# Firefox 3.0 who has started using it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 18, 2008, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326 "2008-06-18T11:40:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/61 "2008-06-22T23:10:03Z")
The performance seems noticeably slower when I have a lot of tabs open compared to FF2, IE 7, or the Beta of IE 8. Is there any benchmarking data for FF3? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/62 "2008-06-23T02:40:17Z")
I just unloaded Firefox and replaced it with Seamonkey. Far superior. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/63 "2008-06-23T03:01:14Z")
[QUOTE=TimeWinder] Several sites that use Google-maps-derived widgets (like [www.themlsonline.com](http://www.themlsonline.com)) don’t work with FF3, even though they did with 2. [/QUOTE] I just tried that site and, once I enabled Javascript from two sources, it seemed to work. I could scroll and zoom the map. Was it supposed to do something more? FF3 on Mac OS X 10.5.3. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/64 "2008-06-23T03:28:25Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] I just tried that site and, once I enabled Javascript from two sources, it seemed to work. I could scroll and zoom the map. Was it supposed to do something more? FF3 on Mac OS X 10.5.3. [/QUOTE] I’m using Windows at the moment, so that could be it, but I’ve also discovered that that page takes you to different style sites depending on which state you pick on the first page. The Washington state one is the one that doesn’t work for me, some of the others do – it’s hit or miss depending on which features they use. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/65 "2008-06-23T10:33:39Z")
[QUOTE=Mister Rik] You aren’t automatically subscribed when you post a reply? I receive e-mail “New Reply” notifications for any thread I’ve posted to, like so: [/QUOTE] No. If you go into the Control Panel and Edit Options there’s a _Default Thread Subscription Mode_ choice under _Messaging and Notification_. I have it set to _Do Not Subscribe_. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/66 "2008-06-23T10:54:25Z")
I downloaded it late last week; everything went fine, and all my bookmarks were saved, and even about:config things that I had changed were transferred over to FF3. I’ve been using it all weekend, and it seems just fine. It does seem a bit faster at displaying webpages to me. The biggest difference is the fixing of lots of memory leaks in FF2. I often have my browser open for hours at a time, and the old Firefox used to take more & more memory as the day went on, and eventually slow my whole machine down. I used to have to kill FF2 & restart it every couple of hours to reduce the memory it used. But I’ve been watching FF3, and it doesn’t seem to accumulate memory like that at all (or at least so slowly that it isn’t noticeable). That is a major improvement to me! So far, the only thing I think I don’t like is the new ‘enhanced’ urlbar. All the stuff that jumps up there when I start typing a url I find annoying & intrusive. (And is usually wrong – not a very good prediction at all.) But it seems like this is annoying to a lot of FF3 users, and there are several sites with ways to use about:config or even new add-ons (‘Old Location Bar’) to fix this. Funny that there isn’t an easy way in FF3 to change this back to the old version, it takes an add-on to do so. But that seems typical: the developers of such new ‘features’ like this can’t conceive of the possibility that real users won’t want their newest bells-and-whistles and would want to go back to the old way. So they don’t allow any option to switch back. Good thing FF allows add-ons for this sort of thing. Overall, switching to Firefox 3 worked just like an upgrade should – almost un-noticeably. Nearly everything still works just the way I’m used to, except faster and more efficiently. I wish all upgrades worked this well. (Anybody tried upgrading to AVG 8.0 – aarrgh!) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/67 "2008-06-23T21:12:01Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] I’m a very heavy user, usually have 4 or 5 tabs open [/QUOTE] No, a heavy user has 20+ tabs open. I am a heavy user. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/68 "2008-06-23T22:17:31Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] No, a heavy user has 20+ tabs open. I am a heavy user. [/QUOTE] Ok, ok. But I have that many open in Opera, I sort of use them like bookmarks and keep an ever-changing collection of sites open that I check daily. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/69 "2008-06-24T01:10:42Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] No, a heavy user has 20+ tabs open. I am a heavy user. [/QUOTE] I see the obvious need for a new nerd dick-sizing competition. Perhaps we should open an IMHO thread? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/70 "2008-06-24T01:15:16Z")
[QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] So far, the only thing I think I don’t like is the new ‘enhanced’ urlbar. All the stuff that jumps up there when I start typing a url I find annoying & intrusive. (And is usually wrong – not a very good prediction at all.) But it seems like this is annoying to a lot of FF3 users, and there are several sites with ways to use about:config or even new add-ons (‘Old Location Bar’) to fix this. [/QUOTE] I would consider giving it a few days before going back to the old version. I navigate via the url bar pretty frequently, and when I first upgraded to FF3 I was irritated, because typing “e” (for example) didn’t automatically bring up the site I was accustomed to seeing when I just typed “e”. However, after a few days of use, FF seems to have figured out what my most frequently used sites are, and adjusted to compensate. Also, I have found that I actually really like being able to type, for example, “straightdope” and have “[boards.straightdope.com](http://boards.straightdope.com)” come up in the url bar, as opposed to having to remember that this MB starts with “boards” whereas another one starts with “forums” or whatever. It’s actually kind of nice, now that I’m more used to it. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/71 "2008-06-24T02:41:40Z")
I was kind of annoyed by the address bar at first, but I think it works like I’ve always thought an address bar should. Before this version of FF, I would enter part of a URL into the Google search box instead of typing the URL in the address bar. Then I would have to find and click on the item I was looking for. With the new functionality, it’s a couple of steps less. I’m always a fan of increased efficiency. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/72 "2008-06-24T04:32:12Z")
[QUOTE=MsWhatsit] Also, I have found that I actually really like being able to type, for example, “straightdope” and have “[boards.straightdope.com](http://boards.straightdope.com)” come up in the url bar, as opposed to having to remember that this MB starts with “boards” whereas another one starts with “forums” or whatever. [/QUOTE] But I never type frequently-visited sites like this into the url – that’s what bookmarks are for. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/73 "2008-06-24T05:29:08Z")
Type “about:robots”-can you name all the references? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/74 "2008-06-24T05:36:01Z")
[QUOTE=threemae] I see the obvious need for a new nerd dick-sizing competition. Perhaps we should open an IMHO thread? [/QUOTE] I have to agree that 4-5 tabs isn’t a “heavy user” though. I generally have anywhere from 10-30 _windows_ open (I far, far, far, far prefer new windows to new tabs for most things, but that’s a whole different topic) and often within any given window, 3-4 tabs (I get big pile-ups of tabs when I do a highlight\>right click\>Search Google on a bunch of different things in a page, for example)… I don’t have a nerd dick though, as I’m a girl. Can I do a nerd bra-size? [QUOTE=t-bonham@scc.net] But I never type frequently-visited sites like this into the url – that’s what bookmarks are for. [/QUOTE] For me it’s not. Bookmarks are for keeping track of sites I’d otherwise forget. I don’t want to clog up my bookmarks with stuff I go to all the time, because it’s so easy to just type the first couple of letters and click the right guess in the address bar. Geez I can’t even think about how big my bookmarks would be if I also put all the stuff I go to every single day. As far as losing bookmarks, I believe someone already mentioned it once in passing in this thread, but I use the Foxmarks add-on and it’s great. It keeps an online record of your bookmarks and keeps your browser sync’d to it. It’s especially cool if you use multiple computers regularly as it will update all of your computers with any new bookmarks you’ve added. And of course, it’s an excellent backup if you lose your bookmarks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/75 "2008-06-24T05:50:27Z")
[QUOTE=OpalCat] Geez I can’t even think about how big my bookmarks would be if I also put all the stuff I go to every single day. [/QUOTE] You can put a single entry in your bookmarks, which is a folder containing all those sites you go to every single day. Then you can open all these sites at once with a single click. I have such a folder named “Daily View” which is exactly that – all the sites I want to view every day. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/76 "2008-06-24T06:14:32Z")
But that’s not anything like anything I would want. I don’t want to pull up all of the sites I visit every day at one time. I don’t just sit down and say “I’m going to visit all the sites now!” or anything remotely similar, nor can I imagine ever wanting to do so. It’s just that throughout the course of the day there are a selection of sites that I’m likely to visit 9 days out of 10. Maybe some people work like that, but I certainly do not. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/77 "2008-06-24T14:25:16Z")
It appears the realplayer download you tube clip functionality has evaporated with FF3 Anyone else have this problem or is it just me? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/78 "2008-06-25T08:20:39Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] Type “about:robots”-can you name all the references? [/QUOTE] I wasn’t sure about “Robots are Your Plastic Pal Who’s Fun To Be With”, I’ll take a stab at Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I don’t like the new history window, is there anyway to get it to pop up as part of the Firefox window and to show websites like the last version did. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326/79 "2008-06-25T12:34:12Z")
[QUOTE=Pushkin] I don’t like the new history window, is there anyway to get it to pop up as part of the Firefox window and to show websites like the last version did. [/QUOTE] **Ctrl-H** (at least on a PC) or **View|Sidebar|History**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/firefox-3-0-who-has-started-using-it/453326.md?page=3)