Bullets 'n' Babes

IE7 last week and FF2 today:

Firefox 2.0: http://www.mozilla.com/
IE7: http://www.microsoft.com/ie

I'm running Firefox 2.0 now and it all went without a hitch. It doesn't look much different on the outside but I reckon lots has changed under the hood. I've not read what's new yet but will tomorrow (phising support for one).

I've downloaded IE7 but haven't put that on yet, clearly this one is wildly different. Firefox is a quick install I doubt IE7 is.

It'll be interesting to see which I prefer. Mozilla may have their work cut out as IE7 is by all acounts much, much better but then I love the extension approach in Firefox.

Cheers Brad. I wonder how many of my extensions won't work with 2.0? I can't live without Tabmix Plus.

Firefox 2.0 is shit. Why? Closing tabs has become a habbit of me by moving the mouse to the upper right side of the tab where the x is. Now each tab has an x of its own.

@ LD:

Tools, Options, Tab Browsing, Display Options, Show Tab Closure Buttons, On the Tab Strip.

That hardly makes it "shit" but agreed annoying, zap it's ass back again.

EvaUnit02 wrote:Cheers Brad. I wonder how many of my extensions won't work with 2.0? I can't live without Tabmix Plus.

No worries. All mine did except for Paste and Go but there's a new version which is Firefox 2.0 compatible. There's thousands out there, Brad wanders off to work out what "Tabmix Plus" is.

The two big things I can see are Phising support (no idea if it works) and a Spell Checker.

Which is nice enough but not half as good as the Spellbound one. I'm going to give that ago, fingers it works in Firefox 2.0. For example Spellbound works on EVERY field and form but the Firefox one doesn't work in the Google search box unless you right click and manually tell it to do so (each time).

It works in the Bullets Reply form though but even then all you get is a red line and if you right click the words it reckons it could be. Spellbound had a proper spell checker dialogue box.

EDIT: From a Google search:

"Yes, confirmed.. the spell check does not work in search boxes, only the 'commit/text entry' box."

That's bollocks!

EvaUnit02 wrote:I can't live without Tabmix Plus.

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1122 -

"Developer Comments

I REALIZE THAT FIREFOX 2 IS GOING TO BE RELEASE ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24. A NEW VERSION OF TAB MIX PLUS IS GOING TO BE RELEASE SHORTLY AFTER THAT, IN LESS THAN A WEEK. PLEASE BE PATIENT, FOR NOW YOU CAN TRY THIS VERSION EARLY.

http://tmp.garyr.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3515"

p.s - What's so good?

Yes been checking this out, haven't seen Mozilla 2.0 yet, because we are testing I.E 7 with our software. Our software has a preview pane which is is used as a part of a WYSISYG editor. So we testing to see if IE7 components break our s/ware

So far so good at the moment, also testing if our s/ware works in Vista

So you get anti-phishing support and a "poor" spellchecker?!

Surely there must be better/more reasons to upgrade?! Because if I do I _will_ lose important functionality (at least for a while) as I have one major plugin that's not be in development since 2005...

bradavon wrote:@ LD:

Tools, Options, Tab Browsing, Display Options, Show Tab Closure Buttons, On the Tab Strip.

I liked the 'x' in the top right too. Brad - was that a way of fixing it? Cause I'm on mozilla 2.0 now, and when I go to Tools -> Options, there is no tab browsing option, just 'Tabs', and no display options in the tabs tab...

What's going on?!?!?!

degeneration wrote:I liked the 'x' in the top right too. Brad - was that a way of fixing it? Cause I'm on mozilla 2.0 now, and when I go to Tools -> Options, there is no tab browsing option, just 'Tabs', and no display options in the tabs tab...

What's going on?!?!?!

Wait for a compatible version of Tabmix Plus to come out, all your problems will be solved.

p.s - What's so good?

It lets you expand the capabilities of tabbed browsing immensely.

slasher13 wrote:So far so good at the moment, also testing if our s/ware works in Vista

Why is that a bad thing?

EvaUnit02 wrote:Wait for a compatible version of Tabmix Plus to come out, all your problems will be solved.

It's actually out now:

http://tmp.garyr.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3515

I gave Tabmix Plus ago and tbh it has far to many options, too complicated and messy. I prefer Tabbrowser Preferences, which is basically the same but the just options you need, and it integrates properly into Firefox.

Personally I prefer Spellbound to the Firefox 2 one. I've worked out a way to get it working in Firefox 2 (it's otherwise compatible). I can post how to do so if anyone's interested.

gojensen wrote:So you get anti-phishing support and a "poor" spellchecker?!

Obviously not, there's actually a fair amount under the hood:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/2.0/releasenotes/

I've worked how to get Spellbound working in Firefox 2 anyway so I'm happy.

gojensen wrote:Surely there must be better/more reasons to upgrade?! Because if I do I _will_ lose important functionality (at least for a while) as I have one major plugin that's not be in development since 2005...

Which one? Agreed but such is life, some Dos software no longer works it doesn't mean you wouldn't upgrade.

degeneration wrote:I liked the 'x' in the top right too. Brad - was that a way of fixing it? Cause I'm on mozilla 2.0 now, and when I go to Tools -> Options, there is no tab browsing option, just 'Tabs', and no display options in the tabs tab... What's going on?!?!?!

My bad you need an extension:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/158/

Install this and you can put it back, in that TABS tab you will see STACKS more options.

Much appreciated!

Got it working and am now a happy person.

Cheers!

No matter how good IE7 is it doesn't have Extensions support which is an AWESOME idea and feature.

p.s - No worries. I put it back too.

bradavon wrote:

slasher13 wrote:So far so good at the moment, also testing if our s/ware works in Vista

Why is that a bad thing?

Yes, as we just released a new version of a software - Version 8, and its buggy , so not only have we got to write a patch to correct the bugs , we know need to make our s/ware compatiable with IE7 and Vista...

Bit of a headache at the moment......

Fair enough Slasher.

I installed IE7 tonight and all I've got to say is FIVE YEARS development and this is the best they could come up with?

Sure it's a massive improvement but frankly IE6 is so old and shit it's hard not to improve upon. If you're never used Firefox you're going to think it's great but otherwise well:

1. It nicks loads of ideas straight from Firefox (MS at it again)
2. I really dislike the Address bar being right at the top, since Windows 3.1 the menu bar has been at the top. I see no reason to change it. Can this be moved?
3. Speaking of the menu bar, thankfully it can be switched back on (as can Links). You don't actually need it and yes it looks nicer without it but personally I prefer the menu style of bookmarks not stuck on the left where it is otherwise in IE7 OR do I I'll leave it off, it may grow on me.
4. It's clear MS in the interface has gone for clean and clear, which is fine but I don't think it was particularly cluttered in the first place (unless you install one of those ghastly toolbar addins)

Yes it has a few nice new features but as I just said they're lifted from Firefox which would be fine if they'd improved on them but they're no better or worse (they're the same), bothered!

The only new feature not in Firefox which is really nice is QUICK TABS. You click it and a little graphical window appears representing each tab you have open. It's really neat but believe me I can live without it.

To counteract Firefox's Extension support MS have Add-ins, but in reality this is just a website offering lots of downloadable software (some you have to pay for). Each one is actually a program in it's own right.

On the upside I was expecting a massive and bloated install but it's only 18Mb and installs in only a few minutes.

Now if IE7 had Extensions support it maybe another story but that's never going to happen.

After all the Hype MS have been throwing at us over IE7 I was expecting much more. In short stick with Firefox 2.0, it rocks Internet Explorer 7.0 does not!

Classic -

http://www.ie7.com/

p.s - Oddly I'm starting to like the new IE7 interface but in reality it's just because it's new and fresh to me. It's still not a patch on Firefox.

It's also still IE6 at it's core (probably why it's such a small download), the right click menu options are the same, as is the "Internet Options" from Control Panel.

bradavon wrote:@ LD:

Tools, Options, Tab Browsing, Display Options, Show Tab Closure Buttons, On the Tab Strip.

That hardly makes it "shit" but agreed annoying, zap it's ass back again.

Hmmm... I'd love to, but I can't find that option. All I have in my tab options menu is:
- Where to open a new page
- Warning before a window with multiple tabs is being closed
- Warning if a window with a lot of tabs could slow down the machine
- Always show tabs bar
- Open tabs in the foreground

Keeping reading . That's a mistake on my part, corrected earlier today (further up):

bradavon wrote:My bad you need an extension:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/158/

Install this and you can put it back, in that TABS tab you will see STACKS more options.

And read further down on that site and it says:

Does not work...

by MarkusP , Oct 25, 2006

Release 1.3.1.1 still does not work with the German version of Firefox...

Well, I read that AFTER I installed it and now I have nothing in my tabbing tab.

Uninstalled it again and will wait until it works with the German browser.

Another problem, I am still having even with the 2.0 version is that I can't save any pictures. It asks me where to save them and after I click on "Save" the files do not appear there.

So I still need to start IE whenever I wanna save a picture.

Just pictures? Have you posted at the (Official) Mozilla forums? I would. I'd also bump this thread, the guy has the same problem:

http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/show ... p?t=448911

Sorry about that I missed that, weird or what. You could try Tabmix Plus that may have an option for it, also further up but here again:

http://tmp.garyr.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3515

gojensen wrote:Surely there must be better/more reasons to upgrade?! Because if I do I _will_ lose important functionality (at least for a while) as I have one major plugin that's not be in development since 2005...

Just bump the MaxVersion number in the XPI file so it will install in Firefox 2, it's bound to actually work:

"FYI inside the XPI extension file is an install.rdf (I think it's called this), this is just a text file that can be opened in Wordpad (it has ascii formatting so not suitable for Notepad).

Inside this you'll find a MaxVersion field, now as most Extensions continue to work past the last tested version you can just bump this from say 1.5 to 2.0.

Save the file and re-add it back to the XPI file, which btw is just a zip file renamed.

It worked a treat for me with Spellbound (the Firefox 2 Spell Checker is limited to say the least)."

Firefox is self contained in just two folders:

C:\Documents and Settings\XXX-Profile Name\Application Data\Mozilla
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox

So back them up first and if all goes tits up just put the old version back.

Here are two known bugs, the rest are minor IMO (and so are these):

* When trying to print web pages with text areas, if the text area contains a misspelled word and spell checking is enabled, all the following content of the text area will not be printed. You can right-click in the text area and uncheck "Spell check this field" to turn off spell checking temporarily while you print.

* The option for "Shrink to fit" has been removed in Firefox 2. If you wish to change this from the value you had set in your previous version of Firefox, change the value of browser.enable_automatic_image_resizing.

Mine still Shrink to fit, weird.

Source: http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/fire ... es/#issues

Looks like I'll be waiting a bit before I upgrade to 2.0 then. Too many problems need ironing out by the looks of it.

Ooo just installed Firefox 2.0, yup not much on the visual side, but must have been alot of bugs fixes internally, Firefox even opens up faster..

So far haven't seen any CSS issues with HTML, it is pretty clean to me, and one thing i love about firefox is its error control, "Tools | Error Consoles", do you can debug php, javascript functions. IE doesn't have this.

Ooo another new option in "History | Recently Closed Tab", very interesting and timesaving

I'm impressed

EvaUnit02 wrote:Looks like I'll be waiting a bit before I upgrade to 2.0 then. Too many problems need ironing out by the looks of it.

LOL - What? You honestly think IE6 and IE7 doesn't have bugs? The difference Mozilla tell us.

Jeez they're minor to the extreme.

slasher13 wrote:Ooo just installed Firefox 2.0, yup not much on the visual side, but must have been alot of bugs fixes internally, Firefox even opens up faster..

I didn't notice that.

TBH it's no more or less visually pleasing than IE6 or Opera 9 (the latest version, which I gave a go today and it's pants). IE7 only looks new and fresh as it's well new.

Give it a few months and it will look bland.

AGREED Mozilla should've pulled something out of the bag to make to bring the front-end up to date but when it's otherwise so good (i.e - techy) I don't care.

For most people IE7 will be fine, they're never going to use the more techy features of Firefox anyway.

At least with IE7 users who'd never bother trying Firefox (i.e - the other 90.3% of the worlds population) now have an up to date and decent browser, even if they didn't even realise their old browser was so trash.

I hate going to Internet cafes or a friend's house and having to use IE6. I feels like I've gone back 5 years, oh wait I have. It compares well to how Windows was in Windows 95, basic.

If IE6 didn't come with Windows it would've died along time ago!

slasher13 wrote:Ooo another new option in "History | Recently Closed Tab", very interesting and timesaving

Yep not in IE7 either I believe. If Firefox crashes it also brings back all tabs you had open (which it can also do when you close it normally if you tell it to do so).

p.s - Did you guys click on the www.ie7.com link I posted? Most funny.