The 10 things I like the most about the new Firefox 4

As many of you may already know, the final version of Firefox 4, expected to be released in late February, and just yesterday the beta 9 of this long-awaited browser was released that makes merits to become my default browser.

For this reason, here I make a list of the 10 things I like the most about Firefox 4, which will probably cause me to switch to Firefox from Google Chrome at the end of next month.

Mozilla Firefox

01. Groups of tabs: one of the most striking features of the new Firefox 4 is the possibility of grouping the tabs to improve their organization. Something quite useful for all of us who open many tabs at the same time and sometimes related to very different topics, which can cause complete chaos on our desktop.

02. Cleaner interface: one of the aspects that definitely needed a change in Firefox was its interface, with the new minimalist design presented by Google Chrome, Opera And now Internet Explorer, it was time for Firefox to give us a more modern, clean and functional design, like the one that Firefox 4 brings.

03. Support for WebM: we all know the great support that Mozilla has always given to free technologies and web standards, for this reason, the new version of Firefox will offer support for the free WebM video codec, the same codec as Google plans to push to make it the standard for the label in HTML5.

04. Tab selector: when we have many tabs open, they tend to shorten in size to fit in the browser window, making it impossible to read the name of the tab and be able to identify it correctly. To solve this, the Firefox team implemented a small button that will show us the complete list of open tabs in the particular group of tabs where we are located.

05. Bookmarks button: one of the things I like the most about Chrome is to enable the bookmarks bar and have this button at the end of the bar that says "Other bookmarks" and it allows me to see the complete list of bookmarks without going to the menu. Well, Firefox 4 implements a similar button on the right side of the browser window, this will allow us to have all our bookmarks at a short distance and taking up no space.

06. Add-on window: the add-on window in the new Firefox is the window of a last generation browser. Gone is that ugly window that presented us Firefox 3.6 to come this window that seems more like an App Center worthy of the best of the mobile devices that are currently on the market.

07. Application tabs: we already saw it in Google Chrome and we loved it, now Firefox 4 brings us App tabs, a technology that allows us to keep specific pages open all the time and that remain that way between browsing sessions. All in a small tab on the left side of the browser.

08. Synchronization: this is another of the characteristics of Google Chrome which attracted us to this browser, but now we have it also in Firefox natively, without the need to install an additional add-on.

09. Better performance: This is something that a while ago caused you to stop browsing with Firefox, the fact that it took a long time to open, that it was very resource consuming and that it will stick with the design of many websites is definitely something that a browser of last generation should not have. Fortunately all this has been fixed and Firefox is again a fast and light browser.

10. Graphic acceleration: this is the last of the last, the possibility of using the graphic processor of our equipment when surfing the Internet, opens a lot of possibilities in the distribution of Web content and I think that the most revolutionary thing that we can currently find in browsers like Chrome e Internet Explorer.

Firefox 4 is not only this, it is much more and soon we will be able to enjoy all its dazzling features in a stable way in Firefox 4 final.

Tell us what are the things you liked the most about Firefox and what you don't like so that we can make a list of the bad things that Firefox 4 may have at the moment.


19 comments, leave yours

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  1.   Richard said

    Chrome has the ability to duplicate tabs, right click on the tab and then "duplicate"; It is very useful when you are viewing a page, you want to search on the same page but you do not want to stop seeing it, then it is useful. Hopefully it was thought for Firefox 4 =)
    Regards…

    1.    Anyone said

      Tabs can be duplicated in Firefox for a long time.

      Press Ctrl and hold it down. Click on the tab you want to duplicate and drag it to the place in the tab bar where you want to duplicate it. Release the mouse button and the Ctrl key.

    2.    uleti said

      With this Add on you have it in the tab menu

      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/duplicate-this-tab/

  2.   Ubunlog said

    Since Chromium supports extensions I stopped using Firefox, but I am waiting for the final version of Firefox 4 to test it, the synchronization issue that you mention interests me, I hope it works the same as in Chromium.

    1.    David Gómez said

      In fact, it is one of the things that interests me the most as well, and yes, it works just as it does in Chrome / Chromium.

  3.   Ezekiel said

    Very good article, I am also waiting to see if I return ...
    But something like the group of tabs, implemented Opera.
    And that Firefox consumes a lot of resources is a myth, it can be easily verified by going to the resource manager of your OS, to see that Firefox consumes a bargain of 60-70MB (with many tabs open) when any of the competing browsers occupy around 200 -300MB (in chrome, they have to add up all the processes that this annoying browser creates).
    However, considering that in my default browser I have native synchronization for a while, native ad blocker, native IRC chat and thousands of other options with a more than friendly and pleasant interface: AGUANTE OPERA!
    (And yes, this browser also consumes a lot of resources, but luckily in my 2Gb of RAM it works fine) (2 Gb I said ?? no, I'm not mistaken. Poof, how old is my note….)

    1.    anonymous said

      Opera has the policy of using a maximum of 15% of FREE RAM memory (it is configurable) and as other applications need RAM memory, it is freeing up, obviously the more RAM you have, the more it will use.

      2GB = 2.000MB

      (2.000 x 15) / 100 = 300 mb, memory consumption is correct.

  4.   porko said

    But all the decisive advantages are brought from chrome ... then chrome is better

    1.    JK said

      What crude reasoning !! Look for a moment at the use of resources that the new Firefox is making and the LOTS of functions that other browsers do not have. Okay, you are copying several things, but those new things are the new standards to follow. Nor do they see what the other browsers are copying from Firefox, for example the themes, without any success as in Firefox. Chrome installed occupies 300mb, Firefox does not exceed 90mb. Have you seen a way to suck up RAM from Chrome? (For each tab that is opened it occupies a line in the list of processes) In short, Firefox is undoubtedly a pioneer browser, it was what led it to be placed in second place. I hope you don't lose that position….

  5.   isolate9 said

    Fanboyisms aside, a little technical user speaks to them. I use Ubuntu out of conviction, robustness, simplicity (yes, simplicity, the repositories thing seems to me much better than the updates each in its own way as Windows) and for price.

    A few months ago I tried Chrome and my perception could not be better: without going into technical details, Chrome feels faster than Firefox, faster and lighter, and if it were not for certain incompatibilities with old pages (especially from the Spanish Government) I think that would have quit Firefox entirely. And one thing that is not trivial: the installation is summarized in downloading a .deb package, double-clicking, entering the password and accepting. And from there it is updated with the Manager, apt-get, aptitude or the package manager of your choice, because it includes the Google repos.

    Now that I use Chrome every day, Firefox 4 appears looking very good and it turns out that to install it I have to download a .tar.bz2 and install it from I don't know very well which command line, looking by hand for the directory where my previous installation of Firefox, etc etc ... Or wait for Ubuntu to update its repositories and include it.

    Above I read this and they tell me that almost everything new is ALREADY in Chrome. Can someone explain to me why I should bother doing all of this by hand?

    And for the folks at Mozilla, I LOVE the spirit of their project, they really have done the web great good with their effort by getting more and more people to abandon faddish and archaic browsers (and I mean mostly Internet Explorer ), but Chrome / Chromium gives them a thousand turns in ease of use and installation, at least in the versions for Ubuntu. Take care of these details, please.

    1.    uleti said

      It turns out that the mozilla team stable repository is already updated a few hours ago ...

      It is complaining for complaining.

      1.    isolate9 said

        Mozilla's maybe, and why isn't it clearly coming out? Why do I have to add it by hand while Chrome adds it just by installing the .deb? And why isn't it in the Ubuntu or Debian repos, or wasn't it this morning when I tried to update?

        It is not complaining to complain, it is giving a point of view.

        1.    isolate9 said

          Besides I've been looking and can't find an easy way to do it, I'm afraid I have to manually add a PPA or the Mozilla repository to my sources. Not everyone who uses Linux and in particular Ubuntu or Mint wants to go around adding PPAs, "fighting" with the terminal or adding external repositories to install things.

          1.    David Gómez said

            It is to complain to complain, there is no better definition ...

            As says Ubunlog, there are many ways to install Firefox 4 on Ubuntu, the simplest only requires updating the system.

            Easier than installing Google Chrome.


  6.   ubunlog said

    aisle9, the theme is simple or you add the stable repo that from what I have read is already updated or you wait for the official ubuntu repo to be updated or you download it is a mozilla tar file, 3 options you choose which one suits you 😉
    regards

    1.    isolate9 said

      Thanks. In the end I have added the PPA and am testing it.

      I think that some who comment have not understood anything, I KNOW how to install this, but if they put you. in the role of a newbie I find it easier to "cope" with the download of Chrome than that of FF4.

  7.   Zagur said

    I totally agree with Aisle9. You are not complaining by complaining you are simply giving your point of view. I have been testing Firefox 4 and well the first impression has been the aesthetics. I still don't like ANYTHING. I prefer Chrome a thousand times. Apart from that Firefox 4 continues to take a LONG time to load some pages. Without going any further than my own blog ... among other pages that I usually visit. Without a doubt I continue to stay with Google Chrome and I dare to say that this is simply a small fever among users who left Firefox a while ago and will return to Chrome in a few days.

  8.   Erwin said

    I find it much faster than the previous one and for those who say that it takes up a lot of ram, I personally use 150 megabytes at full, and no more than that. For the rest, nowadays all computers have 2 or 3 gigs of ram, therefore I assure you that they always occupy not half of that, I don't know why some people worry about the ram. The ram was made to occupy it, not to be there unused.
    On the other hand, Chrome I tried it and I did not like it because it is incompatible with details in many pages, for example in the pages of 3 banks I have problems when making transfers, also sports pages, with Chrome I cannot close some results, and so on many idiotic details that make it stinky to use chrome, and beware that I have Chrome 10 installed and I still have those problems on those pages. There are more than 20 pages that give me details, that neither opera, nor mozilla nor explorer give me, but chrome does. So I stick with firefox.

    regards

  9.   neo said

    Well, I am a user of chrome and firefox, and the truth is that this latest version of firefox I love it very much of course that it takes up a little more ram but in return it gives you a light navigation, which is noticeable when using this browser, in terms of I like this aspect when configuring it to a minimalist aspect so the entire viewing area is given to navigation in ff3 I did that with some plugins, but now those same ones are obsolete in ff4, I recommend that if you are going to install it, make a backup of their bookmarks, and completely uninstall everything, so when they install ff4 they will not have any problem, in terms of addons I have had to install all my addons again and apparently none are outdated for this new browser version; I have also installed a new appearance theme called mx3 that gives better vision and I have hidden the menu bar, so it does not take up space in the vision, which can be seen again by pressing the «alt» key. I have synchronized my bookmarks with the new Sync option and I really like it, now when I go to my other PCs I have them at hand.
    Remember that when chrome came out they copied many things that were undergoing experimentation in the FF betas and its plugins, I really congratulate the FF group for taking this great step and that it will truly revolutionize the browser market.