[Macworld]

Post your comments for First Look: Firefox 3.5 here

[TeaEarleGreyHot]

I am glad that, in at least some cases such as firefox and safari, the software engineers are working on faster--more efficient--code, rather than just bundling more features and telling us to get a faster machine if we want speed.
Long overdue, IMO.

[HalanR]

Thanks for the first look review. I plan on installing it today as I've lost all patience with Safari 4.01. Safari has always been my default browser, but I am having serious issues with Safari and FF will become my default for now, until Safari is fixed.
The Apple discussion forums are full of others with the same problems I am having (crashing, slow loading, slow response). I've tried many things, and have spent w-a-y too much time in trying to fix it.
Looking forward to FF 3.5 though!

[DizDave79]

I ran the test and FF3.5 got 842ms and Safari 4 got 482ms.
I still use FF anyway. =)

[rocketmouse]

"and to rearrange [tabs] by dragging"
Huh? I've always done that. I don't remember precisely, but I think I started using FF when it was at a version somewhere between 1.0 and 1.5.

[quakerotis]

Firefox 3.5 seems a little faster in normal operations and considerably faster at javascript execution. It also did not break any critical components of the websites we maintain (which can't be said for the latest IE 8).

[ASIMO]

At least two features make Firefox my browser of choice since version 3: 1) cmd-shift-T to bring back a closed tab, and 2) restoration of open pages/tabs upon relaunch of FF should FF crash or I mistakenly quit FF. Now with 3.5, it's even better. Safari is indeed generally faster at rendering pages, but both neither is a slouch to begin with.

[bousozoku]

DizDave79 said:

I ran the test and FF3.5 got 842ms and Safari 4 got 482ms.

I still use FF anyway. =)

I tend to use my browser for web sites. Benchmarks don't tend to get much done for me. I think that's what you're saying also.

Firefox for PowerPC is much faster, so despite my PowerBook being 4 years out of date, things are running quite well now.

[jpmhughes]

Rob,
Just curious what were the results from your "ancient" G4?
Jim

[NotarySojac]

So far, not too impressed with the Location Aware feature.
Clicking the Flickr button tells me I'm somewhere in Texas, and I wouldn't go there if I was paid to.
Perhaps it doesn't work reliably with hardwired LANs.

[TxTom]

"Clicking the Flickr button tells me I'm somewhere in Texas, and I wouldn't go there if I was paid to."

Seriously: don't ever. We have enough problems here without the jingoistic hate.

[Impish2]

3.5 still can't view pdf files within browser, a long-standing feature that disappeared several versions back.
Sigh.

[LSlugger]

The increased emphasis on performance is interesting to watch, but I'd like to see more realistic benchmarks. I have multiple windows, each with multiple tabs, open for days. For all the guff Firefox gets about memory leaks, it can handle it. Safari, on the other hand, invariably bogs down. Closing tabs and windows doesn't help, and often as not ends up hanging the browser.
I am optimistic that Chrome's multi-process approach will put an end to this nonsense once and for all. Safari for Snow Leopard apparently has a watered-down version of this feature, putting plugins in a separate process.

[Skeptic3]

Chrome's multi-process approach has its advantages, but apparently, it's also memory hungry.
Safari has its charms, as does Camino, but I always come back to Firefox because its well-rounded.
It might not be absolutely Mac-like (though 3.5 is much-improved in that respect), have the fastest benchmarks (though it's competitive), or achieve the perfect score on the Acid test (of little use to end users).
But 3.5 is certainly fast enough, widely-accepted as the alternative to IE, and most importantly to me, flexible. If there is something I don't like about the way it looks, or acts, I can either modify the user chrome to my liking, or find an extension that gives me the behaviour I desire.
Considering roughly 3/4 of users never deviate from the default installed browsers on their systems (IE and Safari), I'm glad there are alternatives. I wonder what the browser landscape would look like now if Mozilla hadn't taken up the challenge to the IE hegemony years ago.