I Can See Clearly Now-Better Graphics in Firefox 3
Posted by Kirk M on 19 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Firefox/Thunderbird
Some of you may already know that I love tinkering with new software. Some of you are rolling their eyes at that last statement which simply means you know me better than most. I just can’t seem to keep my paws off the newest developer’s builds of the software I’m currently using. Not everything mind you but the ones I use everyday both locally and online, for instance–the nightly builds of Firefox 3 (Gran Paradiso).
Currently at beta 3(pre) the browser is shaping up real nice and although the visual refresh hasn’t shown up yet (and probably won’t for awhile yet) Firefox 3’s UI has been subtly but surely changing over the past weeks becoming noticeably 3D-ish in look. Yeah, it’s the same UI as Firefox 2 (currently) but the overall look definitely has more prominence.
There was something else that I couldn’t quite put my finger on regarding the pages I have been viewing while I’ve been using these nightly builds and I finally figured it out today. The pages look much better when viewed in Firefox 3 which I hadn’t realized before simply because I’ve been using these nightly builds as my main browser for a few weeks now. The pages seem to be richer and deeper in appearance than in Firefox 2. It’s not something that’s going to knock you clear into next Tuesday or anything like that, it’s just a much more pleasing experience when certain features of a web page seem to stand out from the rest of the page which gives the page a more "in depth" feeling. If you want to find out why this is, here’s an early article about the Gecko 1.9 rendering engine and the Cairo graphics library it leverages to run Firefox 3 and makes this type of effect happen.
Here’s a simple but worthy example of the differences in rendering between Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 in this thumbnail of an exasperated worker on the floor of the Wall Street stock exchange at yesterday’s closing:
Just a bit of difference don’t you think?
And this improved rendering is not just limited to photos but all graphics throughout any web page including the theme itself making the site stand out more.
All in all the more I use these nightly builds of Firefox 3, the more anxious I become about the final release. Considering how robust the nightly builds are already (which are subject to all sorts of regression and bugs as bits and pieces are removed in order to test out new features or a fix somewhere) and considering that the final isn’t due to hit the streets until around the end of March or the beginning of April, this is hardly the finished version and I’m impressed as all get out so far.
If you’re looking to really see what the Firefox 3 is all about and all the (current) new features therein, check out this in depth post at Mozilla Links about the Firefox 3 Beta 2 release. This is going to be a Fox worth waiting for!
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10 Comments »
on 19 Jan 2008 at 3:58 pm 1.GoingLikeSixty said …
Awesome! Thanks for posting the example, even my feeble eyes can see a big difference.
I do think you are a little nuts for looking at all this beta stuff, but whatever floats you boat (or sinks your sub in your case.)
on 19 Jan 2008 at 4:19 pm 2.Grandad said …
I love it. I have installed it a couple of times, but had to uninstall it again, as unfortunately, a lot [in fact most] of the plugins I use and rely on don’t work yet in the new version. If they were upgraded I would be using it permanently.
on 19 Jan 2008 at 4:50 pm 3.KirkM said …
Hey Sixty,
You’re welcome! And yes, I’m nuts. Crazy even but then again, I (mostly) know what I’m doing. Besides, how else are you going to find out stuff like this?
on 19 Jan 2008 at 5:01 pm 4.KirkM said …
Grandad,
I wouldn’t expect any big extension upgrades until the first release candidate hits the streets but you can run both you know as I do (just not at the same time–that’s harder to do).
You do this using the built in Firefox 2 Profile Manager. I run Firefox 2 in it’s own separate unique profile, not it’s default and run Firefox 3 (nightly builds in it’s standard default profile. I set the Profile Manager to pop up when I start up either browser and I just choose the appropriate profile for the one I’m going to use. That way the two browsers are completely separated from one another so one doesn’t affect the other one. Again, you can only use one at a time but this way I can use Firefox 3 for my main surfing and Firefox 2 for site work.
If you’re interested, shoot me an email and I’ll let you know how it’s done. I mean, you’re about as nutty as I am with this stuff.
on 28 Jan 2008 at 6:44 pm 5.Ruhi said …
FF 3.0 definitely sounds cool. I can’t wait to install it! Thanks for that pic showing the difference in graphics.
P.S- I love this theme of yours.
on 28 Jan 2008 at 8:17 pm 6.KirkM said …
Hi Ruhi,
My pleasure…
And it definitely makes a difference when viewing an entire web page. It even took me awhile to clue into why the darn site’s were looking so much better. And I already knew about the new version’s rendering capabilities that’s the funny thing about it.
That’s me all over, sharp as a butter knife.
on 28 Jan 2008 at 8:38 pm 7.Ruhi said …
Kirk,
I got really excited after reading this post and just got done downloading version 3 beta 2. There’s something different about the visuals…seriously. I can’t put my finger on it.
Your blog looks kinda ’smooth’. Also, I LOVE the new location bar function where it searches my saved pages, other bookmarks etc. That’s got to be the very BEST thing ever!
on 28 Jan 2008 at 9:50 pm 8.KirkM said …
And you haven’t gotten to the tagging feature and the ability to backup your bookmarks and the new add-ons manager and the Star for adding a page to your bookmarks and…and…oh just tons of stuff (pssst! Firefox 3 beta 3 is due out within the next several days).
PS: Glad you like the new theme. It has a couple bugs but it’s the right look…finally.
on 28 Jan 2008 at 10:23 pm 9.Ruhi said …
I did see the star feature; definitely makes it very easy to bookmark a page if you use the browser bookmark function.
What about the tagging and the back up feature? Didn’t see that..where is it?
on 29 Jan 2008 at 9:36 am 10.KirkM said …
Hmmm, I’m pretty sure beta 2 had that incorporated. Anyway, tagging is located in two places, the first is in the Star’s pop up box. There should be 3 fields named: “Name”, Folder and “Tags” (that’s where you insert the tags of course for a single bookmark). There’s also two arrows on the right, the top one shows all your bookmark folders allowing you to place your new bookmark where you wish. The bottom arrow expands the box downward. This expanded area will be filled with tags you’ve already assigned with check boxes next to each one so you can check the tags you want assigned to the new bookmark.
The second place is the Bookmarks Organizer (Now called “Show all bookmarks” and “Library”) in the bookmarks menu. You can find where you enter tags and extra info located at the bottom right pane (you might have to click on “More”).
On the top of that same page you should see “Import/Backup” somewhere.
Now I’m going by the nightly builds so what you might see and what I might see could vary some but I’m almost positive backup and tagging were included in beta 2.