The hype over Firefox 1.5 is starting to boil, especially with the recent release of RC3. So what’s all the excitement about? Let’s find out…

Installing 1.5RC3

I downloaded Firefox 1.5 RC3 and installed it separately from my current 1.0.7 installation. The installation was very fast - it just whizzed by. Apart from that, the installation was a non-event.

The first time you start 1.5RC3, a wizard checks the extensions and themes to make sure they are compatible with the new version. If they are not compatible, it asks you to let it check for updates. If no update is found, then the theme or extension is disabled.

Of the many extensions I have working with 1.0.7, only two were disabled. Of the five themes I have installed, only two were enabled: the default theme and iFOX.

However, when I tried to use iFOX as my theme, I got a squished toolbar:

Problems like this are to be expected, and developers are working hard to update their themes and extensions to make sure they work with Firefox 1.5.

New features

According to the release notes there are several new features: automatic updates, faster navigation, drag and drop reordering of tabs, new wizards, and others.

Let’s start with the speed: it is indeed noticeably faster. The startup speed seems a bit faster, but navigation is definitely faster. The whole program feels lighter and more responsive.

One new feature that has been sorely missed is the ability to reorder tabs. The feature has been added and works well: when you drag a tab, an arrow appears to where you can drop it to. See the screen capture below:

The options window has also been updated, to very a OSX-esque style. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s very tidy and functional - much better than the old one IMHO!

Another new feature is the ‘Clear Private Data’ dialog box, available in the Tools menu. With one click, you can clear all important caches, such as the browsing history, form info, downloads, etc. It’s a nice little addition.

Another feature is the ‘Report a Broken Website’ wizard, which allows you to report to the (new?) Evangelism Team any websites that do not work well in Firefox. Very good! The wizard kicks off with a privacy statement and explains why you should participate. The second screen has a simple form that asks for details. Screenshots:

Finally, Firefox got some proper error pages (at least by default). To see one, just type in a nonexistent domain name, and this is what you get:

Web developers goodies

Webmaster have some things to look forward too! Goodies include better support for CSS2/CSS3, scriptable and programmable 2D graphics through SVG, and other bits and pieces. Developers should read the Firefox 1.5 for Developers page for detailed info and examples.

Problems

RC3 has been quite stable (only one crash so far), and I will definitely keep using it more. Anyone wanting to try it should not be too scared - it’s stable enough. Of course, make sure you install it in a new directory (away from your current working installation!) and make backups.

Another problem is the downloads pause feature: it doesn’t pause very well! I tried it with a 6MB zip file download. When I paused it, at 272kb, the Windows network activity indicator kept showing there was traffic, but the download was apparently paused in Firefox. However, when I clicked ‘Resume’ a few seconds later, it started at 315kb, not at the expected 272kb. I’m not sure what’s going on here…

Closing remarks

Firefox 1.5 is promising to be a very good release. The new features are there, and the program is definitely improved. The final official release of Firefox 1.5 is expected later in November, so anyone not wanting to try out beta software won’t have to wait long.