Dungeon Master Forum

So I downloaded firefox 4 the other day. I'm not quite sure what I think of it yet. A lot of add-ons I was using arent compatible with it(including my virus program's safe search add-on), which is a big minus. A couple other minuses is the weird positioning of the reload/stop button, the fact that the stop button doesnt seem to exist unless a page is actively loading(unless you switch to text in the toolbar menu), and its in a weird place so if something pops up you dont want or could be dangerous and need to shut off quick its annoyingly hard to get to and very small). And I remember reading something Gambit wrote recently about human computer interactions and ease of mouse use and button clicking. Where they placed it (all the way over next to the search bar at the end of the link bar) doesnt seem intuitive. I spent a good 3 mins figuring out where it was. Also the bar at the bottom that shows the loading status and little icons in the corner for things like no script and greasemonkey is just gone. The page loading status instead pops up in the lower left corner of the actual page you are looking at which can be annoying if you are scrolling down a page and reading while its loading. Also when you point at a link on the page the address pops up in the same location, which again, can be really annoying if youre reading at the same time as its very distracting.

So my general thoughts are not to get it yet. Maybe once some more add-ons have been updated for it, it will be worth it. Especially if someone creates an add on to make it look like the old Firefox.

Anyone else try it and have any thoughts on the changes?

Yeah, I got it and the placement of the tabs also seems off. Way above the actual webpages. Not even ie8 does that.

Didn't think about the reload/stop issue, though agree the reload placement is stupid. How much is customiseable and moveable?

As far as ive been able to tell, you can move the tabs back to their original location (which I did instantly as soon as I d/led it and went WTF did I just do/how do I roll it bcak to the old version and WHY did they *f* it up so bad?) by going to view and unchecking 'tabs on top'. I dont like that the tabs are see thru either (dont know if they were on the old one as Ive been using a color tabs add on forever that is no longer compatible). I havent figured out how to move the damn stop icon back to where it belongs (WHY the hell did they put it over there?!) although you can make both stop and reload appear by clicking text and icon if you go to view - toolbar - customize and then click on text or icon and text at the bottom. Of course then it makes the buttons f'n huge and they are still in a stupid location. I cant figure out how to get them back where they used to be. As far as the bottom loading and add on bar missing (which is one of my biggest issues) I also cant figure out any way to get it to go back to the way it used to be either. It seems imho like they tried to 'dumb it down' and just ended up f'n it up. I mean, why ruin a good thing? It seems way less customizable.I appreciate fixing the security holes, but I dont understand messing with the interface.

I like the new layout. It avoids stupid mistakes like clicking on a quick-link instead of a tab (and thus having to stop/reload the old page).
I like having a little more room for my pages and less for bars which are empty most of the time.
The reload button placement is weird, but I mostly use F5 for this.

Cool. I like hearing reasons why people like it or dont. I dont mind them removing the link bar as much as I mind it popping the link up when I point at something when im reading. I kinda wish they would have put it under the main address bar or something so thata it wouldnt be distracting. Im still waiting for Gambit to chime i on where the reload/stop button ended up because he knows a lot about human computer interfcaes. Out of everyone Ive talked to IRL and on the net(both people who like it and dont like it) EVERYONE has agreed that the placement of the reload button is the biggest weirdness.

probably OT but... http://www.mibz.com/28773-mozilla-firef ... hrome.html

So if I have Firefox 3.6.16, should I upgrade to 4.0 or not? Are there any serious security reasons for that, or is the new version much faster, or is it only about new graphics / layout? I just like Firefox 3.6 as it is and I have no need to change anything.

[rant]Why on Earth do they change the things? Why can't they keep it the same when it's worked so well and people are used to it? I mean, I'm perhaps too conservative in these things, but I can't understand these changes (*). For example Microsoft has turned the whole Office upside down. All the buttons and functions and tools are somewhere else and the docx / xlsx / pptx format is just ridiculous and it's all causing many troubles for me / teachers / students. Curse them. Cursssse them! It's like a car company switching the gas / brake pedals randomly. [/rant]

(*) well, I know, it's about making more money, I know. It's just making me mad. I'd even like to pay them for not changing anything.

i had a look at Firefox 4 new features and well... most of them have been plagied from Chrome (tabs position, menu button, unified reload/stop, one click bookmarking, independant processus for tabs i.e. no more browser crash, html5) or Opera (grouped tabs and tabs organisation).

Get CHROME !!!

Jan: I havent heard of any major security issues resolved by Firefox 4, but you might want to do a websearch just in case. Ive been spending the past hour wrestling with my anti-virus prog trying to get my surf protector reinstalled, as firefox 4 doesnt seem to like it at all. If you like the old version, Id recommend keeping it at least for a while, as Ive had noting but problems with my add ons since installing it (including some critical add ons such as my safe surf and anti-pop up/malware). It also seems to me anyway to be a bit slower or the same speed as the old one. DEFINITELY not faster. Dont get it until they release some updates for it, IMHO.

Linflas: Never used chrome. Ive head people either really like it or really hate it. It seems to have minor compatibilty issues with some sites and Gambit had problems with it not auto-scrolling in chat the other day. Dont know if he ever got that resolved or if it was a one time fluke or what. Hsve you had nay issues with it? What do you think of it?

One thing that is definitely evil in the later few builds of Firefox, is that oglaf alt-alt texts are invisible now I wondered why a friend of mine had no idea what I was going on about, even when I was telling him exactly how to view them

@raixel : I got issues only with early versions (i got some with nightly builds of Chromium as well). You're very right about the hate-like feel about Chrome. Most of FF users disliked early-Chrome because of lack of extensions, now they should try it again... Before using Chrome, i was of course a FF user but only with 1 or 2 extensions. What i've liked (and still do) was its speed and its minimalism : all-in-one bar = larger space for html content.
FF4 seems to have improved speed (i've just tested it) and it looks quite nice to use with its new interface.

My experience, as with other posters in this thread, is that the instructions for resolving the issue do not work. The navigation bar is visible but the Read It Later (Reading List) icon does not appear when trying to customize the toolbar.

To resolve this issue I disabled every other firefox extension that I am using, restarted firefox, and then the Read It Later icon did appear. I then re-enabled all my other extensions and fortunately the button remained on the toolbar. Puzzling, as there doesn't seem to be an obvious conflict with another extension, but it worked.