10. Size
A full download of Internet Explorer is 79.3MB. A full download of Firefox is 4.7MB.
9. Stability
I've been using Firefox as my default browser for almost two years now and it has crashed twice. The crashes happened when
I tried to access sites that "only work with Internet Explorer". Those sites have since been updated to work with all browsers
and Firefox has not crashed since.
8. Security
The chances of your computer becoming infected by spy/mall/stealthware are almost non-existent when using Firefox. All of
these types of programs take advantage of holes in IE's integration with the Windows operating system. Since Firefox is separate
from Windows, this just won't happen. This does not mean that Firefox is 100% secure. Nothing is 100% secure. However, since
Firefox is open source, when the few security flaws have been found, patches have been issued within days, not weeks.
7. Extensions
There are literally hundreds of extensions for Firefox available. Extensions are programs that enhance and extend the abilities
of Firefox. Some of my favorites include the Bloglines Toolkit, SpellBound (a spellchecker for Web forms), HTML Validator
(adds automatic validation to View|Page Source), and AdBlock (allowing me to block online ads from being displayed).
6. Customization
Don't like the look of the buttons in Firefox? Change its theme and get a completely different look. Don't like the layout
of the toolbars? Customize them by adding, removing, and rearranging the buttons. You can even create your own toolbars containing
the buttons of your choice.
5. The Download Manager
Put an end to the mystery of where the file you just downloaded went. Firefox's download manager automatically saves all downloaded
files to the same folder. Even if you forget where that folder is, you can always open the download manager and access your
downloaded files from there. The download manager also allows for pausing and restarting downloads. Beyond the download manager,
when you're asked whether you'd like to save or open a file, Firefox automatically starts downloading the file in the background
while you're deciding thereby not wasting time while you make your decision.
4. Tabbed Browsing
Are you tired of closing dozens of open windows at the end of a browsing session? Well, with Firefox's support for "tabbed
browsing" the days of multiple browser windows are at an end. You can still open multiple windows if you'd like, but instead
try opening multiple tabs. This allows you to run the browser once, yet display multiple documents, each with their own tab
containing the title of the page. (With the installation of the Tabbrowser Preferences extension, you can even instruct pop-ups
to appear as new tabs instead of as new windows, making them easier to control and close.)
3. RSS Integration
If you're a reader of RSS feeds (and if you're not, why not?) and don't want to bother with a separate client or Web-based
aggregator, Firefox supports RSS feeds as bookmarks. Dubbed "Live Bookmarks" you can subscribe to a feed as a bookmark folder
and view the feed's headlines as individual bookmarks. Just click on one of them to be taken to the full article.
2. In-Page Searching and Highlighting
Firefox still uses CTRL-F to invoke in-page keyword searching. But instead of giving you a pop-up window for entering keywords,
thus obscuring your view of the page you're searching, Firefox displays a small toolbar at the bottom of the window. You just type
your search terms into the toolbar and search up or down the page. And with one click in that toolbar you can instruct Firefox
to highlight all of the occurrences of your keywords on the page.
1. Because the Plush Toy Is So Cute
Even if one existed, who would want to actually own a plush Clippy?
Michael Sauers, msauers@travelinlibrarian.info
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
