The last new feature that I've used, and wish I didn't have to use, is a Session Restore feature. If Mozilla crashes, the next time you start it up it offers to take you back to where you were — a particular site, or group of sites opened in tabs, along with filled-in form information. Unfortunately, in the (almost) two weeks that I've been using Firefox 2, I've had four crashes involving three different sites. The first time: I followed a link to what looked like a promising article at a Google Blogger blogspot site; the page displayed, but crashed before I had a chance to read the article. When I started up Firefox, I used the Session Restore to go back to that page, and had another crash. That was enough to cause me to give up on that site.
The next day, I went to another Google Blogger Blogspot site, a political/social commentary site that I read quite often, and had another crash. However, I've been back to that site just about every day since, and haven't had any problems. The fourth crash was from a major media site whose page was loaded with ads, videos, and all kinds of Web 2.0 content. This crash had more suspects than you would find in an Agatha Christie mystery.
On average, this works out as a crash about every third day, which really doesn't amount to much when you consider how much I use the web, but it's still more than I'm used to from Firefox 1.5.0.7. It's not nearly enough to make me consider switching to IE 7, however. In terms of usability, safety, and updates, Firefox is still the way to go.
Article comments
1 - Bob Jones
How about reviewing a decent browser: Opera?
2 - Bob Jones
I want to add "In terms of usability, safety, and updates".
Usability? Thats opinion, you're entitled to have yours.
Safety? Not true, Secunia have shown that all vunerabilities in Opera have been patched, same can not be said of Firefox.
Updates? Check past record, Opera release faster than others (not only new versions, but security fixes).
Take off those foxy-colored glasses and see the real picture.
3 - elsa
38% of my readers use firefox. This was a great review.
4 - Daniel Goldman
Just to add to what Bob mentioned in the comment above. I'm aware that this is a Firefox 2 review, but it would be nice if you would've mentioned that the 'close' button on each tab and the session restore freature are both Opera inventions, Firefox just copied them to Firefox 2.
We have had the session restore feature for quite some time already.
5 - Christopher Rose
Actually, the close button and session saver were on Firefox 1.x for some time, albeit as add-ons.
Aren't browsers a bit like political parties? Even though there are lots of them, only two really count?
6 - Bruce Kratofil
If any Opera fan wishes to write a review of their favorite browser, go ahead. This review of Firefox 2.0, is not a history of the web browser, and is not meant to be a comprehensive browser shoot-out, either.
7 - Phillip Winn
Opera fans, enjoy your browser and pour your time and energy into something more likely, like ending world poverty, or curing cancer.
X buttons on each tab have been in both Firefox (via extension) and Safari for years, too. So? Ditto session saving.
1% of the visitors to this site use Opera, and most of them, I suspect, are visiting reviews of other web browsers in order to demand equal time. Firefox 2 has been out a week, and already has twice as many users visiting here. MSIE7 is already at triple.
I've tilted at windmills (and for that matter, used Opera) before, so trust me when I tell you it's a lost cause. Enjoy the browser, don't mind all the efforts being poured into mobile, and move on!
8 - Clavos
Bruce writes:
Unfortunately, in the (almost) two weeks that I've been using Firefox 2, I've had four crashes involving three different sites.
Since I upgraded from FF 1.5.08 about a week or ten days ago, I'm averaging that many "hangs" per day with 2.0; all of them right here on BC, and all of them requiring shutting down FF and then reloading it. A real PITA.
Anybody else experiencing the same situation? Any ideas for fixing?
I've looked for a download of 1.5 to go back to, but of course Mozilla is only offering 2.0 now. If I can go back, I will; I'm not at all happy with 2.0 at this point.
9 - Bruce Kratofil
None of my crashes have come from here (Blogcritics), they've all been other places. I think I've only had one more.
It would appear that any time I've had a crash, it's been at a page that used web services to pull some content (such as ads) from a different site.
Actually, I have the setup file for 1.5.0.3 still sitting on my computer -- can you handle a 5 MB email attachment?
10 - Clavos
Thanks, Bruce.
I think I may have scared it when I wrote that comment; it hasn't hung on me since :>)
I'll keep struggling with it for now, but I appreciate your offer.
11 - Mig
I actually went back to 1.5 after all the 2.0 crashes. It was freezing up four or five times per day and I don't have any fancy plugins. (And it happened when I disabled them all anyway.) It wasn't site consistent for me. I would restore the session and continue. Amazon crashed a few times but it wasn't something I could reproduce or predict. Bad.
You can download Firefox 1.5.0.8 from Mozilla here.