IE, but now supports Firefox. I've only run into one other site – an e-commerce site – over the past year that demanded I use Explorer, and I no longer shop there. An attempt to access that site with Firefox 1.0 on Tuesday still returned an error message stating, "This site does not support older versions of Netscape (before v. 6.0). Please upgrade your Netscape browser to the latest version."
The Microsoft Windows Update page – which scans your system looking for the various patches and updates your system is in dire need of – also does not work with any version of Firefox. The only reason I keep IE active on my Windows computer is to access Microsoft's auto-update service.
Once the browser of choice only for hardcore geeks, Firefox is becoming more popular. Before July 2004, according to web metrics firm WebSideStory, 95 percent of web surfers used Explorer, a percentage that has remained static for several years. In July, after warnings about major security flaws, IE users dropped to 94.7 percent, and by the end of October that figure had dropped to 92.9 percent.
Firefox fans hope to woo more Internet Explorer users away from Microsoft's browser. A drive to raise cash to run an ad in The New York Times announcing the release of version 1.0 netted about $250,000 in contributions. The ad is due to run within the next two weeks.
Mozilla's servers are likely to be swamped after the ad runs, so you'd better download Firefox 1.0 soon. Once you try Firefox, you'll wonder why anyone uses any other web browser.
