Firefox Still Pwns the Field

Generally, I prefer choice in software. Intertubes browser is no different.

However, in this particular category, I am an unabashed Firefox fanboy. I’ve been using it since 0.8, and it hasn’t let me down yet.

I’ve tried the field, both for personal and professional purposes: Chrome, Opera, Flock, Safari, IE (all versions, 3-8), Netscape/Mosaic, even good old America On-Line back in the day. Oh yeah, can’t forget Oracle PowerBrowser. I’m sure there are others too; when it comes to browsing the ‘Tubes, I’ve played the field.

I still <3 Firefox best.

I’m not much of a beta-tester, but when Firefox launches a beta, I always join the fun. So, when Mozilla announced 3.1 beta, I was geeked to get started. The built-in Geode feature and speed improvements were at the top of my list of goodies to test.

Then I saw this item from Gizmodo in Paul’s Reader Shared Items. “Awesome 3D Tab Interface”? I didn’t know this was in 3.1 beta, and since I’m running it now (natch), I was excited to test drive it. Turns out it is awesome.

So, if you use Firefox, you probably know that Ctrl+Tab (and Ctrl+Tab+Shift for reverse) cycles through the tabs you have open. In 3.1, Ctrl+Tab pops a sweet Apple Cover Flow style interface to cycle through open tabs.

Very cool and yet another advancement in the browsing experience from the good people who build Firefox.

If you don’t use Firefox, why not? Seriously. If you do use Firefox, I highly recommend beta-testing new releases. They are generally solid, and you’ll get to use the cool, new features sooner.

On a related note, Google Reader’s Shared Items of contacts is great for discovery. I know I mentioned this in the past, so just to reiterate, this is a great way to discover new content, comment on feed items, filter feeds, and of course, share your feeds with others.

I actually do review the Shared Items of people in my convoluted Google Reader network. I like the application of a people dimension to Intertubes content. If you’re interested, here are Paul’s, Rich’s and my Shared Items feeds, in case you want to know what we’re reading.

AboutJake

a.k.a.:jkuramot

6 comments

  1. Shared Items is a key feature of Reader, whether you're sharing with a team or just sharing with the 'tubes. Definitely a plus for Reader vs. other 'tubes-based readers. Too bad there's no proxy option for feeds inside the firewall. I get why, just an tiny inconvenience.

  2. I don't think there's a way to get Reader to read feeds inside the firewall. No proxy option, and even if there were, it would be a security no-no, being stored on Google's servers and all.

    Added your feed of shared items. I should warn you, mine feed is pretty heavy traffic, which could be good if you want to use me as a filter.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.