Can you explain this for the technologically unsavvy?
Mozilla et al replace IE? I understand the links opening in the background (YAY! Tat’s something I hate about IE - so unintuitive) but what is “tabbed”? What about email?
I believe they’re referring to the Mutiple Document Interface (MDI) which is getting more popular in browsers now. Webpages are actually “tabbed” inside of a larger window instead of each page actually being its own window like in IE.
It’s much cleaner and more organized, and it is extremely useful on the SDMB where you can see a thread you like, hit “open in background” and come back to it later, while still browsing the forums for more threads.
Does that make sense?
You can use Mozilla/Phoenix/Opera/whatever to replace IE. Actually replace is sort of a strong word to use, since they can co-exist peacefully. Just give one 'em a try. You won’t hurt anything.
About tabbed browsing - look at the screenshot on this page. Once you’ve used it, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.
“What is tabbed?”
You know how IE always opens the links either in the same window, or in a completely different one? If you open links by holding down the shift key while clicking, you’ll get reams of little buttons on your task bar at the bottom of your Windows screen.
BUT: Tabbed browsing allows you to essentially make another task bar that only exists inside the browser, meaning that you have a lot more room for them. What I really like about the Mozilla-based ones is that if I click with my wheel, the link opens in a different tab, but opens in the background, not obscuring what I’m currently viewing. This is faaaaabulous when surfing the SDMB, or any other page where you might find multiple links that are interesting, like a news site.
http://www.bengoodger.com/software/tabloader/mozilla.shtml
Go about halfway down, and you’ll see what we mean.
OOC, has anyone noticed any pages that don’t work with Mozilla?
Specifically, I’m thinking of Javascript, form behaviors, security, things of that sort. I still use IE for all the “important” stuff (especially for TurboTax for the Web, 'cause I don’t want anything going wrong there), but I don’t know if I’m being needlessly paranoid or not.
Until Mozilla adds mouse gestures I’m sticking with Opera. And if you’ve never tried Opera, do it! It’s got all those cool features that Mozilla has (now that they added the “accept only popups I ask for” feature in v7), and it lets you move back and forward, get a new window, minimize, etc. All with just a click and a small motion of the mouse. SO much quicker than going up to the “Back” button.
My mac is an old 350MHz iMac (no laughing), and although I dislike IE, I use it as Netscape 6 is just crushingly slow.
What’s Mozilla like size-wise? Any use for us, er, underpowered folk;)…?
(I only keep Netscape as there seems to be some conflict between IE and Hotmail btw)
My N7 folder is 28 megs, it says.
I currently have four pages open, and Windows says I’m using 58 megs of RAM for N7 right now. I have 324, so I just run the sucker.
Bob55: A google toolbar is built into Opera, actually, and it can not only do google, but ebay, amazon etc as well.
I just want to reiterate what Cardinal said:
This feature alone is so great that I now hate using any browser that doesn’t have it. It’s so nice to be able to open links with a single click, and without interrupting your reading of the current page.
Not sure if anyone’s mentioned another killer Mozilla-based feature (I presume Opera can do it too) - a single bookmark (“Favorite” in IE) can open multiple pages.
Mozilla has gestures too.
http://optimoz.mozdev.org/gestures/index.html
You have to install it, but I think it’s quick and easy to do.
I can’t say how they compare to Opera, since I don’t use gestures.