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Firefox 3.1 beta 3 released
Firefox 3.1b3 is out today, and the release notes list a few important improvements: faster Javascript with Tracemonkey, improvements to the new private browsing mode, faster rendering and native JSON support. Anecdotal evidence from folks on Twitter and some testing here on my MacBook says that 3.1b3 is noticeably faster than 3.1b2, but still not quite up to speed with Safari 4.
One small-but-welcome improvement in the latest beta is a much better looking "new tab" button in the default theme. I don't know what they were thinking with that ugly plus-button all the way over on the right of the toolbar, but the new one looks more like a regular tab, and it sits near your existing tabs, where you're likely to be clicking anyway. As usual, updating to a new Firefox beta will disable some of your plugins until they're updated. You can force-enable them (at your own risk) with the Nightly Tester Tools add-on.
Comments
18
Subscribe to commentsJoeMar 12th 2009 8:41PM
Dunno why anyone uses the new tab button anyway, ctrl + T for me. I took it out with tab mix plus
JoshMar 12th 2009 8:51PM
Why are all the browsers getting that button? It's useless when you know CTRL/CMD+T. All it does is take up valuable space in my tab bar.
Jay HathawayMar 12th 2009 9:14PM
Fair point. I use cmd+T 95% of the time. Honestly, I'm just so particular about my browser themes that I'm glad the ugly tab button's not messing up my style anymore. Don't get me started about tabs on top in Safari ...
MysteriusMar 15th 2009 4:03PM
You said it yourself: "when you *know*"
If you already know it, it's unnecessary, but if you're new to this...
JeremyMar 12th 2009 10:00PM
I hope Firefox lets us choose if we want the tabs at the top like Safari 4. I think it gives more room for what I am looking at. I want as much room as possible for what I am viewing in the main window.
Kenn.keeperMar 12th 2009 10:30PM
Just press your scroll button while on a link and it will open in new tab in Firefox....
KeegdnaBMar 12th 2009 10:54PM
The button is wasted space. double-clicking the empty space in the tab bar FTW
Jay HathawayMar 12th 2009 10:56PM
Awesome. Now we're up to ... what? Like, 5 ways to open tabs? I still think the tab button looks good, though.
kamron_1Mar 12th 2009 11:39PM
exactly what I do, until I've got so many tabs open that I have no more space to double-click.
GreyhoundMar 13th 2009 1:22PM
@kamron_1: in that case, double click the space underneath any open tab :-D
TatsuyameMar 13th 2009 2:39AM
I can't remember the last time I opened up a blank tab... And I'm not sure why you would ever open a blank tab with a button. If you open a blank tab, I'd assume you had a specific url you wanted to enter, in which case it would be much quicker just to hit ctrl+t and type it in right away.
Sidenote: I just tried to use a keyboard shortcut from Blender in Songbird. I really think I should go to bed now, before I do anything else odd.
Jay HathawayMar 13th 2009 3:42AM
Oftentimes I type a term into the searchbar, realize I still want whatever is in the current tab, and hit CMD+T and then enter.
wrabbitMar 13th 2009 10:14AM
@Tatsuyame: Check this out http://www.azarask.in/blog/post/new-tab-iterations/
It's an extension right now but it could very well become part of firefox, and might even be part of 3.5 (a.k.a. 3.1). Among other things, if you have a url selected and you open a new tab, there will be a link there directing you straight to the url. It's not as fast as opening the url straight away in a new tab (if for example FF automatically transformed all typed urls into actual urls, there's an extension for that though) but it's one less action than copy pasting it into the address bar.
@Jay Hathaway: If you type in something into either the address bar, or the search bar, you can hit alt+enter and it will open that address/search in a new tab, leaving the original tab untouched (at least in windows). Speeds things up immensely :)
As for the new tab button, I don't understand why some people are so up in arms about it. For one, yes, there are now a lot of way to open a new tab, but seeing how it's one of the most common things you do when you browse, that's a good kind of redundancy. For example, I probably split evenly between using ctrl+T and "new tab button" (extension) to open a new tab. I like the fact that now the new tab button is part of FF. I never double click the empty space unless by mistake, but I'm also not going to ask for its removal (even though it does annoy me sometimes).
Secondly, that plus button is fairly small and inconspicuous, yet some people react as if it's some sort of humongously ginormous button. I know sometimes you want to squeeze more space out of the interface but you still gotta keep things in perspective.
Having said that, I do hope that FF offers a way to disable (remove) that button. I imagine that would be something relatively trivial to do, and clearly would quite down some of the potential riots bound to ensue ;)
GreyhoundMar 13th 2009 1:26PM
@Jay Hathaway: Tab Mix Plus has some nice features, like automatically opening new tabs from bookmarks, groups of bookmarks, search bar and address bar and tons of other very useful features that I really couldn't live without, which is why I'm waiting for firefox 3.1 final.
TatsuyameMar 13th 2009 2:37PM
@wrabbit
What exactly does that extension do? When you open a new tab, it comes up with a search box, and some commonly visited sites? If so, it would be redundant to me. If I want to search for something, I'll just middle click my Google bookmark, OR ctrl+t then alt+home (but that's slower for me). And if I wanted to open any of my commonly visited bookmarks, I'd just middle click one of the 31 bookmarks on my bookmark toolbar.
JoelMar 13th 2009 3:54AM
Off the new blank tab topic, I've just tried the beta release and Firefox crashed both times I started it. I'm back with the previous version now, will wait 'til it is more stable.
yuvalMar 13th 2009 9:01AM
I don't like the behavior of the new tab, they copied exactly the thing I don't like in other browsers:
* I want to be able to close the first tab without it closing my browser
* I don't need that + thing, I prefer double clicking on an empty spot
another thing I like to use private mode with regular mode most of the times. for example - to log in to different gmail account, so i prefer that the private-browsing will open in different window, I also want to be able to copy and paste from private browser to regular one
ejc123Apr 19th 2009 6:52AM
I tried this site in FFX 3.1 and it hangs - any idea?
http://www.tripcart.com/usa-regions/Metro-Chicago-Southern-Wisconsin,Places-to-Visit.aspx
And for the record to the previous posters - I like the CTRL + shortcuts. When I know about them.