Slashdot Mirror
Mozilla Firebird Soars Into View
About a zillion people wrote to announce Mozilla 0.6, but asa was the first: "Mozilla Firebird 0.6 (formerly Phoenix) is available for download. This release features a fresh new look, a redesigned preferences window, preliminary support for Mac OS X and much more.
Read why you should be using Mozilla Firebird and get the latest release." I'm not exactly clamoring for a new web browser, but it looks worth checking out.
Has anyone compared this firebird you speak of, to the mysterious cult of opera? I'm quite happy as an opera cultsman, yet i am open to bribery :P
Anyone wanna point out to me some features that firebird has/plans on having? Most of the ones on the list look pretty basic...
I would just like to say good job to the developers and the project managers. The direction this part of Mozilla has gone has really put the icing on the cake for it being the best browser IMHO.
I use it Phoenix (ermmm I mean Firebird) now on every platform at work and at home. Love it.
Never have any popup problems, very quick and couldn't do without opening links in the background under a new tab as I browse the web then go to them when I am done reading what I am currently on.
I've got it and it's great.
It's fast, zippy and speedy too!
If you haven't been using the Nightlies lately, the new default theme will seem to you as a breath of fresh air.
It's hands down the best browser for Linux.
Moderation: +4. Modded 70% Funny and 30% Overrated. 100% Saturated.
The article mentions that this is a faster, less bloated version of Mozilla. What are they trying to do here, what are hte main differences between Mozilla and Firebird and why do they seem to be advocating one of their products over another? kc
This is hardly ground-breaking - this has been around since the early days of opera (not that long ago :)
Just because IE doesn't offer it... it does not make firebird/whatever they want to call it now/and now better
Anybody know what the Web Panels thingy does? (View->Sidebar->Web Panels) I can't really get it to do _anything_ at all :)
Just out of a vague and morbid sense of curiosity, I thought Camino was supposed to be the firebird of OSX? Not that I mind the choice, but it just seems odd that they'd release two browsers that seem to occupy the same niche.
For more information about Mozilla Firebird and how to customize it, change themes and install extensions, visit Mozilla Firebird Help
Among other things, you'll find instructions on how to disable two of the new features: smooth scrolling and automatic image resizing.
I've been using Mozilla and Netscape, and I couldn't stand how opening a link in a new tab also switched focus to that tab. I don't know about previous FireBird versions, but this one opens a new tab but keeps focus on the current window, which is how I think it *should* work.
- Much better default theme (I still use Orbit Blue personally, but the default is now bearable unlike the ugly theme they had before)
- Easy to copy settings from old version (save your bookmarks.html file in your settings and drop it in the same place in 0.6)
- The about:config page is very powerful; I don't think I even need the preferential extension any more but it was very useful in 0.5
- Go to Tools->Options->Privacy->Download Manager History - I thought they were fixing the comment here for 0.6, oh well
- Under settings Firebird creates a Phoenix and Mozilla directory (on Windoze at least). I guess that'll change eventually as well.
I haven't personally noticed the speed difference yet, but then again I'm on a dual 1700. It will be interesting to try on my old 166 and 200 boxes. Finally, congrats to the Phoenix/Firebird/Mozilla team on 0.6. It looks to be a very worthwhile upgrade and is definitely worth a try.1. Where are the Xft builds? Reading the Firebird forums, one notes that not everyone has Xft, therefore, Firebird is not built with Xft. One is told to build from source if one wants Xft enabled builds. Oh ok, Firebird can not do what Opera handles by default, in a smaller download no less. No prob, back to Opera I go.
2. The best feature I ever saw in any browser, was in the older Galeon builds. In the preferences, there was a checkbox, which allowed you to select a preferred download manager, such as Prozilla. When will Firebird have this?
I really, really, really would like to use Firebird. #1 above is a must.
One thing's for sure, even if I could care less for the cruft Mozilla comes with, I'm not gonna use Firebird until they support hitting down arrow to search on Google.
Personally I just take the hit on startup for Mozilla since I have it running all day so a few seconds startup makes no odds. I also reckon that aside from a few annoyances the mail/news component is second to none (and miles better than Outlook Express) and needless to say I use that all the time too. So in my case, it makes sense to use Mozilla.
Apart from the mouse gestures the best thing about opera is the ability to save tabs.Very handy in case of a crash....
I am comparing Mozilla Firebird with the Apple Safari Browser. Its a pritty good shot for a Mac Port of a browser. The Bootup time and render time is accecptible. Its still a fraction slower then Safari, both in boot time and render time. Firebird doese handle flash better then Safari but Safari has been slow with flash. As of right now the major problem I have with Firebird is the fact the scrool bar is extreamly slow but that should be an easy fix.
But I am still impressed for a version designed to be ran primarly on Windows and Linux platforms. Firebird runs quite well. With a little work and some healthy competition from both Mozilla and Safari. I think there is a chance of getting 2 really good browsers.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
In mozilla, when i right click on a tab, i have a close other tabs option. I use this alot, and its the only yhting that stops me using firebird.
Why hasnt this been included, or am i just missing a way to turn it on?
When I looked at the Firebird feature page, the first thing I remember is one argument Gates (or was it Ballmer?) used against Open Source: Open Source offers no innovation.
Now compare Firebird to IE which has been stagnant for years, ever since Netscape went down. IE takes a severe beating from any other updated browser today in the feature department.
Where's the closed-source innovation, huh guys?
I have none of the suggested registry intries in my registry and Flash works perfectly fine here.
I installed it by following the instructions in my own FAQ. Not sure what I'm doing "wrong", because it works perfectly.
Maybe someone can point out how to change these by editing config files so that I can send IE away for good:
Until then, I'm still using NetCaptor, in which the tabbed interface is much more intuitive and under my control. IMHO, of course.
It's great that we have an Open Source V Closed Source fight (floabw) on which opinions aren't distorted by one side being the MS behemoth. It's cool to see two sets of obviously talented engineers working so hard at something and in the process demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of both models.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Yes, reduced size is a continued goal, and there's still some waste to trim. So you should expect to se the size continue to go down.
Although I honestly don't know whether it'll ever reach the size of Opera without Java; that's elegantly crafted. In theory they could, since they could pull the Java console out of the app and put it into an extension; but I don't know whether that'll ever be a priority.
-Billy
The one feature that Firebird is lacking that keeps me from using it as my primary browser is the lack of support for certificates. I have several websites that I support at work where I must use certificates because the websites are set up to both require user certs and perform checking of a CRL.
I can still use the full Mozilla for this as it has the ability to import certificates, but I've yet to be able to locate a method for doing this in Phoenix/Firebird.
If someone out there knows how it might be done, I'd appreciate either a reply here or a mail to [z e u g m a at p o b o x dot c o m]
This is an ex-parrot!