Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Firefox 1.5 Beta 1 is out!

I normally don't do CLWEA, but I trust mozilla, so I downloaded firefox 1.5 Beta 1.
First impressions:
LUV: the font control (though I have to tweak it still), RSS/XML icon in the address bar.
ISSUES: Extensions so far, several don't have updates, yet, and don't work with the new version. FoxyTunes icon went back to the default bottom right of the window, and when I tried to drag it to the menu bar, the icon disappearred.... the official google bar didn't have an update, the firefox google bar worked fine... additional thoughts as the day continues....
Sage works well. FoxyTunes and Sage are the 2 extensions, I use the most. The new default theme includes history and bookmark buttons. I always installed Qute(?) theme. Time to restart to see what happens next....

--MissM

UPDATE: There are no scroll bars, and I had to jump through hoops to get foxytunes to work. Perhaps because of one of those hoops, the wonderful RSS/XML icon is funky looking now, more of a grey button, not an orange thing (?). I had to revert to the "non google" toolbar, the official google toolbar won't work with this (detected as 1.4, will be fixed soon, no doubt).
Oh yeah! The Options window worked, before the above hoops, but now, all I see is the tab titles, and the OK, Cancel and Help buttons on the bottom. Its a transparent window! I have issues with the opacity ;) because I cannot see the options, settings, or ANYthing. I briefly considered going back to 1.6, but I'll give it a few more chances, and keep y'all updated, as the fox turns.... :)
UPDATE2: Further impressions on Firefox Beta 1: I've rebooted the computer, and Options is still a see through window, which makes it difficult to tweak the fonts, but ctrl + mouse scroll wheel makes it larger, and thus readable. One new thing I've noticed is the improved error messages. A screen capture of my hosts file at work blocking ads, is to the right. I find the notification a tad bit irritating, a blank/empty window is my preference. But if the site doesn't show up, there is a try again button, which seems to make it more user friendly for those who don't get refresh or right click.

Final UPDATE: Its beta, there are some bugs. Half of my bookmarks were lost, though the beta doesn't get credit for that, I believe it was related to my hard drive failing during the show. My Options window is still see through. See example:
As you can see here, what would normally be the tabs in the options window.
And
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down
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here....
are the get out of the option window buttons. This looks right as I type it, but I'm not sure how WYSIWYG this is :)

Bottom Line: If you haven't installed it yet, wait. I'll let you know when its ready for prime time. This IS beta, and I expect everything to be fixed very quickly. Your mileage may vary, as the standard disclaimer goes.

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