firefox 4 released

[Firefox264]

The best browser ever, check the download stats http://glow.mozilla.org
The interface looks cool as.

 

[pyonir]

OK, so if you are still using a 10 year old OS, then you should have no problem using a 2 year old web browser.

Security updates still come out for XP, they don't if you use FF 3.6.xx, so it's not the same thing. Some of us don't have the money to upgrade either OS or RAM. RAM is cheap for most people, I still have RDRAM in my system and it isn't as cheap. Some of us still care about memory usage.

 

[Cattykit]

Two things I didn't like about FF4 and they're all GPU related issues.
1. font rendering 2. GPU running at full speed for simple web browsing that leads to fan noise.
I disabled GPU functions and it's all good.

 

[lxskllr]

Some fun stuff here...

https://demos.mozilla.org/en-US/#motivational

 

[dark79]

So, they change the interface to look like Opera 10.5 when it was released back in early 2010 and everyone goes nuts over it?

Typical Firefox. What haven't they repackaged from Opera in the last few releases? Oh I know - lower memory usage

 

[Zenoth]

I wasn't sure if I should put this here but here goes, it's a technical issue...

I downloaded and installed Firefox 4.0 after a fresh Windows installation (Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 x64), and then I installed Flash Player (the latest version, got it from the official web-site). But none of the sites I used to see flash animations play on banners/ads display anything now, I never had issues with prior versions of Firefox and Flash Player seemingly not working, it's the first time and it just so happens that I have installed Firefox 4.0.

Here's an example:

I see blank banners like that on all the web-sites I have on my bookmarks on which flash animations used to play, and should still play. The thing is that when I go on Macromedia's web-site it confirms that Flash Player was successfully installed and it indeed displays a flash animation as the confirmation... but obviously something is wrong since it doesn't seem to be working on any other web-sites.

Is there anything I can do to fix this? Or is Firefox 4.0 still incompatible with Flash Player?

Thanks.

EDIT: It works now, after a mere system reboot.

 

[lxskllr]

Make sure the Flash plugin is installed in Firefox. It works for me.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Switched back to 3.6.16.

- Whenever I had my navigation and menu bars customized how I liked them, FF4 would randomly forget those customizations and the bars would all be set back to default whenever I launched FF. If I right clicked on the navigation or menu bars and clicked on "Customize" whenever I'd do whatever I needed to, the next time FF was launched, the bars would all be set back to default.

That sounds like a permissions problem with your user profile.

 

[lowrider69]

Two things I didn't like about FF4 and they're all GPU related issues.
1. font rendering 2. GPU running at full speed for simple web browsing that leads to fan noise.
I disabled GPU functions and it's all good.

I suspected my GPU fan was throttling up slightly(nowhere near full speed) with Firefox open and acceleration enabled. I haven't been able to verify because the last version of Riva Tuner was released on 8/2009 and I heard it's really buggy with Windows 7 and the Nvidia 2xx drivers. I used to use that program to monitor GPU fan rpm. I have Speed Fan installed but it doesn't show the GPU fan rpm, just the temp, which I think does go up slightly with FF open. I wanted to make sure the fan wasn't going down the crapper on me, I even blew it out with some air the other day, I don't hear it as much. Who knows it could be completely unrelated for all I know.

 

[Pardus]

One change in Firefox 4 is to by default stop Firefox displaying the warning message, about closing tabs on exit, it can be turned back on by changing some preferences.

Type about:config into the location bar and press enter
Accept the warning message that appears, you will be taken to a list of preferences
Locate the preference browser.tabs.warnOnClose, if its value is set to false, double-click on it to change its value to true
Repeat this for browser.warnOnQuit and browser.warnOnRestart

 

[zod96]

Is their any way to get rid of the status bar (info bar) on the bottom? The one that shows when you click a page all the stuff its loading. In FF3 you just went under "View" and unchecked view status bar. Now its not their. I hate that thing, anyway to remove it???

 

[Synomenon]

That sounds like a permissions problem with your user profile.

How would I fix that?

 

[Matt915]

How long does it take to get used to having "open link in new tab" above "open link in new window"?

 

[bruceb]

Firefox 4 does seem to have a couple of bugs for me.
1): Secure sites no longer show the Padlock symbol so you know all is well.

2): On my old Dell Dimension 8200 with XP Pro and SP3 every now and then I seem to lose the indicators next to the Start button. The windows themselves are in actuality still all properly open. This may be due to the fact I only have 521MB RAM .. Not sure, but I think it is a bug in FF4 as it never did that with FF3

 

[hclarkjr]

Firefox 4 does seem to have a couple of bugs for me.
1): Secure sites no longer show the Padlock symbol so you know all is well.

2): On my old Dell Dimension 8200 with XP Pro and SP3 every now and then I seem to lose the indicators next to the Start button. The windows themselves are in actuality still all properly open. This may be due to the fact I only have 521MB RAM .. Not sure, but I think it is a bug in FF4 as it never did that with FF3

they use color code system to show if it is secure bruceb, green is secure, purrple is next level down from there, can't remember the other color ATM.

 

[bruceb]

Yea, I saw that after I did a search. Idiotic especially when they don't tell people ahead of time how it has changed and why. It should be both the Lock Symbol and the color scheme. Best of both worlds that way. People like the lock symbol. Easier to understand.

 

[pyonir]

How long does it take to get used to having "open link in new tab" above "open link in new window"?

hahaha, that has been hard to get used to. I use it a lot and after about 15 times opening a new window instead, I think i've retrained myself.

 

[mb]

For those who hate the fact that Mozilla killed the CTRL + E shortcut to the search bar:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/change-search-shortcut/

 

[Capt Caveman]

Going to switch back. Too many crashes and it's a memory hog.

I'm hoping that uninstalling FF4 not deleting my profiles and when reinstalling 3.6.16 it will use my same profiles?

 

[lxskllr]

I'm hoping that uninstalling FF4 not deleting my profiles and when reinstalling 3.6.16 it will use my same profiles?

Yea, All your stuff will still be left after uninstalling.

 

[Demo24]

Curious, does hardware acceleration actually improve any of the performance? I mean flash and silverlight will already use that. So I guess perhaps it would help with HTML5?

 

[arredondo]

Hey fellas. I have 3.6 setup just like I want as far as how it looks. The UI is kept to a minimum to give maximum real estate to the actual webpage. As you can see here, I basically have one tool bar at the top which has access to all of the commands, the search and address bar, as well as small buttons to my favorite websites:

Can I do this in FF4 (arrange everything I want, except tabs, on one tool bar), and can I make all the buttons sizes super small, or does it have its on way of doing things for you?

 

[DrPizza]

FF4.0 will not work with Lotus Notes. If someone knows how to make it work, you'd be my hero (because then I'd be the hero for a huge group of people.)

 

[lxskllr]

FF4.0 will not work with Lotus Notes. If someone knows how to make it work, you'd be my hero (because then I'd be the hero for a huge group of people.)

Some more information might be necessary. Does that work via browser plugin? I'm not familiar with the package.

Edit:

Hey fellas. I have 3.6 setup just like I want as far as how it looks. The UI is kept to a minimum to give maximum real estate to the actual webpage. As you can see here, I basically have one tool bar at the top which has access to all of the commands, the search and address bar, as well as small buttons to my favorite websites:

Pic Clipped

Can I do this in FF4 (arrange everything I want, except tabs, on one tool bar), and can I make all the buttons sizes super small, or does it have its on way of doing things for you?

Fx4 isn't /that/ different from 3. Everything you could do before is available now. Some addons may have broken, but all mine still work.

 

[arredondo]

OK, I investigated a bit and see that the problem for me won't be FF4 directly, but the fact that two essential add-ons are not compatible with it right now: Smart Bookmarks Bar and Tiny Menu. The first one lets me add bookmark button links to a toolbar while disabling their names (unless I hover over them), which keeps the buttons very small. The second one makes my menus compact.

Looking through the add-ons' comments, a work around will allow me to edit a file for Smart Bookmarks Bar and fool FF4 into thinking it is compatible so it'll work. Tiny Menu needs to be re-worked for FF4 according to the author, and he is not sure if he wants to do it.

I really like that add-on since it lets me fit only my wanted menus on the menu bar. The regular way takes too much room and would make me add a tool bar; I don't want that. We'll see if he updates, or if someone makes a similar add-on.