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Firefox 3 Plans and IE8 Speculation

ReadWriteWeb writes "Information about the next versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer suggest that the two biggest browsers are heading in different directions. Mozilla has published a wiki page detailing its plans for the next version of Firefox, codenamed 'Gran Paradiso'. Among the mandatory requirements listed for FF3 are improving the add-on experience, providing an extensible bookmarks back-end platform, adding more support for web services "to act as content handlers" — all of which show that Firefox wants to be an independent information broker rather than a simple HTML renderer in its next version. Also in the works is Microsoft's IE8. According to ActiveWin.com, a Microsoft official at CES told them that work has already begun for IE 8 and it may be released as a final product 'within 18-24 months'. Looking ahead, it's obvious that IE will continue to hook into the advanced functionality that Vista offers."

16 of 274 comments (clear)

  1. Sticking with FF by shirizaki · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Honestly with the issues I had with IE6 I moved to FF 1.5. Then when IE7 came out I upgraded, but found it almost as loose as IE6, just with tabs. Not to mention IE7 doesn't have extentions. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have half of the extensiosn I have for FF. I'm not even mentiioning the portable version I carry with all of my extensions on it.

    Firefox 2 has ben extremely stable except with a few quirks, which stems from my computer being slow as hell. I look forward to what Firefox 3 bring to the table.

    --
    In Soviet Russia, dots slash you!
  2. Re:What's up with the code names, anyway? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Informative
    I can understand how it could be necessary for things like the original Mac and Windows 95. But why for yet-another-version of an established product?


    For the same reason Windows Vista used to be called by the codename 'Longhorn' or that Ubuntu 6.10 is referred to by the codename 'Edgy Eft'. Because when they start working on the release, they don't know what they will end up calling it. "FF3" could just as easily end up being FF2.5 instead of FF3 if they don't end up with all the features that they wanted.
  3. IE8? by fullphaser · · Score: 5, Funny

    They just got IE7 out, give them 3-4 years, they are working on it.

    --
    Did someone say cake?
  4. Internet Explorer 8 by anss123 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Looking ahead, it's obvious that IE will continue to hook into the advanced functionality that Vista offers."

    Does that include the ability to only run on Vista?

  5. Re:features by chrismcdirty · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I could have sworn the reason that Firefox came into existence was that the codebase of the Mozilla Suite was bloated, and had too many features that a lot of people didn't want in a web browser. And here they go repeating the past.

    --
    It's like sex, except I'm having it!
  6. Detachable tabs? by Hatta · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Will they implement detachable (and attachable) tabs? Konqueror has had this forever, so Firefox has some catching up to do.

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    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  7. Re:That old saying about SMPT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Simple Mail Protocol Transport? No, no I don't think they have. It's probably because of the DCMA, you know.

  8. I predict for IE 8... by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Funny

    It will include an improved add-on experience, provide an extensible bookmarks back-end platform, add more support for web services "to act as content handlers" - all of which show that Internet Explorer wants to be an independent information broker rather than a simple HTML renderer in its next version. Oh, and it'll come up not long after Firefox v.3...

    It worked last time :).

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  9. I wonder if... by ProppaT · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder if this will be known as FFVI in Japan?

    --
    Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
    1. Re:I wonder if... by Elf_h34d3r · · Score: 4, Informative

      Mod Parent Up!

      It seems to be common to misuse FF as the FireFox abbreviation. Indeed, I can produce countless IRC logs of instances when users bash each other for using incorrect abbreviations.

      Often, the FF acronym is associated with Final Fantasy, (FFVI was released in America as FFIII for anyone who doesn't get the reference).

      For the record, the proper abbreviation is Fx.

  10. Fit and Finish? by adavies42 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is anyone working on the little things? Stuff like the URL bar not getting the focus half the time when creating a new tab, or the status bar not saying "Done" when a page is actually finished? The continuous minor irritations of things like that are what make up a large part of a user's general feelings about a product, and one of the reasons I"ll always prefer to use Safari when I can.

    --
    Media that can be recorded and distributed can be recorded and distributed.
    -kfg
  11. Re:That old saying about SMPT by PseudoQuant · · Score: 5, Funny

    What does The Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology have to do with Firefox anyway?

  12. SQLite by obender · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's probably not so clear from the article but Firefox3 contains a relational database, sqlite which can be accessed from Javascript. This allows for a whole new class of applications to be implemented as extensions.

  13. Re:features by Anc · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I could have sworn the reason that Firefox came into existence was that the codebase of the Mozilla Suite was bloated, and had too many features that a lot of people didn't want in a web browser. And here they go repeating the past.
    What makes you think so? If you look at it closely, Firefox sticks to its assumptions. The new features are either supplementing or replacing previous ones, like the improved bookmarks system, or are mostly about streamlining the already existing usage paths.

    It's hard to relate to your statement since you provided no concrete arguments or examples. In fact, it sounds as if you were implying that the sheer fact that there's a new release and therefore new stuff coming up means that the application is getting bloated. Perhaps they should halt the development, so not to introduce more bloat, huh?
  14. Re:What's up with the code names, anyway? by Rodness · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's boring to say 'firefox 3' and more fun to say 'gran paradiso'.

    Not even because it's fun. Try reading the Mozilla forums sometime.

    The browsers are given development codenames to SIGNIFICANTLY differentiate the development nightly/alpha/beta releases from the blessed official version releases. They don't want Grandpa Joe Sixpack coming along to download this "FoxFire thingy" he heard his kids talk about and accidently wind up with Firefox 3.0 Alpha 1, (which may or may not work as advertised because, well, it's an alpha) when he's obviously not interested in a development release.

    Another reason is that it's less confusing and ambiguous, especially when you have multiple versions of Firefox. It's easy to get confused about which feature went into which product when you have "Firefox 1.0", "Firefox 1.5", "Firefox 2.0", "Firefox 3.0" and so forth. At least from a developer perspective, there's more uniqueness to "Phoenix", "Deer Park", "Bon Echo", and "Gran Paradiso" releases from the associated mental imagery.

    But keeping them distinct and less noticable from the end user perspective is the most important reason.

  15. On a similar vein by Solandri · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Why do tabs have to be along the top? Why can't they be on the side?

    • Widescreen monitors and notebooks are becoming the norm rather than the exception.
    • Even the normal 4:3 aspect ratio is wider than it is tall.
    • In addition to starting smaller due to aspect ratio, the vertical space in your browser is taken up by the window bar, menu bar, toolbars, tab bar, status bar, and temporary popup info bars. Windows' taskbar defaults to using vertical space as well.
    • Horizontal space is taken up by the scroll bar, that's it.
    • Most web content automatically adjusts itself to the width of your browser, but to see excess vertical content you have to scroll.
    • Many forums I visit already limit the width of their text for legibility, indicating there's excess horizontal space available.
    • It's already difficult to read text due to the width if you maximize a browser at 1280x1024 or 1280x800 resolution, again indicating there's excess horizontal space available.
    • Books, newspapers, and magazines are larger in height than width. Browsers attempt to mimic this by allowing you to scroll vertically, but there's something to be said for being able to view a larger vertical chunk of text or images at once.
    • Pictures in portrait mode are common, and I'd like to be able to view them in a reasonably large size instead of having to always squash them down so they're significantly smaller than pictures in landscape mode.
    • Most Western text layouts reference the top left corner as the origin. So if you have a tab bar (or any other bar) that pops up along the top or the left, the content shifts forcing you to spend a split second to relocate what you were focusing on. Suddenly the link I clicked on to open the tab is no longer under my mouse pointer. If the bar popped up on the bottom or the right, this would not happen.

    All this seems to point to vertical desktop space being overutilized and horizontal desktop space being underutilized. So why force tabs into vertical space? Give me the option to put them on the side(s).